Enacomm: Predicting Customer Behavior Is Key to Cutting Churn, Costs (Aug. 19, 2013)
Aug. 19, 2013
Customer relationship management (CRM) tools, which previously came with multimillion-dollar implementation costs, are becoming more affordable for companies of all sizes because of software-as-a-service (SAAS) models, according to Enacomm Inc., which last week unveiled 4Cast. The CRM application, which is now available as an SAAS release, analyzes past and current user data to predict a customer’s future behavior and help companies provide more personalized customer service, according to the Tulsa, Okla.-based provider of voice processing infrastructure.
Prepaid card companies, in particular, should consider tools that can help them personalize a cardholder’s customer service experience because they can have a dramatic effect on retention, Michael Boukadakis, Enacomm founder and CEO, tells Paybefore. Enacomm has been working with prepaid program manager, issuer and processor clients since 2005, and Boukadakis says it’s time for companies to focus more on retention, not just acquisition. “The analogy I like to use for the prepaid market is an Easter egg hunt. The card managers see all these eggs and are running across the field filling their baskets with eggs [customers]. The problem is there’s a hole in the basket and a lot of companies are struggling to retain their customers,” he says.
4Cast helps businesses understand who their customers are, what they want and what they’re going to do, according to Enacomm. For example, if a cardholder always calls on the 15th of the month inquiring about a direct deposit posting, the IVR menu will automatically update to ask the cardholder if he is calling about the funds availability and perhaps offer to text the cardholder when the funds become available. Such personalized treatment goes a long way to increase customer loyalty, according to Boukadakis.
“When you’re in a growth industry, any deflection of calls or small retention translates to massive saving and massive revenue gains. It should be a No. 1 priority,” he says.
