[December 27, 2001]

SPSS's Clementine Version 6.5 Data Mining Software Includes New CRM Features

SPSS Inc. announced the release of Clementine 6.5, the latest version of its data mining software. Many organizations -- from financial firms to telecommunications companies to retail outfits -- use Clementine to increase customer lifetime value by better attracting, cross-selling and retaining customers. 

Clementine 6.5 includes a new Clementine Application Template (CAT) for customer relationship management (CRM). CATs are complete, pre-built project outlines tailored to specific data mining applications that can produce significant, valuable results right out of the box. The new CAT will help users get a jump-start on data mining projects for CRM, and focuses on increasing lifetime customer value, reducing customer turnover or "churn," and predicting promotional response rates. The software is currently shipping worldwide.

"Organizations are now coming to realize what many market analysts have been saying for some time: advanced analytics are imperative to the success of CRM applications," said Peter Caron, SPSS BI senior marketing manager. "Clementine's CRM CAT makes it incredibly easy to add this analytical power. The CAT, in effect, provides a detailed roadmap that organizations can follow to get their CRM data mining projects off the ground faster, make fewer errors along the way and achieve better results in less time.

"The introduction of the CRM CAT also serves as a sign to prospective users that we are committed to ensuring that Clementine remains an indispensable tool for the continuously growing CRM market," Caron said. "As shown by the annual doubling of its sales revenue and regular topping of user surveys such as the KDnuggets polls, Clementine continues to be the No. 1 choice for data mining software."

Clementine takes a visual, interactive approach to data mining. Users build a map of their data mining project--called a "stream"--by selecting icons--called "nodes"--that represent steps in the process. Along the way, users can include their business knowledge for better results.

CATs are collections of pre-built streams, sample data and user guides designed for specific applications. Clementine 6.5 also includes CATs for analysis of Web site data to improve site efficiency and analysis of customer data in the telecommunications industry.

Other new features in Clementine 6.5 include:

• New sequence algorithm: This new algorithm detects patterns in time-ordered data and makes sequential predictions, enabling users to analyze information such as clickstream data from Web sites.
• Enhanced Web mining CAT: Fourteen new streams have been added to the Web mining CAT. Additional improvements include new sample data that represent popular Web log formats, more complicated field derivations and new methods for dealing with returning customers.
• Operation reordering: Clementine now automatically reorders operations to push even more of Clementine's execution into the database. This results in improved performance and reduced network traffic.
• Expression builder: The mouse-driven expression builder boosts productivity and reduces errors, as users no longer have to type complex or lengthy expressions.
• Multiple derive node: Multiple new variables can now be created in a single node, saving time and reducing stream complexity.

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