Transforming Customer Experience with Salesforce and AI: ABSYZ

Michigan and Hyderabad-based IT firm ABSYZ Software Consulting Pvt Ltd. believes that CRM applications and AI capabilities would act as a multiplier to revolutionize customer interactions. In the era where AI is just starting to flourish, every customer touch point not only needs to be personalized but also needs to be timed right. Backed by parent firm Youngsoft Inc, the company was founded in 2011. It sees enormous potential in the Salesforce and AI landscape and believes in developing top-notch Salesforce.com solutions for its clients. In an interview with TechCircle, the company’s VP Sales, Pramukh Desai, discussed the shift in the CRM space due to AI. Edited excerpts:

What kind of changes have you noticed in the CRM space in recent years? How did you adapt to the changing market?

We have seen a dramatic shift when it comes to CRM and especially how clients look at Salesforce.com in their scheme of digital transformation initiatives. A lot has changed since we started a decade ago and the shift from S controls to Einstein co-pilot is a testament to how Salesforce as a platform has evolved to address the ever-evolving client needs. The pandemic triggered a massive demand for CRM applications, and naturally, we had a lot of demand for Salesforce.com initiatives. Today, on the contrary, if we look at it, client spending is more watchful, but they are ready to spend if the engagement has clear objectives that impact their business KPIs. The market is tough, but we have developed a more resilient and focused approach to drive growth. Firstly, we did not dilute our talent pool when the demand was high. Our goal was to drive growth without compromising on quality; hence, we remained conservative yet grew over 50% on a YoY basis in the last 3 years. Secondly, another aspect of the playbook was to focus only on a few verticals, such as Healthcare, Manufacturing, BFSI, and Higher Ed. As Salesforce enthusiasts, at the core, we are a bunch of passionate technologists. We spend all our time and energy in the limited space we operate in, and that is a massive differentiator for our clients. Thirdly, AI has changed the way clients look at customer interactions, and there is going to be a massive opportunity for the first movers in this space. We are focussed on building capabilities around Einstein 1 (Salesforce AI) to drive the next growth phase.

How can Salesforce AI initiatives and other generative AI tools impact CRM Applications?

Salesforce.com is making a massive amount of investments in the AI   (Einstein 1 Platform) space, and AI can assist with a wide range of tasks in customer service, sales, sentiment/behavioral analysis, predictive analytics, and others, etc. The Einstein 1 Platform unifies your data, AI, CRM, development, and security into a single, comprehensive platform. Einstein GPT will integrate with OpenAI to provide Salesforce customers with out-of-the-box generative AI capabilities; these initiatives are just a start. We are making a lot of investments with our clients to deliver innovative proof of concept (POCs) to test the waters. Our training and capability tracks are extensively focussing on the Einstein 1 platform, and we will ensure that it is contextualized for real-world business problems.

How do you differentiate yourself from so many players in the CRM and System Integration space today? 

We are a pure-play Salesforce company with a strong suite of system integration expertise and a laser focus on very few key verticals, such as Healthcare, BFSI, and Manufacturing etc. We have increased our wallet share with our clients with this vertical-focused strategy. Our key differentiator is top-quality talent at economical price points. However, It does create some margin pressure, but we are in the growth phase at the moment and would want to continue with the same momentum. Another key differentiator is the playbook of value-driven services. At the regional level, the leadership is engaged almost daily with our key clients and to discuss CRM initiatives that directly impact the business's top line. We are quite agile, and that’s what makes us move quickly and attack our client's problems. The culture of being hyper-responsive and getting the resolutions right the first time in most cases is what sets us apart from other players.

What is your business expansion plans for FY24?

We are focusing on our primary markets: the US, Middle East, India, and ANZ. The US contributes to the majority of our revenue share and still has a lot of potential, helping us to drive growth. In the Middle East, we grew at a rapid pace last year and will make significant investments this year to onboard new clients and gain more market share. The company has a total headcount of 400+, and we want to add another 100+ people in FY 2024. We have a significant onshore presence in all the primary markets we operate in and would like to increase it further this year. Last year, we onboarded a few of the Fortune 500 clients. Our pure-play offerings and vertical-focused approach have given us immense confidence to take on the big players. We are also extensively collaborating with Salesforce.com partnership and industry cloud teams to build more capacity across the value chain of applications. This year, we are betting heavily on Healthcare and life sciences, Manufacturing, and BFSI as industry verticals.

Reference: https://www.salesforce.com/products/platform/