CRM En Harras.

Case study: Harrah’s Solid Gold CRM for the Service Sector

Harrah’s Entertainment provides an example of exceptional data asset leverage in the service

sector, focusing on how this technology enables world-class service through customer

relationship management.

Gary Loveman is a sort of management major trifecta. The CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment is

a former operations professor who has leveraged information technology to create what may

be the most effective marketing organization in the service industry. If you ever needed an

incentive to motivate you for cross-disciplinary thinking, Loveman provides it.

Harrah’s has leveraged its data-powered prowess to move from an also-ran chain of casinos to

become the largest gaming company by revenue. The firm operates some fifty-three casinos,

employing more than eighty-five thousand workers on five continents. Brands include

Harrah’s, Caesars Palace, Bally’s, Horseshoe, and Paris Las Vegas. Under Loveman, Harrah’s

has aggressively swallowed competitors, the firm’s $9.4 billion buyout of Caesars

Entertainment being its largest deal to date.

Collecting Data

Data drives the firm. Harrah’s collects customer data on just about everything you might do at

their properties—gamble, eat, grab a drink, attend a show, stay in a room. The data’s then

used to track your preferences and to size up whether you’re the kind of customer that’s worth

pursuing. Prove your worth, and the firm will surround you with top-tier service and develop

a targeted marketing campaign to keep wooing you back.[1]

The ace in the firm’s data collection hole is its Total Rewards loyalty card system. Launched

over a decade ago, the system is constantly being enhanced by an IT staff of seven hundred,

with an annual budget in excess of $100 million.[2] Total Rewards is an opt-in loyalty

program, but customers consider the incentives to be so good that the card is used by some 80

percent of Harrah’s patrons, collecting data on over forty-four million customers.[3]

Customers signing up for the card provide Harrah’s with demographic information such as

gender, age, and address. Visitors then present the card for various transactions. Slide it into a

slot machine, show it to the restaurant hostess, present it to the parking valet, share your

account number with a telephone reservation specialist—every contact point is an opportunity

to collect data. Between three hundred thousand and one million customers come through

Harrah’s doors daily, adding to the firm’s data stash and keeping that asset fresh.[4]

Who Are the Most Valuable Customers?

All that data is heavily and relentlessly mined. Customer relationship management should

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