A market related example of KYC (Know Your Customer) is the due diligence and bank regulations that financial organsiations and similar companies must conduct in order to identify their clients and ascertain crucial information before conducting financial business with these organisations.

Adopted from the formal defintion of KYC used by financial organsiations, BMI-T has adapted this philosophy as part of our strategic offering and it has become an integral aspect of many of the research and consulting projects that we undertake on behalf of specific clients or as mult-client studies. In fact, we have adopted this philosophy and expanded the associated rationale to incorporate the following strategic areas which speak for themselves:

• KYCM - Know your Competitors
• KYCU - Know your Customer
• KYOF - Know your Offering
• KYCO - Know your Competitors' Offering
• KYCC - Know your Customers' Customers
• KYCC - Know your Competitors' Customers
• KYMP - Know your Market Positioning

KYC Inform 

From a layered and ongoing process of primary and secondary research, BMI-T can inform and provide comprehensive and detailed data, analysis and segmentation around a company's customer base. For example: profiles of these customers, buying patterns, disposable income and how this income is allocated, levels of satisfaction with their current provider, would they switch and for what compelling reasons?

KYC Advise 

Using the data and valuable customer information that has been described above, we are placed in a viable position to advise our clients as to what your customers look like, whether you are offering the optimum products and services to the correct layers of customer profile, (e.g. high premium high value customers versus low premium or low volume customers). The research can go a level further allowing you to understand your B2B customers' customer as there are often levels of disconnect between these two categories.

KYC Assist 

Building on the inform and advise stages, BMI-T would then be in a position to objectively assist you during the implementation phase of your new marketing strategies, knowing how to best utilise this information in the short and long term. There would be a level of advisory services wrapped around the research and a consultative process of assisting the client.

Your Advantage

A brief historical summary of how customers have been measured: In the late 1980's it was the customer experience, 'have we delivered what we promised, does it meet market standards, have we met customer needs and how do we respond to complaints?' Then onto these questions, came the layers of, 'How do we retain customers, how do we build relationships and do our customers refer us to new customers?'

The pardigm has now shifted as over and above the questions above, has become the overarching aspect of customer value, 'Why should a customer who intended to be loyal, stay with us if a competitor provides the same as we do but with better value?

Now a company must add a further dimension to understanding their customers and they can no longer be measured in isolation; the addition of beating competitors in targeted markets, targeting profitable-to-serve customers, identifying and exploiting competitor weaknesses and neutralising competitor strength. Go to the source and find out all of this from the customer and thus be in a position to develop and deliver on a superior value proposition.

As one example, how many companies can truthfully say that before launching a new product and service or re-packaging a current product and service, have they asked the customer's opinion? Have they even asked the customer is this is what they wanted, at this pricing level at and these outlets? Or the converse of this picture is that many organisations have what has become their 'best kept secret', an excellent and relevant product or service that is not marketed adeqautely and therefore not being adopted by their existing or potential customers.

Our Expertise

Since inception in 1990, BMI-T has conducted numerous research and consulting projects both from a business and consumer customer perspective, and has high levels of general consulting and industry expertise as well as specialised knowledge of the IT, telecoms and financial sectors and their associated customer bases.

Why BMI-T

For more than 20 years, BMI-T has been conducting research and consulting projects aimed at uncovering, analysing and informing their clients as to what their customers look like, what they want and how it should be delivered. In some instances, there have been projects that have combined the expertise areas of IT, telecoms and banking as there are overlapping areas where the customer is involved (the interface) and how products and services are delivered (the distribution channel). BMI-T has generalist marketing and industry experts as well as specialist analysts in each of these three fields plus an evolving and incremental knowledge of customers both in the business and consumer environment.