The Hub

Throwback to the time we were 18 and about to reach the pivotal milestone of choosing a profession or higher education. The questions we struggled with back then remain the same today: from ‘What does the business world look like?’ over ‘Which skills are indispensable to become a successful employee or entrepreneur?’ to ‘What is my purpose in life?’. With their educational project ‘Ondernemers voor de Klas’, non-profit organization Vlajo tries to answer each of those burning queries by inviting seasoned entrepreneurs to share their experiences in front of the class.

I’m Stijn, a fervent globetrotter and a Senior Manager at The House of Marketing. As you probably guessed by the title, I have a special connection with Los Angeles. Want to know why? Well, I’ve always been passionate about traveling and getting myself immersed in new cultures. Therefore, I’m constantly looking for ways to incorporate these aspects in my professional life. So when my previous employer presented me with the opportunity to move abroad, I knew I had to seize it.

First things first: What does innovation actually mean? We describe it as creativity, yet the kind that creates business impact. Yes, innovation covers brainstorms about new ideas and technologies, but the key goal is to ensure sustainable growth. An innovation strategy enables you to introduce both small-scale and radical changes in your processes and offerings to provide customer experiences that can sustainably outperform your competition.

Technology is fundamentally changing the behavior of consumers, and with it the way customers expect to interact with companies. How can brands break through the virtual noise given the limited time they have? Creating personalized customer experiences is a major opportunity to do so.

At the start of 2016, mobile phone operator BASE Company was officially acquired by Telenet, one of Belgium's leading telecom providers. BASE has always been a young and dynamic company with a strong focus on a great user experience. Looking at the fact that 60% of consumers use chatbots to interact with businesses and the use of Facebook Messenger is popular amongst all age groups, the Telenet team contacted BotBakery, specialized in bringing together artificial intelligence, user interfaces, personalization and user experience through the creation of chatbots. Together with Ingenico, BotBakery’s remit was to set up Belgium’s first telecom recharging ‘top-up’ chatbot with an integrated payment module in Messenger to recharge prepaid cards. BotBakery, part of Upthrust, a spin-off of The House of Marketing and the digital implementation pillar of Quanteus Group, proves with the chatbot its strength to translate promising digital technologies into practical applications. Mobile payments in Belgium today are mainly done through webportals. Now, with the launch of BASE’s Top-up chatbot, there is a breakthrough to recharge in a chat functionality, with no need to leave the chat. Until now, BASE customers needed to go to the website or to the night shop to buy a scratch card or they had to download an application to recharge their prepaid card. As of today, those customers can recharge with only a few clicks within their Facebook Messenger. The only thing they need to do is to accept the privacy statement, give the phone number they want to top up, define the amount they want to recharge and fill in their payment details.

Diegem, 20 december 2018 - BotBakery, gespecialiseerd in de combinatie van Artificiële Intelligentie, gebruikersinterfaces, personalisatie en gebruikerservaring bij de creatie van bots, creëerde in samenwerking met Ingenico Group, wereldleider in online- en mobiele betalingsoplossingen, de eerste Belgische telecomchatbot met een geïntegreerd betalingssysteem in Facebook Messenger. BASE, onderdeel van Telenet, is met de ‘Top-up chatbot’ pionier in het Belgische telecomlandschap om kaarten te herladen. BotBakery, onderdeel van Upthrust, een spin-off van The House of Marketing en de digitale implementatiepoot van Quanteus Group, zet met de telecomchatbot resoluut een stap naar de vertaling van veelbelovende digitale technologieën naar praktisch bruikbare toepassingen. Chatbots winnen aan populariteit op websites, Facebook Messenger en WhatsApp. Ze zorgen voor een win-win voor bedrijven en consumenten. Bedrijven ervaren een stijging in klantengagement, leadgeneratie, klanttevredenheid, ... Anderzijds biedt het consumenten een betere gebruikerservaring, 24/7 beschikbaarheid, een zeer performante personalisatie, ... Met de lancering van BASE’s Topup chatbot, ging BotBakery nog een stap verder. De e-commerce chatbot van BASE geeft klanten in drie verschillende talen de mogelijkheid om hun prepaidkaart in minder dan één minuut te herladen. Met dit einddoel in gedachten, ging BotBakery aan de slag.  Er gingen grondige technische analyses aan vooraf om na te gaan welke integraties nodig zijn om de verschillende functionaliteiten van de chatbot te laten werken. Een integratie van een oplossing van Ingenico garandeert de veiligheid van de betalingsfunctionaliteit. “De integratie van het betalingssysteem binnen Facebook Messenger zorgt voor een veel lagere drop-out van consumenten tijdens hun top-up proces en daarmee ook voor een hogere conversieratio,” vertelt Dennis Peeters, Master BotBaker bij BotBakery. Door de integratie van het betalingssysteem, is er echt sprake van ‘conversational commerce’.  Bovendien zal de bot de consument kunnen verderhelpen met FAQs en zinnen begrijpen en het passende antwoord formuleren. Heeft de chatbot het antwoord niet, dan kan een verbinding met de klantendienst gemaakt worden.

Diegem, 20 décembre 2018 - BotBakery, qui crée différents bots en associant l’intelligence artificielle, des interfaces utilisateur, les concepts de personnalisation et d’expérience client, en collaboration avec Ingenico Group, leader mondial des solutions de paiement intégrées en ligne ou mobiles, a mis au point le premier chatbot télécom belge doté d’un système de paiement intégré à Facebook Messenger. Ce nouveau 'chatbot de recharge' fait de BASE, une filiale de Telenet, un véritable pionnier des télécoms belges en matière de recharge de cartes prépayées. 

In this day and age, companies and brands are encouraged to exceed customer expectations by delivering personalized experiences. Hence, it's about time you change the title on your business card into 'experience maker'. There are many definitions, but this one sums it up perfectly: “A true experience maker is only happy when the customer’s life is made a lot easier”. Or as CMO Claire Cronin stated during the Adobe Summit in May 2018: “At Virgin Atlantic, we are memory makers and the customer is the compass.”

You are planning on throwing a B2B event, and you want it to be the ultimate experience for your audience. Clients, leads, influencers, whoever is invited, they have to be wowed. Well, that’s great, because experience is key for the marketing future and you are on the right track. But what could be a good as well as efficient approach for setting up this event behind the scenes? That’s right, start leveraging your marketing automation tool for events as well.

After graduating three years ago, I joined The House of Marketing as a consultant. Ever since, I’ve been supporting marketing teams in various businesses and industries. My passion for marketing reaches further than work hours: once I return home from my client project, I get behind my desk to practice my skills at another company - my boyfriend’s. He pursued his lifelong dream and founded his own black metal record label. How does a girl roll into something like this? Love, of course. As I’m an enthusiast for everything related to marketing and digital, it seemed nothing but logic to support my boyfriend in his passion. From setting up email campaigns to proposing e-commerce actions, I’m always looking for the next best thing to help him and his brand.