Simplify360: Pioneering an Era of Customer Experience

Abstract

Simplify360 was established as Buzzom in the year 2009. Buzzom focused on retail customers mostly using the platforms of Twitter and Facebook. The fast-changing social media marketing landscape and monetizing were among the major challenges faced by the company. Buzzom was reborn as Simplify360 in 2011 and its product was turned into an enterprise platform through most of the use cases remained the same. In 2012, the company started thinking of further extensions from just listening to analyzing offline data extracts and responding to customers through the addition of a customer support module. As of today, the product suite of Simplify360 is operable with a range of social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Google+ and LinkedIn and integrates with standard and custom CRM platforms, analytics, and data visualization. The platform of Simplify360 is used by varied clients for social listening, footprint analysis, reporting, customer relationship management (CRM) and engagement. The platform has Social CRM, Online Reputation Management (ORM), Social Command Center and Social Reporting all in the same product but depending on their needs the clients can pick and chose for their use. After diverse viewpoints on moving focus away from services to the product, the management decided to adopt a product-centric strategy. However, is the decision of the firm to become a product-focused company the right one? The other important decision that Simply360 faced is a choice between developing artificial intelligence (AI) based bots and relying on human agents. Simplify360 decided to focus on using AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to support human actors in finding the right solution rather than on complex AI bots. Was this the right decision for the company keeping in mind the fast-changing technological landscape and the strong demand for AI-based solutions by customers?