Branches are benchmarked using a range of factors including:

• Customers
• Centres
• Competition
• Market Share
• Branch performance
• Catchments

This stage goes beyond the analogue benchmark by creating a model that will predict sales at a given location. The benchmark stage ensures that all the data has been processed correctly and that we have picked up a detailed knowledge of your estate before predicting branch sales behaviour.

The key factors involved in building a sales model are both internal and external:

Internal - Branch characteristics, such as size and layout of the branch, pitch and the network effect the brand has in the area.

External - Local market characteristics, such as demographics, competition and type of town/ location.

CACI has recently worked with a leading UK banking group which announced an aggressive expansion programme but it was uncertain as to which sites would deliver the most profitable business for the group. CACI developed a range of models that helped the client identify the levels of potential business in key financial markets that could be delivered by every financial location in the UK.

These models are based on data from CACI's Market Databases - the leading source of local level performance data on savings,banking, mortgages and personal loans. This was combined with information on brand strength to create both an understanding of who is active in a location and the level of business that the banking group could generate if it moved into that location.

The model was then used to prioritise sites for investment and it led to shifts in the bank's plans both in terms of regions for investment and the types of location they would consider for expansion.