By Rodolfo Pereira, Enterprise Solutions Director at Noesis
Ecommerce News: When did Noesis start and why did you decide to enter the Portuguese market?
Rodolfo Pereira: Noesis was founded in 1995 in Portugal and by the Portuguese people. Today we're an international technology consultancy company, part of an international group (Altia Group) and present in 6 countries. Besides Portugal, we have operations and local offices in Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Brazil and the United States.
At Noesis, we operate under the motto: Helping your Business Grow Faster and that's our purpose, to support our clients in their digital transformation journeys, offering technological solutions in different areas, from Infrastructures to Cloud, Cybersecurity, Software Development, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Automation or Quality and Software Testing.
EcN: How does your platform work and what does it consist of?
RP: As a technology consultancy, we assume an agnostic position focused on the client's needs. We rely on reference technology, which allows us to always offer adequate solutions to our clients, according to their needs, business objectives, technological infrastructure, size or investment capacity, for example. We do not have an eCommerce platform of choice, but we work and develop projects using the best media available in the market. Two concrete examples of this are the Sitecore and Sitefinity platforms. Gartner recognizes both technologies as leaders in the Digital Experience Platforms segment.
EcN: What technological solutions associated with e-commerce have you implemented to respond to the needs of consumers?
RP: Over the last few years we have been investing heavily in Customer Experience related areas. Not only in the Web or eCommerce component but also in other aspects that are nowadays fundamental for the online business. I am referring, for example, to the Omnicanal management theme, to the need for brands to know their customers better and better and ensure a coherent and excellent experience, whatever the channel with which the customer interacts with the brand. This leads to the need to increasingly invest in new forms of interaction with the Consumer, of which Bots are an example. Also, the use of Artificial Intelligence, or even the total dematerialization of a purchasing process, with the adoption of electronic signature solutions that allow concluding a transaction and a contract in a digital and dematerialized way.
It has been in all these areas - Web, Mobile, Bots, e-Signature, CRM - that we have been acting in recent years, working for some of the main companies in the national and international market and leading brands in sectors such as Banking, Insurance, Retail or FMCG, for example.
EcN: How does Artificial Intelligence act as a determining factor in the personalization of purchases?
RP: Investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamental to developing a proper omnichannel strategy and allowing organizations to provide their customers with personalized shopping experiences.
Knowing the Consumer is crucial to ensuring a better consumer experience. Gartner predicts that 85% of customer interactions with brands will be AI-based in the next few years.
The Future involves artificial intelligence, not only in this interaction component but also in the personalization of content or its predictive capacity. Nowadays, using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, it is possible to understand habits and consumption patterns, know the behavior and preferences of the Consumer, and, in the limit, predict when that customer will need to purchase a specific product or service. This capability will allow brands to develop offerings specifically targeted to their customers, become more relevant to them, and provide an increasingly better service and experience, building customer loyalty and making their business more profitable.
EcN: How do you help relationships develop between brands and diverse audiences in an exclusively digital ecosystem?
RP: In today's digital environment, brand reputation issues are crucial. We live in an age where everything (and everyone) is connected and in touch. The countless platforms, applications, and social networks are interaction channels between the brand and its consumers/followers. They are also platforms where customers can address their problems, difficulties, doubts or complaints.
In this sense, it is necessary to have a holistic version of customer service or customer engagement. It would be best if you integrated all these channels into the transversal vision of customer experience. A comment on a social network must be treated the same way as a "formal" complaint, for example. The positive side of digital is that it allows us to design an increasingly personalized experience and is, therefore, the privileged channel to strengthen reputation, work on referrals, and share relevant information about the product, brand or service.
EcN: Do you have any success stories? Can you tell us about any specific one?
RP: The projects we develop are usually protected by confidentiality agreements. Nevertheless, I can briefly refer that Noesis was responsible for developing the current Portal/Website of the insurance company Tranquilidade, designed with Sitecore technology. This new Portal was distinguished with an Experience Award, highlighting the main projects developed worldwide in the Customer Experience areas. The website was a clear bet of the brand in improving its customer experience, having registered, in the months following the launch, a significant improvement in the satisfaction index of the Portal's users.
EcN: Do you have any expansion plans?
RP: In the short term, we do not plan to open new locations but rather to consolidate and grow in our already present markets. Our expansion strategy involves reinforcing our investment in international markets while maintaining our position in the Portuguese market. This investment in the global market is made by supporting our local teams and investing in a Hub logic. This is the case of our operation in the Netherlands, which today serves clients throughout the Benelux region, Germany and the Nordic countries, or the office in Ireland, which is intended to be able to operate and develop projects in the United Kingdom as well.
Published (in Portuguese) in Ecommerce News
