To improve customer service and maximize its sales at the concession stands, the Cincinnati Zoo integrated business analytics tools with a new point-of-sale system two years ago. Prior to the deployment, the zoo had a variety of systems for admissions, food service, retail and memberships, and the systems did not exchange data, reports Jennifer Lawinski at CIOInsight.

"We come from a world where even finding out what yesterday's food sales were might take me three days," said John Lucas, director of Park Operations for the zoo. "We're now able to report on what members are doing, all the way down to their name level."

With business analytics software in place, the zoo expects an increase in revenue of $350,000 this year. It is able to identify more effectively where its 1.2 visitors each year spend their money, and it plans to collect more information via a loyalty program for non-members. To manage the analytics tools, the zoo added a second database administrator to its small IT group.

Lucas advises anyone considering this kind of project to first get approval from the top. "At the end of the day no matter what kind of analytics you are extracting out of your business, if your CFO doesn't believe in it, you're not going to move the needle," he said.

In another article this week from CIOInsight, writer Dennis McCafferty explores how Hertz, Capital District Physicians' Health Plan and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation are leveraging business analytics to improve business processes and decision making.

For more:
- see Jennifer Lawinski's article at CIOInsight
- see Dennis McCafferty's article at CIOInsight

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