BANGALORE, INDIA: 24/7 Customer focuses on building Next Gen CLM solutions through its Innovation Labs that help predict and improve the effectiveness of customer lifecycle interactions.

Ravi Garikipati, chief technology officer, 24/7 Customer talks to Sudhakaran of CyberMedia News about the evolution of 24/7 Customer from a BPO company to that of Customer Lifecycle Management, the company's offerings, business model and much more. Excerpts:

How was the evolution of 24/7 Customer from a BPO company to that of Customer Lifecycle Management?

Since its inception, customers have been the only focus area for 24/7 Customer. Over the past nine years of our operations, we have been successful in having the foresight to anticipate the requirements of our clients’ customers. This has helped us to proactively provide value-added services to them, thereby spearheading the Customer Lifecycle Management as an offering in the BPO space.

We provide a complete suite of solutions across voice and non-voice channels through a dual approach of contact center and products driven by innovation. These services enable businesses to effectively acquire, understand, serve and retain customers by binding the core processes that impacts the customers.

What was it that made 24/7 Customer to focus on Next Gen Customer Lifecycle Management?

For us, customer satisfaction is of utmost importance, and it is essential that innovative methods are used to meet their requirements.

Right from the onset of our operations, we have indulged in predictive analysis of data that helped us lead the integration of approach to managing customer relations in a more collaborative and ‘bi-directional’ manner and hence the focus on Integrated Customer Lifecycle Management came naturally to the organization.

Could you give a brief outline of iLabs products and its distinction? Which are the major products and who are the major clients of iLabs products?

Innovation Labs is an important strategic business unit within 24/7 Customer which focuses on identifying business solution for existing and new customers. iLabs adds value to 24/7 customers by giving them suggestions on how to improve their business by servicing their end customers in a better way.

Some of the solutions offered by iLabs are SalesNext, ServiceNext and ServiceCube. These solutions are offered both as stand alone as well as integrated solutions along with other CLM services.

SalesNext helps in increasing customer’s acquisitions without increase in the cost, while ServiceCube provides strategy to optimize client contacts. Through ServiceNext, multi-channel, web self-service solutions are provided for improving end customer experience while reducing the costs to serve them.

We have more than 12 clients worldwide who are using iLabs solution on a regular basis. Some of our prominent clients include a global financial services company based in the UK, a Fortune 500 financial services company based in the US, a leading provider of digital media and web development software, a leading telecom player in the US and a leading diversified Internet retailer in the U.S.

What is the vision of 24/7’s Innovation Labs and how does it help businesses shift to predictive interactions?

Our mission is to build solutions for the end customer who is the most important stakeholder for us and our client organizations. We are focused on developing solutions that will transform customer interactions across all touch points of the customer lifecycle – acquisition, support, loyalty, retention and growth.

We take ownership for the results – whether it is a lift in revenues, improved customer experience or lowered cost to serve.

We have nine years of experience in dealing with clients across the verticals such as retail, financial services, technology and telecom from different geographic regions. The data that has been collected over the years have given us valuable information, which has helped us in customer acquisition, retention and support dynamics.

Analyzing these data and predicting the end customer behavior has helped us in increasing sales, improving service, loyalty or retention figures thereby creating higher value for our clients.

What is the value addition that you offer to a business house?

We take ownership for the results offered by iLabs – whether it is a lift in revenues, improved customer experience or lowered cost to serve, increasing sales involves improving our customer acquisition rates by 15 per cent or more, reducing cost to serve involves reducing redundant customer interactions by 10 per cent or more so as to improve the customer experience. We also develop strategies to identify the right channels for improving customer experience.

What are the offerings of 24/7 and how does it help businesses scale up and retain customers?

Our predictive models and solutions address business challenges at every stage of the customer lifecycle and they include:

Predict and Sell / Up-Sell / Cross-Sell: Increasing the conversion of prospective customers and reduce the cost of customer acquisition.

Predict and Avoid / Deflect: Reduce cost of operations through call avoidance and deflection strategies.

Predict and Improve: Improve the customer satisfaction and customer experience levels.

Predict and Prevent: Reduce customer attrition rates.

Do you have custom-made solutions for different verticals?

We understand that the customer requirements change with different geographies, industry types and individual clients. Hence a customer in the US will have different expectations compared to a customer in UK. Therefore, we offer solutions that are flexible so that they can be customized for an individual company and its verticals without compromising on the quality.