1. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Why is it important to assess the state of USER RELATIONS in a Global Assessment? EFTA-Eurostat-UNECE Seminar on Global Assessments Yalta, Ukraine 23 – 25 September 2009 Petteri Baer, Regional Adviser, UNECE

2. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 224.9.2009 Good user relations are important, because…  Only used statistical information is useful information  Statistics is mainly not produced for the archives  If statistics does not serve as a tool for decision making and helping to understand on-going phenomena, it has failed its core function

3. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 324.9.2009 Basic statistics - an infrastructure of modern society  Basic statistical information is a tool for safeguarding democracy In order to participate in decisions of society, citizens should have access to basic information on structures, development  Statistics serves decision making This infrastructural service of basic statistical information, often generates demand for more sophisticated and customized statistical information on additional topics and phenomena More labour- and/or investment-intensive statistical services and service products are usually chargeable

4. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 424.9.2009 In a world with growing information overflow a tough question is:  Will Official Statistical Agencies in the future have the role of a key provider of correct, objective, non-partial, non-biased, understandable, comparable and easily accessible information, relevant to stakeholder and user needs?  Or will they degenerate into under-funded producers of historical data, having a limited role as a background source for users mainly in public administration and in institutions of economic and social history?

5. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 524.9.2009 User relations are of strategic importance The question of the development of services, development of modern service products, the questions on marketing and dissemination of statistical information  Both are questions of a strategic importance for any National Statistical Agency. They are not just side functions or minor activities. They are questions about the future of any statistical agency.

6. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 624.9.2009 Proactive is the magic word  Statistical agencies need a well balanced, proactively communicative and professionally led and administered comprehensive approach to the development of their information services  The information services are, together with the data collection and production of statistical information, one of the CORE FUNCTIONS of any statistical agency  Reference is made to the Fundamental Principles of the UN The Generic Statistical Business Process Model, developed by the UNECE and Eurostat

7. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 724.9.2009 The importance of user friendly Database services  Statistical agencies produce quite a lot of statistical information  Different users have different aspects of interest, they want information By industries, By enterprise sizes By regions Comparisons over different time periods International comparisons And numerous other aspects…  PC-Axis, PX-Web… User friendly services!

8. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 824.9.2009 In the East European, Caucasus and Central Asian countries  …the top layer of the state administration is usually well served with statistical information President’s office Ministries Central Bank  But what about other stakeholders?  District and local administrations needs?

9. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 924.9.2009 The media is our partner  In disseminating the main results of all your agency’s hard work on statistics  In making problematic issues known  Help the media to be well informed!

10. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1024.9.2009 Relations with the business community – difficult but rewarding  The business community is a much broader target group than often believed Banks Insurance companies Big corporations Medium sized enterprises Chambers of commerce Branch organizations Employers organizations Foreign companies Etc.

11. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1124.9.2009 The research community – aspects for building good relations  Co-operation in methodological development  Recruitment of new statistical professionals  Promoting the use of statistical information in general  Continuous pressure for providing good metadata  Finding ways for a broader use of microdata without violating confidentiality

12. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1224.9.2009 Other important stakeholders and users of a statistical information  Libraries  Educational institutions  International organizations  Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Trade unions Social issues Environmental issues  Information brokers Information service agencies Business intelligence systems Knowledge managements systems

13. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1324.9.2009 More and more statistical publication takes place on the internet…  This is a very positive development  Availability and accessibility of official statistics has grown substantially  In the beginning of the year 2008 >500 Million internet hosts in the world!  This also increases pressure on timeliness

14. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1424.9.2009 But note: – There are traps on the way!  Just putting your information on your web site does not automatically mean it is utilized  Even though your web information is utilized, it does not mean that your most important users make use of it

15. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1524.9.2009 All potential users These guys are real users Heavy user Traps on the way, continued  You may cover only a tiny share of your potential users - but not recognize it!

16. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1624.9.2009 Traps on the way, continued  Counting the popularity of your web site by “hits” may deceive you because a substantial part of the “fabulous growth” comes from search engines checking if you have any new information

17. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1724.9.2009 Very often you do not really know, who your users are, when you provide services on the internet

18. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1824.9.2009 The importance of good contact information  User lists Existing customers and contacts Regular and heavy users of economical statistics  Contact directories  Feedback contacts   Contact / Customer database   Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

19. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1924.9.2009 For good user interaction at least a Customer Database is needed  For contacting  For surveys on satisfaction or dissatisfaction  For presenting new targeted services  For other forms of interaction

20. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2024.9.2009 Marketing Customers Mana- gement Adminis- tration Sales Product development Development projects Customer intelligenc e Project intelligence Contact intelligence Lead intelligence Informatio n retrievals Quote intelligence Campaign intelligence Customer Database Customer service Functions Information providers Information users Project groups

21. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2124.9.2009 Statistical agencies profit much from active and critical feedback (1)  Having more feedback will help us to develop our services  Interaction with critical customers will help us in having a positive pressure on performing better

22. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2224.9.2009 Statistical agencies profit much from active and critical feedback (2)  A demanding customer is like a grain of sand within the mussel. It doesn’t feel good but the result may be a beautiful pearl!  Thank you for your attention!  petteri.baer@unece.org

23. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Attachment An example of the benefits of having both chargeable and non-chargeable statistical services Building Relationships with Users as a Strategic Concept

24. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2424.9.2009 Systematic customer contact building has given good results in Statistics Finland  More than 100 000 individual internet users monthly (with a population of 5 Million)  15 000 principal customers, 24 400 customers, 29 000 contact persons accumulated in the CRM system  1% customers bring 60% of the income  ~ 50 customers were in 2004 nominated to be strategic or key customers of Statistics Finland  Customers have several ways of being in contact  Many customers are in contact with the NSO in a number of different roles

25. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2524.9.2009 Responsibility for c-database Resp. for cus- tomer portfolio Resp. for customer Responsibilities of customer care in Statistics Finland 1. Central government 2. Local government 3. Corporations and enterprises 4. Research Institutions 5. Educational Institutions 6. Others Strategic customers - 15 organisations Key customers - 33 organisations Centralised: customer process customer database

26. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2624.9.2009 Number of customers according to Segments in Statistics Finland, End of 2005  Corporations and enterprises  Educational Institutions  Local Government Bodies  Organisations  Foreign customers  Central Government  Libraries  Research Institutions  Others  Without segment value (in 2005) 13 466 2 344 2 258 1 464 802 681 657 520 35 1 433

27. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2724.9.2009 Different users prefer different services

28. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2824.9.2009 Customer Relationship Management Systems used in modern organizations are useful because…  The entire organisation benefits from the information the system provides  It helps to analyse the customer structures and developments  Direct- and telemarketing campaigns are much more effective  Helps to monitor the success (or non-success) of different relation building activities taken  Provides a good basis for customer surveys and customer relations

29. Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2924.9.2009 Main steps in organising CRM-work...to organise customer segment teams and nominate the people in charge of relations with customers to list strategic and key customers to analyse needs of strategic and key customers to set goals for taking care of the customer relationships to develop ways of measuring the results of interaction with customers to define main customer groups