Clash of the software titans
Our Web site address on the Internet is: http://www.marketing-week.co.uk/mw0001
I was very pleased to read Simon Daisley’s letter, “Viper software does dirty work” (MW June 14), reopening the debate about data-mining techniques. Mr Daisley’s interpretation of my comments is simplistic and misleading.
He says the Viper product can achieve what our Mar Kit system can achieve. This is simply not the case as Mar Kit’s “heatseeking” capabilities, where you simply pour in raw data and the system spots common patterns in the information, is not replicated in Brann’s product. For our clients, this is one of the most important parts of our system.
Yes, MPP technology is relatively expensive, but we offer clients access to the technology on a bureau service basis – making the system very affordable for clients who recognise that the best is worth paying for.
Mr Daisley also knows that our Mar Kit product is complementary to Viper and all of the other similar fast-counting software products like Fastats and Rapidus – as one of our mutual clients will testify. This recognition may account for the recent fairly substantial price cuts in Viper’s price to align it with those other products.
Despite the recent coverage, there is evidently some remaining confusion. So, if Mr Daisley is keen to effect head-on comparisons, we at TDS would be delighted to take part in a test by an independent third-party client, analysing large volumes of raw transactional data, and see how each system performs.
Simon, the gauntlet is down. Are you man enough to pick it up?
Simon Lawrence
New projects director
TDS Insight
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
