From: Subject: Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 12:02:56 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: mhtml:file://C:\Users\ktran\Eudora\Attach\ArkDemArticle.mht X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165

Acxiom, MIT ink one-year research = contract to=20 study firm=92s data quality

BY=20 JAKE BLEED ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Acxiom Corp. announced Thursday = a=20 one-year research project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology = to=20 address one of the company=92s mostpersistent problems: incorrect = data.
=20 The Little Rock-based company regularly deals in hundreds of = millions of=20 bits of customer data, information that is used by client companies to = make=20 marketing more effective. Ideally, that information will link the right = customer=20 with the right product.
The wrong information can kill a = marketing program, however. Customers get the wrong types of products. = Names are=20 misspelled. Promotional mailings are sent to out-of-date = addresses.
=20 "Data quality is really foundational to everything we do," said = John=20 Talburt, director of Acxiom=92s Laboratory of Applied Research. "It=92s = very much=20 like manufacturing; you have to have quality control all along the = supply=20 chain."
That quality control can give companies like = Acxiom a=20 strong competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Correct = information =97 what the company calls "data hygiene" =97 is a problem = for more than=20 just Acxiom, said Richard Wang, director of MIT=92s Information Quality = Program,=20 which will work with Acxiom on the contract. The economy=92s increasing = reliance=20 on mountains of consumer data presents challenges for all variety of=20 companies.
"You need to know your customer," Wang said. = "The=20 question is, how good is your information ?"
Success = rates of 90=20 percent or a bit better are relatively easy to achieve, said Zachary = Wilhoit,=20 Acxiom=92s leader of data content. But achieving higher levels of = accuracy =97 98=20 percent or above =97 requires researchers to develop a far more complex=20 approach.
Strategies that are 90 percent successful = can=92t be=20 pushed to ensure higher quality levels, Wilhoit said, explaining that = "you can=92t=20 just use the same tools harder."
Acxiom=92s specialty = lies in=20 shaping marketing data to an individual=92s preferences, what the = industry calls a=20 "customer-centric system," Wilhoit said. That process sees researchers = basing=20 their work "not on what we think is the right idea of quality but what = our=20 customer thinks is the right idea of quality."
= Developing those=20 techniques will be the goal of the MIT project, which will include other = companies involved in data management, said MIT=92s Wang.
= The=20 project is not meant as an endorsement of Acxiom=92s data management = abilities,=20 Wang said, but is more a reflection of the company=92s previous research = and its=20 willingness to share information with the project.
"They = have a=20 good foundation in the area," Wang said. "They know how to make money = and they=20 want to open up."
Wang said other companies will be = invited to=20 join the project and that any findings will eventually be published in = research=20 journals.
Both Wilhoit and Talburt have worked with MIT = in the=20 past, although the one-year contract is the first such agreement between = Acxiom=20 and the institute.
Acxiom=92s stock closed Thursday at = $20.42,=20 down 6 cents, on the Nasdaq market.=20

This story was published Friday, = March 12,=20 2004

Copyright =A9 2004, Arkansas = Democrat-Gazette,=20 Inc. All rights reserved.
This document may not be reprinted = without the=20 express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, = Inc.

Material=20 from the Associated Press is Copyright =A9 2004, Associated Press and = may not be=20 published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press = text, photo,=20 graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast,=20 rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or = indirectly=20 in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be = stored=20 in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not = be held=20 liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in = the=20 transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages = arising=20 from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.