Smarter relationship management with ClientLoyalty
Procurious caught up with Kent Barnett, Chairman and CEO of ClientLoyalty at ISM2016, Indianapolis USA.
CPOs worldwide recognise the need to keep track of supplier relationships to reduce costs, minimise risk, and uncover opportunities to grow their businesses. Voice of the supplier surveys are common, yet the technology employed is often archaic. Typically, stand-alone web-based surveys are sent out, with the results downloaded into spreadsheets and painstakingly interpreted by analysts. Subsequent surveys are often not linked to the ones that have gone before, and even if they are, it’s left to human analysts to make intelligent connections and interpret the trends.
“This is the gap we discovered in the business services space”, says Kent Barnett, CEO of ClientLoyalty. “Organisations rarely use data to manage the voice of the supplier process, and hence miss out on an enormous opportunity to employ a continuous improvement methodology. They also fail to put that data to work by translating the information into meaningful action.”
The potential impacts of failed business relationships are huge. For buyers, it means wasted time and painful switching costs, while for suppliers, it means churn. In Barnett’s words, “a revolving door is never good for business”. That’s why ClientLoyalty’s founders saw a need to create a supplier performance management system that would build long-term, meaningful relationships between buyers and suppliers.
How ClientLoyalty works
The easy-to-use system is built to optimise relationships through transparency. Users can input operational metrics (KPIs), which are reported using a simple green, yellow and red approach. The system gathers direct feedback and social sentiment, using in-built algorithms to scan the web and track suppliers’ reputation ratings.
The data is delivered in the form of alerts (risk flags), dashboards, and report-out tools. “We call it a data-driven solution”, says Barnett. “The system uses NPS (Net Promoter Score) and the AI generates recommendations on how to reduce detractors and raise your score. Six Sigma is another important part of our measurement methodology – it’s all about smarter relationship management.” All data is benchmarked across ClientLoyalty’s growing client base, showing the low end, high end, and where your supplier falls.
The artificial intelligence kicks in with recommendations on how to improve performance, and is one of the most valuable aspects of ClientLoyalty’s system. This aspect addresses the major gap and frustration many CPOs have with voice of the supplier surveys – there’s really no point in gathering data on relationship strength if you are not going to do anything with that information. ClientLoyalty’s automatically generated recommendations provide a factual base to create a targeted action plan that will improve supplier relationships and save you money.
The results
“We’re creating a business culture that’s based around accountable performance, one company at a time”, says Barnett. “The key is having clear and transparent communications, with the ultimate goal of turning business relationships into business partnerships.”
ClientLoyalty is software that optimises relationships between B2B buyers and suppliers, helping organisations continuously improve by analysing direct feedback, social sentiment and operational data to create stronger bonds of loyalty. If your organization is a buyer of goods and services and needs to manage critical supplier relationships, or a supplier of goods and services and needs to manage strategic client relationships, ClientLoyalty can help you connect with your business partners using data-driven management tools.
