Redefining the Customer Experience: SoftClouds

The world around us is changing fast, and customer-focused digital transformation has helped businesses grow and succeed. Exceptional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and CX are needed to improve business and generate revenue. Investing in latest trends in technology like Cloud, CX, Personalization, Analytics and Digital tools to strengthen CRM systems make a great business sense.

However, there are so many organizations that purchase CRM systems and Cloud Solutions but don’t know how to implement the right capabilities exposed to their organization. This is where SoftClouds steps in with its impressive skills to blend CRM and Cloud solutions to match business needs.

Looking back on his early career as a technology consultant, Balaji Ramachandran or Bala the CEO of SoftClouds jokingly talks about how he learned a lot about what not to do in CRM implementation. He knew that there are better ways to approach CRM implementation projects and complete them successfully so he decided to start his own company. With inspiration from Thomas Siebel, Bala started SoftClouds with on-premise CRM applications to improve and modernize the Siebel CRM system of large enterprise clients. As the CRM industry progressed moving to the cloud with cloud computing, Bala extended the CRM offering at SoftClouds to focus and include Cloud CX application related services.

From Innovative ideas to its Implementation

With a vision to redefine customer experience, SoftClouds has come out as a leader in helping customers by bringing innovative ideas and implementations into the CRM market. SoftClouds focused mainly on automotive as Siebel is used by most automotive OEMs. Later, the company expanded to other industries such as Hospitality, Manufacturing, and Telecommunications.

Success for a startup doesn’t come easy. With hard work and sheer dedication, SoftClouds plowed their way from SMB customers to enterprise level clientele and proved that they could compete with the larger players in the industry. SoftClouds expertise is in building innovative solutions that transform and unleash the full power of CRM systems. “ The reason for our success is in our ability to solve the biggest challenges that clients have with their CRM systems and show them how a proper and personalized CRM can transform their business process.”- said Bala.

Additionally, there was also a slump in the industry between the years 2005 and 2010. But with the help of employees and partners, SoftClouds was able to stand tall. “We believe in continuous improvement, learning from our experiences and making sure that we are set for the future. So, using these three mantras, we are all prepared to maintain and in fact grow the venture we had started a decade back,” notes the CEO.

Building for the Future

SoftClouds believes that AI enabled CRM will be the future and it is working on building these AI solutions for existing CRM and cloud solutions. “We see that customer experience is moving towards personalization and customer delight. Newer trends and technologies like CRM, IoT, and AI cloud-based solutions are shaping up future of things to come,” says Bala.

As the technology industry is evolving rapidly, Bala understands that a CRM and its associated solutions need to be ready towards the future. Envisioning the need for a futuristic digital transformation, Bala setup an innovations lab at SoftClouds to work on some core areas. One of the innovative products from the innovations lab is a Natural Language Processing (NLP) Engine called Qupplet, that can improve search out of databases with natural language than cryptic searches. The advantage of such a solution is improved productivity and ROI. Bala is also confident on the future of predictive analytics and personalized CRM.

The Standing Pillars of SoftClouds

Behind all these revolutionary products and solutions is a team of hardworking and dedicated employees. The best part is that the employees love working at SoftClouds - “Our employees are our best friends. We have built a very open and friendly culture at SoftClouds where our employees can enjoy, share knowledge, ideate and innovate. We have a pretty unique employee empowered culture with positive reinforcement,” expresses the elated CEO.

And each and every employee’s dedicated work is appreciated. Be it with a small thank you card or the monthly “Awesome SoftCloudian” trophy; the company is always trying to bring a smile on their faces! “Our employees have always been the strong standing pillars of our soaring high success,” notes Bala. In the next five years, SoftClouds sees itself as a company with 700-1000 employees, leading the way in the CRM industry with innovative AI and IoT solutions. 

A Glimpse of the Genius of SoftClouds

Balaji Ramachandran aka Bala is the Founder/CEO and one of the members of the board of directors of SoftClouds. From a young age, he developed a passion for technology and the automotive industry. As a young graduate, Bala started working in the Electronic data processing (EDP) department for the second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in India, Ashok Leyland, where he built solutions for many problems including sales and service automation, customer service, and more. In the early 2000’s Bala started eRiva Systems with a group of close friends, where he spearheaded corporate strategy and development by leading the company’s engineering, product management, and technology groups. After eRiva was successfully sold he moved on in 2005 to start SoftClouds following along the lines of technological and digital transformation. Bala also serves on the Board of Directors of a number of startups. Bala can be best described as Humanitarian. Tenacious. Dreamer. Bala received a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Madurai Kamaraj University, India.

“Employees, customers, and partners. They are the people who work and for whom we work. If they continue to be connected to your organization, then the sky is the limit for any organization.”

“Growth isn’t achieved until we have shoulders to move along within the race.”

“At SoftClouds, we try to provide maximum liberty and decision making power to employees whether its work or any other matter.”