Capillary Technologies, a cloud-based loyalty, mobile and social CRM solutions company, seeks further expansion into Africa, following its introduction to the South African market in November last year.
Its entry to the continent came as it opened its Johannesburg office and announced it had entered into a strategic partnership with Blue Label Engage as part of its expansion efforts.
Michael Geisler, Capillary's sales director for the Middle East and Africa, says Blue Label's retail partners will be a significant entry point for the company to make an imprint on the South African market.
Although operations in SA are new, Geisler notes the company sees Kenya and Nigeria as attractive prospects for future expansion. "We consider factors such as retail market growth, population, infrastructure and technology adoption when looking at entering a new market," he says.
What stands out about Africa, says Geisler, is the "sheer diversity" of the market in terms of culture, language, technology adoption and mobility - something Capillary has noted as it seeks further growth.
Data focus
CEO Aneesh Reddy says in a statement Capillary's expansion owes partially to businesses realising that "at the core of their business and operational strategies is a huge pile of data waiting to be unearthed".
By harnessing customer data to give companies new insights, Capillary will retain its focus on CRM processes. "What we see in the African market and elsewhere is that a lot of retail clients have existing data that's siloed or unstructured," says Geisler.
"Sometimes businesses have a lot of data, not knowing what to do with it, but we could go into such an environment and start to use it to advance the way they engage with their customers."
Geisler says although Capillary's entry into Africa will need "some level of customisation to meet the market's unique requirements", he notes past experience can help the company meet its new requirements effectively.
"The important thing is that we are able to provide a multi-channel approach to customer engagement that enables customers to engage in any way they prefer," he adds.
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