Product development for Experian QAS customers

Premier Insight talks to Gareth Williams, Head of Product Management, Experian QAS.

Gareth Williams joined Experian QAS in April 2009 having worked in both blue-chip mobile telecoms and small, entrepreneurial start-up companies. He has a wealth of experience in developing innovative new products, as well as transforming the commercial performance of existing product portfolios and developing world-class product management teams.

Tell us about your role and how the Product Management department is structured...

My role is to assist and manage my team effectively so that they can focus on what they do best: the commercial management of Experian QAS products. I do that by providing them with direction and structure, ensuring they have the right level of support from the rest of the business and by working to make sure the right systems are in place so that they can work in the most effective way.

Our structure aligns with Experian QAS's contact data management strategy. We have product management individuals focusing on each of the CDM segments, two product support analysts who work to ensure our sales teams really understand everything there is to know about our products, a commercial analyst who helps us gain deeper insight into our product performance, and also a product trainer.

What products are currently in development?

I'm really excited about a number of products that are currently in development. To help lower customers' total cost of ownership for our solutions and to make their deployment easier, we will be providing more of our products via an 'On Demand' platform. We are also revamping our entry-level street-level address capture and health-sector specific products to improve their usability and the customer's overall experience. We're improving our deduplication products so they can handle even larger databases, and there will be more Experian QAS product integration with Enterprise ERP and CRM systems.

I understand that Product Management offers Premier customers the chance to test products in development. How does this work?

When developing our product roadmaps, we work closely with our Premier customers. We think about what features and enhancements we need to develop, and then get vital feedback on the functionality and usability of pre-release product versions. This is something I firmly believe will help improve our products over time.

When requiring Premier customers' input and feedback, we work with Customer Management and Marketing to find out which customers we should talk to and then ask the account manager to get in touch to see if they would like to help.

What can we expect from Product Management in the future?

Expect more innovative new products and datasets, an improved customer experience across all our existing products, and the opportunity for more Premier customers to meet the Product Management team to help us shape Experian QAS's future product development.

Get involved. Sign up to Experian QAS's product testing programme, or speak to our Customer Care Manager by completing the contact form below: