So far, officials at Las Vegas, Nevada-based Harrah's said the implementation of new CRM programs has yielded a jackpot of information about customers" spending habits.

Tracy Austin, vice president of development at Harrah's, said intelligence programs implemented by Cognos in recent months have helped the company boost sales through better targeted marketing campaigns.

With its Total Rewards card program, for example, Harrah's gained the ability to track each player's gaming patterns and preferences at its 21 U.S. locations.

Finding Trends

"By uncovering trends in the data, Cognos business intelligence allows us to determine the destination, dining and gaming choices of our customers," Austin said. "Using this insight, we are able to build complimentary and special-offer programs that are customized to the individual customers."

As a result, Harrah's officials said the company won an award from the Data Warehousing Institute for its customer loyalty program, which is operated using a platform put together by Cognos and NCR.

The deal with Cognos also has helped Harrah's debunk some myths about the casino business.

Industry experts, for instance, once believed players had fierce loyalty to one location, but an in-depth analysis of Harrah's customer data found that players enjoy moving from resort to resort and from city to city.

Unheard of Targeting

Harrah's was able to respond with more focused communication with individual customers, officials said. Austin said that level of customer service was "unheard of in the casino entertainment world" for years.

Harrah's, the third largest casino entertainment company, operates 21 casinos in 17 U.S. markets under the Harrah's, Showboat, Rio and Players brand names.

Ottawa, Ontario-based Cognos, which claims it has 17,000 customers in more than 100 countries, recently announced a strategic partnership with Onyx Software Corp. (Nasdaq: ONXS), targeting the financial services, telecommunications, healthcare and high-tech sectors. The companies will market an integrated product that combines Onyx's CRM portal with Cognos" analytical tools.