Case Study: Kellogg School of Management achieves measurable CRM ROI and data-driven marketing gains with Teradata

ROI for a Customer Relationship Management Initiative at GST

GST Inc., a telecommunications provider, had just finished consolidating 45 data marts into an enterprise data warehouse (EDW) that delivered a documented 65% ROI and saved $27M in one year on a $32M infrastructure investment. Executives wanted to leverage that platform to grow revenue, but CRM was a point of confusion: prior operational CRM spending (~$3M/year) lacked performance metrics, marketing needed analytics to target customers and improve take‑rates, and the CFO was skeptical about measurable payback.

Teradata proposed an analytical CRM built on GST’s EDW, conducted a focused business discovery and delivered a business‑impact model. The solution centered on predictive, targeted acquisition campaigns and cross‑sell opportunities; Teradata projected campaign take‑rate improvements (from about 3% toward 5%), a roughly 20% increase in average monthly revenue for acquired customers, and a measurable positive ROI. Implementation was scoped with about $5M upfront in hardware, software and services plus ongoing maintenance, giving GST a clear, data‑driven path to improve acquisition, retention and marketing ROI.

Kellogg School of Management

Mark Jeffery

Professor