Loyalty rises to the cloud

Software company GlobeTOM, developer of service oriented turnkey solutions for the telecommunications industry in South Africa, has launched its loyalty platform to South African business.

Using expertise gained from the development of pre-paid and post-paid billing systems for the local telecommunications market – including two of South Africa’s major service providers – GlobeTOM says its ‚GP3′ platform is scalable, cost effective, quick to market and capable of setting new benchmarks for customer retention programmes.

GlobeTOM, one of the first software development companies in South Africa to adopt service- oriented architecture (SOA) to handle ‚extreme’ (exponential) transaction processing for large clients, switches over 2 billion transactions a month. SOA is an architectural pattern that in essence evolves the client-server model to the point where clients (consumers) consume services that are implemented as configurable business processes as opposed to hard-coded procedures.

GlobeTOM’s new loyalty platform, including multi-tenant capabilities – the ability to manage sophisticated currency arrangements and multi-partner schemes – covers batch generation of vouchers, real-time charging, balance management, tracking and revenue assurance functions.

Customer retention, combining customer behavioural analysis, ‚rate planning’ and the allocation and redemption of rewards is integral to the platform.

Accessed, and paid for on demand as dedicated software service (Software-as-a-Service – SaaS), the GP3 platform can be accessed through a public or private ‚cloud’ (dedicated server).

It is a horizontally scalable platform ‚ a system that expands to meet escalating demand ‚ and allows management to ‚start small’ and grow as required.

‚A client can effectively own, build, test and maintain a loyalty program without risk, third party involvement or large capital outlays,‚ says Philip Stander, MD of GlobeTOM.

Initially implemented by South Africa’s largest retail, practice and play group ‚MoreGolf’ to promote golf through a network of affiliated clubs, retail outlets and driving ranges, the GP3 loyalty platform triggered a 100% increase in bookings: 17 000 in a single month within four months of implementation.

Processing a stream of golf experience transactions, the ‚multi-channel’ characteristics of the platform consolidate Point of Sale interactions with web portal transactions and CRM (customer relationship management) inputs from the Pro Shop retail network, driving ranges and clubs affiliated to the PlaymoregolfSA membership network.

The platform collates audited data that is 100% accurate and instantly quantifiable.

‚This is a key requirement for Business Intelligence and vastly simplified customer profiling, behavioural analysis and targeted communication,‚ explains Stander. ‚It allows management to analyse data in a reliable real-time format, and build customer relationships based on relevance.‚

A user-friendly Web-based management interface provides customers with direct and transparent access to ‚on-demand statements’ on the one hand, and call centres and managers can use the tools to adjust reward schemes and promotions (product mix and price adjustments) on the other.

‚Personalisation like this encourages point redemption and keeps customers interested and engaged,‚ adds Stander, ‚and that is the ultimate purpose behind the implementation of a loyalty programme.‚

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