"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower", Steve Jobs
For the introduction, my name is Didier Gaultier. Back in 2005, I brought a bit of innovation in the CRM land by introducing the "Quantitative Factor Customer Record Methodology" (QFCRM) during the completion of my international MBA at the IFAM Business School. The concept consisted in using advanced statistics to help marketers generate a higher business intelligence by better quantifying their CRM data. Right after obtaining my MBA degree, I joined Double Click Email Solutions as the sales and account management director. A year later, the company was acquired and merged with Epsilon / Alliance Data Consortium, which brought me to where I am today, the Country Director of Epsilon International France.
I didn't just pop up in the highest levels of management without previous experience. Before enrolling in a MBA, I handled various positions as a sales engineer or sales manager in top-notch CRM-focused companies: Oracle, Harte-Hanks, ATOS Origin... I commercialized database infrastructures, call center services, direct marketing solutions, throughout the world and to a variety of Fortune 500 companies. During the 90s, with the Internet turning mainstream, my interests as a salesman shifted to a dazzling new tool, the email inbox. Emails can be blasted in bulk, instantly, and targeting one specific person. The email brought new horizons to the CRM industry, which motivated my choice to enroll in a MBA where I could scholarly apply my CRM expertise to this new communication tool.
As the Country Director of Epsilon International France, my duties include evangelizing Epsilon to CRM marketers as the most comprehensive solution when it comes to understanding customers, building a forecast system, crafting a reliable strategic planning, and driving successful integrated marketing campaigns. A common misconception is that email marketing is a simple media to use. Going for the cheap ramp off the email marketing highway can actually cost a lot to any marketer that has not thought his emailing strategy the whole way through. I am delighted to work at Epsilon because I play the advocate of a product that truly adds priceless value to the work of thousands of marketers.
Epsilon operates worldwide. Thus, cultural psychology is intrinsically connected to our approach of email marketing. Did you know that an email subject line announcing a product with your name on it will get a profitable amount of clicks only in Asia? Epsilon's world-class engines shed a light on thousands of cultural facts like this one. Every year, Epsilon blasts 40 billion opt-in emails worldwide, so you can imagine the mathematical depth Epsilon's data-miners get into. This massive amount of data is processed and used to develop a deeper personal relation with the rich diversity of Epsilon's address book, and I find it fascinating.
Why this blog? Email marketing and database infrastructures constantly evolve, and innovation is the key factor that feeds growth. A while ago, I wrote a piece on innovation: "The freedom for thinking and creating are the drivers of innovation, and innovation usually happens when people expect it the least". I believe that a blog is a great tool to freely express thoughts, opinions, theories, or whatever it is that runs through one's mind. By sharing my thoughts publicly, I wish to sensitize marketers to the problematics around advanced CRM infrastructures. Beyond a pure knowledge-sharing process, I hope that our discussions will push us into exploring new ways to approach CRM at large. Eventually, when we expect it the least, innovative ideas might spark out of the content generated on this blog.
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Best,
Didier Gaultier
