2Overview of Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action
Overview of Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action
This chapter provides an overview of Oracle’s Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action. It includes the following topics:
About Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action
Oracle’s Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action is an integration framework between Siebel Business Applications and Oracle Real-Time Decisions that enables personalized, contextual, one-to-one recommendations across multiple channels. Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action replaces the Siebel Intelligent Offer Generation product, which is a Siebel Marketing application module. Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action makes the Siebel Call Center and Oracle Real-Time Decisions integration customizable and compatible with Oracle RTD version 11g. It provides an open, extensible, and configurable workflow-driven integration between Siebel Business Applications and Oracle RTD 11g.
Benefits of Implementing Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action
The following topic provides highlights of some of the functionality that Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action provides over previous iterations of the product.
One of the most important improvements that Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action provides is cross-channel support using Web services. These Web services allow information to be packaged in a format that can be used by different types of applications: mobile applications, Web applications, and point-of-sale applications. For more information, see About Cross-Channel Support Using Web Services.
Another significant benefit of Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action is that in contrast to previous versions of Siebel Marketing applications that generated recommendations, Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action provides a range of recommendation types. In addition to Marketing Offers, which was the only type of recommendation previously provided, you can now generate Products and Loyalty Promotions recommendations, because these types are also now provided by default. Finally, Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action allows you to configure any type of recommendation. For more information, see About the Range of Recommendation Types.
Finally, one major benefit of implementing Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action is that the Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action Response Action Framework allows organizations to initiate specific actions in response to how their customers respond to recommendations, and it provides a complete record of the recommendation history for each customer. For more information about the Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action Response Action Framework, see About Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action Response Action Framework.
Architecture of Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action
The following image provides a high-level overview of how Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action integrates Siebel Business Applications with Oracle Real-Time Decisions.
Workflows for Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action
Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action architecture is open, extensible, and configurable. Organizations can use the default workflows that are provided with the product, and they can also configure workflows to customize the functionality according to their needs.
Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action provides the following default workflows:
RTD Advisor Workflow. This workflow makes an Advisor call to Oracle Real-Time Decisions.
RTD Informant Workflow. This workflow makes an Informant call to Oracle Real-Time Decisions.
RTD Interaction Workflow. This workflow makes an end-to-end interaction call (both an Informant call and an Advisor call) to Oracle Real-Time Decisions.
RTD Process Response Action. This workflow updates the responses in the Recommendation History screen within the Siebel application, informs Oracle Real-Time Decisions about the responses, and performs any predefined actions for the selected responses.
You can configure these workflows to fetch additional information before calling Oracle Real-Time Decisions. You can also modify these workflows and publish them as business services so that the application will call those instead of calling the default Web services. For more information about how to configure workflows, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide on the Siebel Bookshelf.
Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action enables organizations to retrieve data from external sources that are not available within a Web site or mobile application or within Siebel Business Applications.
Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action can fetch the following kinds of data from Siebel applications or from an external, third-party application:
Credit scores. For example, if a financial institution needs to obtain information about a customer’s credit-worthiness, then Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action can obtain this information from a third-party credit-reporting agency.
Billing information. For example, Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action can obtain information about a customer’s current balance.
Order status. When the order management information is not available within the Siebel application, Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action can retrieve information about a customer’s order.
Customer status or the lifetime score. Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action can fetch information from a third-party application about a customer’s status or about their lifetime score.
About Cross-Channel Support Using Web Services
The Web services provided with Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action enable the information that is requested by the calling application to be packaged in a format that can be used by different types of applications, such as mobile applications, Web applications, and point-of-sale applications. The Web services deliver valid responses along with the recommendations so that the calling application can provide accurate, flexible, and relevant responses. The Web services also enable a quicker response capture and a faster response time. If a recommendation is rejected, the Web service methods enable external applications to capture and send additional information so that better recommendations can be provided for future transactions. Finally, the Web service methods save the entire transaction: the recommendations provided, the responses, and any additional information that the customer provides.
Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action provides the following Web services methods to generate recommendations:
CallInformant. This method enables external applications to send contextual information to Oracle Real-Time Decisions Server, such as the customer’s name, contact ID, the details about the account, or the Web page that the customer was viewing. The CallInformant method passes messages that contain information about a specific unit in a business process to the RTD Informant inline service.
CallAdvisor. This method enables external applications to request recommendations. It makes an Advisor call to the Oracle Real-Time Decisions Server, which processes input from a customer and returns recommendations based on that input. This method provides the available response choices for each recommendation type so that the application can display this information as buttons or in drop-down lists. This method also provides an image URL for each recommendation to be able to provide a picture of the product that is being recommended.
ProcessResponseAction. This method enables external applications to send responses against the recommendations that the CallAdvisor Web service previously provided. It performs the following operations:
Updates the Recommendation History record with the selected response
Makes an RTD Informant call about the selected response
Performs any predefined actions for the selected response
The following image shows how the Web service methods pass information between Siebel Business Applications and Oracle Real-Time Decisions.
External applications can call the Web services using their own logic and timing, which provides flexibility for the applications to control the customer interactions. For more information about the Web services provided for Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action, see Siebel CRM Web Services Reference.
About the Range of Recommendation Types
Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action provides the following default recommendation types:
Marketing Offers
Products
Loyalty Promotions
However, you can also configure any type of recommendation, and this ability to configure additional recommendation types allows you to provide a wider range of recommendations. Recommendation types are modeled as choice groups in Oracle Real-Time Decisions, and then associated to the choice groups within the Administration - Marketing > Response Management (RTD) view within the Siebel application. For more information about how to configure recommendation types, see Setting Up Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action.
About Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action Response Action Framework
With Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action, you can initiate specified actions when you receive a response from a customer about a recommendation. For example, if a customer shows interest in a marketing offer, then you can create a lead within the application. If a customer accepts an offer to enroll in a loyalty program, then you can trigger the enrollment process automatically. Also, if a customer rejects an offer, then you can update attributes within the database to flag the rejection so that future marketing initiatives can be adjusted accordingly.
The Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action Response Action Framework triggers the default workflows that initiate the multiple options that have been defined for a response. When a response is recorded, all of the actions that have been set up against a response will be triggered. For more information about response actions for Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action, see Setting Up Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action
About the Recommendations History Feature
Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action provides a Recommendations History screen to provide a better view of the customer based on information about past interactions with that customer. The RTD Requests list contains information about requests to Oracle Real-Time Decisions and lists the date and time that each request was generated. The Recommendations History screen displays the Recommendation ID, the name of the recommendation, the recommendation type, the response, and the reject reason (if applicable). The RTD Request Attributes screen displays details about the request attributes, such as the attribute type, the attribute name, and the attribute value.
You can also view the responses that were selected against previous recommendations. For more information about how to configure response actions, see Setting Up Siebel In-Memory Next Best Action