5 Minutes With Rob Rattley - Guardian & Observer
1) Please could you tell us a little about your role for The Guardian and how the Geoplan system is used?
My role as Information manager is to manage the storage, flow and reporting of circulation information around the business. Circulation information allows us a wealth of geographic data and the Geoplan system allows us to analyse and more importantly report on that information in a really visual way - very important when dealing with sales people and editorial who can quickly lose interest in reams of numbers!
2) Please could you confirm what key benefits are associated with your Geoplan system?
The visualisation of sales patterns and the ability to plan promotions using demographic and research data is of huge benefit. The ability to share this information using products like MapViewer amongst field teams is another benefit; the field teams can then use the data in a more simplistic way to help target sales opportunities.
3) In terms of quantifying the benefits of the Geoplan Solution, what savings in terms of time or revenue has The Guardian seen over the last circa 12 years?
Well I can only speak for the last ten! Where we've used Geoplan software to target our circulation for grandstand promotions we've seen significant gains of 2-3% above promotions that use a more blanket approach to copy allocation.
4) If you could outline 3 areas where Geoplan excels, what would those be?
The ability to combine differing sets of data, the depth of analysis that can be performed in the system and the excellent customer service and support.
5) If you could outline 3 areas where Geoplan could improve, what would those be?
The fact that the software can perform pretty sophisticated analysis can mean that as a first time user it can be a little daunting (there's an awful lot of menus, sub menus and buttons to press). The fat client software means that often updates take a while to implement across our users because being a larger organisation we compete for our IT department’s time with other areas of the business. I can't think of a third, and since you seem to be some way forward in addressing my first two with SKiN I'll have to think of some more before you ask me next time!
6) What makes Geoplan different as an organisation?
You seem to take real pride in the products you develop and sell, I can't fault your support and customer service which is and always has been excellent and unlike a large number of software companies you have a consistent core of people who keep delivering all of the above.