CQS was founded in September 2007 and operates in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) service industry, offering integrated support solutions to large telecommunications, IT, energy, retail, banking and insurance organizations, as well as to businesses in various other industries. Our range of services covers a wide range of business needs, such as new customer acquisition services, knowledge services, research, retention and development of existing clientele as well as customer service services. The difference is that it doesn’t do it piecemeal, but through a structured holistic approach. Mr. Konstantinos Hatziandreou, CEO, answers our questions.

I-C: Considering that since CQS was founded in 2007, almost nothing has remained the same, I wonder how many times the company has been transformed?

K.X.: For CQS, change has never been a threat. I can say that we are already pursuing it, since evolution and innovation are in our nature! Anyway…when the terms of the game change, you play with the new terms or you get out of the game. And to have a chance to win you must be able to “see” the next change already. Especially when things are so connected to technology and innovation, as they are in our work, it’s better to be one step ahead and try to drive developments, than to be a simple observer and follow, copy others . One step ahead, this is our reaction. In the last two years, for example, the company never stopped transforming, innovating, and I believe that is the main reason why we did well in a recession.

I-C: Why does CRM play such a big role in the development of a company’s activities?

KH: It’s like saying that understanding, support and responsiveness are the hallmarks of a healthy long-term relationship. That’s how basic business CRM is. Forms and strengthens relationships of trust between businesses and their public. And today there is a lot of accumulation of expectation and need waiting for expression and satisfaction. A new “narrative” is needed to identify and provide services that people feel they need without serving a pro-consumer model that has ended in the worst way for society. An optimal cost-benefit ratio is now sought at all levels. Simply put, the customer has now become particularly demanding, if not punitive towards anyone who betrays their trust. The goal of CRM is to help the business to maintain or even restore trusting relationships with him by proposing solutions that offer him real value, which he can immediately perceive. But if you don’t “know” who you have in front of you, you can’t “talk” to him, make him “listen” to you and “win” him over, make him trust you. This is precisely the need that CQS comes to cover. The need for a personalized approach, targeted and dynamic campaign management that makes the company truly cost-efficient with solutions that are truly useful for the customer, differentiating it from the competition and giving it a clear strategic advantage.

I-C: What is the mix of technology, technique, and art that can make a business more efficient? Is there a secret recipe? And what is the role of CQS?

K.X.: Secret recipes in the narrow sense of the term do not exist. Each case is unique and this is our motto. We never plan ‘generally’, but ‘case by case’. We listen, we investigate the needs of the client, we design tailor-made solutions, avoiding “copy-paste” practices, while at the same time we guarantee the final result by assuming the risk that is ours. Granted, the three key ingredients to the ‘recipe’ you ask about are people, technology and processes, but it’s the ‘dosage’ that makes the difference, as one-dimensional approaches with an emphasis on, for example, only technology or only people do not are a solution. The approach must be holistic, with each element complementing the others, to create the ideal mix, reducing required resources and capital, eliminating associated risk and maximizing net added value.