The digital marketplace is changing. Today, we’re moving through a state of transformation, in which more people are moving away from on-premises technology and are beginning to explore the possibilities of software and the cloud. As the marketplace becomes more complex, many businesses are looking for ways that they can differentiate themselves through service, and customer experience (CX).
Of course, if you want to know how you can deliver the solutions that your clients want, the first thing you need to do is gather the data capable of informing your strategic choices. As an expert on all-things data, ethosIQ CEO Scott Walker will be taking to the stage at Avaya Engage 2018 next week, to discuss how organisations can drive greater engagement and success with real-time consumer insights.
I had a fantastic opportunity to speak with Scott ahead of his appearance on-stage, to discuss the growth of ethosIQ, and how the business is empowering companies who want to make the most out of their CX strategy.
Tell Us About Yourself, and ethosIQ
Scott Walker is the CEO of ethosIQ, a cloud-based software provider specialising in data correlation. With more than 24 years of experience in the sector, Scott knows his stuff when it comes to technology and data management. As he told me:
“I’m a professional software sales rep converted into a CEO. Before this, I worked for a company called Genesys, managing accounts for companies like Nike, Apple, Ticketmaster and Microsoft.”
During his time with the industry, Scott noticed a gap in the market and founded ethosIQ in 2009 as a company devoted to gathering business intelligence for the purpose of better consumer experiences in real-time. Now, ethosIQ is currently responsible for correlating data from over 183,000 agents around the world.
“The concept behind ethosIQ is community intelligence. What we’re doing, and where we’re going as a business is unique, because we’re focused on bridging the gap between data correlation and aggregation.”
“We find out what’s happening for a company in real-time. With our unique tools, we can cost-effectively take information, and measure events as they change, then give that data back to companies in a format they can use for recording, analytics, and growth.”
What Makes ethosIQ Special?
The ethosIQ product is a multi-platform solution for data management.
“In the UK we started with Orange, helping them to migrate to a better system for data management, and now we’re working alongside companies like BT, Bupa, and Scottish Power.”
To some extent, ethosIQ is doing the job that vendors should be doing in the first place, by bringing siloed applications together and giving organisations more access to their most valuable data.
“We’re outside of the call centre, and we’ve even dived into utilities. For instance, if you have a business process outsourcer who agreed to take 80% of your calls in 20 seconds, we can see their data in real-time and let you know if they’re complying with their promises or not”
Scott told me that the benefit of ethosIQ is that companies no longer need to spend huge amounts of time and money on completing spreadsheets and sourcing information.
“You can see who is complying in real-time and get notified when people aren’t performing as they should be.”
How Does ethosIQ Fit with Future Technologies?
Since big data is an important element in AI, chatbots, and even IoT, it makes sense that ethosIQ would be ahead of the game when it comes to digital transformation. Scott noted that the brand is already heading towards a future with predictive data and analytics.
“We’ve created a data lake, and we’re heading towards a future where users will be able to subscribe to that data lake and see where they measure up against the best-in-class peers in their industry. Then, we can provide a road-map for each client that helps them to reach their strategic goals.”
In a sense, ethosIQ are giving companies access to the true value of business data, helping clients see their path towards transformation. Additionally, there’s plenty of potential still to be discovered in future tech like AI and deep-learning.
“We’ve already installed AI into our solution for troubleshooting purposes. What happens is, the moment we get a trigger or hit a threshold, the system can complete a diagnosis based on what’s happened in the past.”
Is ethosIQ Popular for the Age of Engagement?
It’s safe to say that ethosIQ have already earned some respect from their industry. The company is a recognised gold member of the Oracle partner network, and Scott himself will be speaking as part of the Customer Connections sessions at Avaya’s Engage event for this year – something that I’m excited to attend myself.
In the age of customer experience, I asked Scott how popular the data management solution has been.
“We’re seeing an increase in software sales somewhere around 200% year-over-year, and this year, we’ll be rolling out an even bigger both at Avaya Engage. For me, it’s all about helping people to understand what they can really do with their data.”
Scott is encouraging customers and companies around the world to complete a thorough self-assessment of their data strategy and figure out where they are on the path to better customer experience.
“If you don’t take care of the data today, then the data is going to take care of you.”
