DR. COLONIA-WILLNER ANNOUNCES REAL-TIME DM BREAKTHROUGH

Mergers and acquisitions occur often today as corporations seek to acquire larger market share and improve profitability. A key success factor, however, is to make new customers happy after a merger. To achieve this objective, companies such as banks, e-commerce or retail point-of-sale businesses need to learn as much as they can about the characteristics and performance of their acquired customers as they transition to the new company's products and services.

Cognitive psychologist Dr. Regina Colonia-Willner has developed a new scientific approach that delivers this vital information in depth with millisecond precision. Using her IT data-mining methodology, companies with electronic self-delivery systems can now catch customers "in action" to discover how these customers perform in the new environment as they access a variety of products and services.

For a bank as well as numerous other businesses, the new information proves to be essential for pro-active initiatives. For example, it optimizes the company's ability to keep customers buying its products and services while motivating these new customers to conduct transactions that are more profitable to the company.

In a wide-ranging research study on customer usage of automated teller machines (ATMs) during a merger of two large international banks, Colonia-Willner statistically analyzed a random sample of 15,099 ATM users, ages 16- 79, as they performed a total of 60,259 financial transactions during 44,435 visits to 103 ATMs in real environments. She collected data from the merged customers unobtrusively, in real time, over 22 days, and cross-referenced the findings to generate rich demographic information for the bank. The results reveal with millisecond precision who visited the ATMs, when they visited, what business they conducted, what situations they had to handle, what outcomes resulted, and how long each transaction took.

Dr. Colonia-Willner will present her research findings as lead speaker at the American Psychological Association's 108th Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., on Friday, August 4. Her address, "Electronic Self-Delivery Systems Breakthrough: Discovering What Customers Do During a Merger" will open the symposium "Information Technology Breakthroughs: Building Opportunities in the New Millennium."

Colonia-Willner holds a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a winner of the American Psychological Association's prestigious George E. Briggs Award. Her company, Practical Intelligence at Work Inc, specializes in cognitive systems engineering. It helps companies effectively design new products and product development plans that result in increased profits for corporations.

"This new research unveils critical information never available before," says Dr. Colonia-Willner. "Companies have long needed 'to catch customers in action' and we can now supply this knowledge to them almost instantaneously. In fact, we witnessed businesses use this new information during a merger to retain their merged customers and optimize the company's appeal to acquire brand-new customers. These companies increased market share and profitability by keeping the merged customers satisfied and attracting new ones."

The statistical investigation of the merger at the $3 billion international bank was also crucial to the examination of scientific hypotheses not amenable to be tested in the laboratory. For example, the transfer of performance in "expert"(existing) customers and "novice" (new) customers was tested (1) by comparing users' performance across two different versions of ATM software and (2) by comparing users' performance at two different types of branches. The interesting implications of the findings for the study of practical intelligence, experience, and compensatory abilities will be discussed during the presentation.

The research conducted by Dr. Colonia-Willner constitutes a scientific breakthrough. The ability to analyze customers' real-time actions in an everyday environment without the interference of a visible investigator -- a scientific intrusion associated with lab setting as well as natural customer observation -- is unique. In fact, her new scientific approach represents a huge advance in data-mining information technology providing companies with solutions that were previously unavailable. It allows businesses to build customer transaction databases with accurate, detailed information about products and equipment, and assists companies in electronically recording customer profiles which includes customer timing performance.

Among the findings from Dr. Colonia-Willner's research:

• Existing customers pay 200% more visits to the ATMs and conduct significantly more transactions per visit than new merged customers.
• New merged customers make significantly more errors during transactions at the ATMs than existing customers.
• Ninety percent of ATM activity occurs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., indicating a large unused potential.
• People of both sexes use ATMs in real environments with about the same accuracy.
• Older customers, although taking on average more time to complete their entries, do not necessarily make more errors than younger ones. A 70-year-old ATM user takes 4 seconds longer to complete entries as compared to a 20-year-old user when both attempt the same number and type of transactions.
• College-educated users, although completing their entries 4.6 seconds faster, do not necessarily make fewer errors than less educated ones.

Dr. Colonia-Willner's presentation, "Electronic Self-Delivery Systems Breakthrough: Discovering What Customers Do During a Merger," is scheduled for Friday, August 4, Noon - 1:50 p.m. in Meeting Room 12 of the Washington Convention Center.

Contact Regina Colonia-Willner, Ph.D., for Practical Intelligence at Work Inc, 770-436-1723, or rwillner@ix.netcom.com, or Cristina Herrera, 404-724-2501, or cherrera@jacksonspalding.com, for Regina Colonia-Willner, Ph.D.