Case study 1

Public sector bodies collate and record business details for their records and for directories that they publish. One such body maintains a directory of 58,000 businesses from sole traders to national and international corporations that it relies on for its day-to-day operations.

Periodic mailings or funding initiatives need to be targeted at specific business sectors with maximum accuracy - PFA Research are regularly commissioned to 'batch update' contact, address and business details via telephone surveys direct with the company's listed. These details are then refreshed in our client's database direct from our offices through a dial-in access system. On a cycle of approximately 3 years, the entire database is cleansed and update directly.

As well as contact and address details PFA Research were asked to collect profiling information such as group ownership, number of employees, turnover and global representation.

Case study 2

For a leading Directory Publisher we maintain a global information provider database of 21,000 entries. Details include key contact information, primary business, target markets, web addresses and manufacturer accreditations.

Initially the records were updated by the issuing of 18,000 postal questionnaires annually ranging from 3 to 300 pages in length dependent on company size and/or type. Seeking improvement from the 10% response rate PFA Research and the client began to utilise a 'live' and online database where entries were collated from email, fax and post. This electronic process became unified over two years and now handles 12,000 updates a year.

This work is conducted on an annual contract basis and with a combination of internet and telephone research, PFA Research ensures that published information is as up-to-date as possible with maximum timescales specified at one year for the validity of a record. Compared with the previous methodology involving the use of temporary staff, employed direct, our client has experienced a substantially improved service at a much lower cost.