INSPARK, recognized as one of the prominent partners of Salesforce in the EMEA region, has made a significant stride by entering the Georgian market

^{Serdar Susuz, INSPARK CEO}

In a recent announcement, INSPARK, recognized as one of the prominent partners of Salesforce, has made a significant stride by entering the Georgian market. This move brings their extensive expertise and trusted solutions to the business landscape of Georgia.

Founded in 1990 in London, INSPARK operates mainly throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East regions, focusing on combining knowledge, excellence, and a solid commitment to providing software solutions and services tailored to customer needs. Inspark's solutions on the Salesforce.com platform are currently used in over 20 countries globally.

INSPARK has successfully concluded projects with companies in diverse industries, enhancing their engagement with customers, partners, and employees. Manufacturing, Retail, e-commerce, Consumer Goods, Technology, Professional Services, Non-Profits, Logistics, and Transportation are just some sectors in which INSPARK delivers high-value customer-focused solutions.

Collaborating with some of the world's leading brands, such as Trendyol, Carrefour, Coca-Cola, P&G, TAV, Bosch, Shell, Liberty, DHL, Diageo, Edenred, Migros, and INNIO, INSPARK extends its impact beyond private sector companies, actively supporting non-profit organizations such as WWF, Change.org, and as well as 60 more NGOs.

In an exclusive interview with the Entrepreneur, Serdar Susuz, INSPARK's CEO, explores INSPARK's journey, the reasons behind entering the Georgian market, and plans for the future.

Serdar, INSPARK is globally recognized as a top-tier Salesforce partner. What factors influenced your decision to enter the Georgian market, and what opportunities do you see for Salesforce solutions?

The key influencing factors included Georgia's growing economy and the dynamic nature of its industries. Also, Georgia is like a bridge between the two regions. With good human capital, Georgia is a perfect environment for INSPARK to extend its operations. Our vision for Georgia aligns with Salesforce's commitment to empowering businesses through cloud-based, personalized solutions, creating a synergy that will contribute significantly to the success and growth of companies in the country.

What was the biggest challenge or obstacle in the industry or entering the Georgian Market, and how did you overcome it or plan to tackle it?

Understanding market nuances. We recognize the importance of being present on the ground and supporting businesses throughout their transformation. Our commitment goes beyond the initial implementation phase. The journey into Georgia commenced with discussions with Salesforce.com to plan our first event. Engaging in negotiations with key players and business owners, we are now transitioning into a more active phase, understanding the market's pain points and needs. This journey is essential to drive meaningful transformations across different industries in Georgia.

Is there any target industry in Georgia for which Salesforce would be a great solution?

While Financial Services, E-commerce, Insurance, Retail, Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, and Gaming are potential industries where Salesforce can be a great solution, it's important to note that we don't exclusively target these sectors. We aim to address CRM demands across all industries in Georgia, where the average CRM maturity is low due to its developing market status. Our focus is on any company striving to enhance customer relationship management, emphasizing the integration of CRM, data, and the latest technologies like AI and Trust, as highlighted in the Dreamforce events.

How does Inspark plan to address the evolving needs of businesses in the country?

We focus on the "Impact" we create for people. We measure our success by how many people we touch. Inspark is an early partner of Salesforce and an early cloud enthusiast with an extensively experienced team. As of 2023, we are addressing the 120 million people's needs with the solutions that we create. We aim to reach 1 billion people— and extend our partnerships through our customers' customers.

We have done ERP projects in the past, and the experiences led us to view organizations from various angles, not only finance and product, but also to focus on the customer and, now, creating their experiences. We see technology as something other than the primary objective. It is a tool that we use. We aim to create the best experiences for our customers. We strategically implement a versatile suite of solutions, including Marketing Cloud, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and many more, tailored to businesses of all sizes.

This ensures that companies in Georgia, irrespective of scale, can initiate a transformative journey characterized by streamlined processes, enhanced customer engagement, and a technology-driven approach. It is particularly worth mentioning here that Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) are extremely important for the economy in Georgia, like in Turkiye. Here, we have a unique solution tailored for SMBs called Quickspark.

Essentially, speed is crucial for SMBs. With the Quickspark package, we enable swift implementation of the Salesforce platform. Companies can go live within a week and start managing leads, customers, and sales seamlessly from a single platform. Quickspark projects are executed with expert, dedicated Salesforce consultants for SMBs. These solutions are fast, flexible, and budget-friendly, delivering exceptional value in a very short time. Training of the related staff is an integral part of the process, and Inspark's expert team provides continuous support during and after the implementation.

Furthermore, Non-profit organizations, called NGOs, are also essential for us. Inspark has implemented more than 60 projects for non-profits since 2011. These projects include Donation Management, Program Management, Membership Management, Petition and Campaign Management, Administrative Processes (human resources, budget, procurement), and Call Center Setups.

We have created our philanthropy model around a pledge of 1% membership. We do not aim to profit in this area and provide the services as a social responsibility.

Salesforce Customer 360 is named the world's #1 CRM. How do companies leverage it to enhance customer interactions?

Salesforce Customer 360 is a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides a unified and integrated view of customer data across various touchpoints and interactions. It is designed to help businesses deliver a seamless and personalized customer experience by knowing their customers the best. Salesforce Customer 360 consolidates information from different sources, such as sales, marketing, customer service, and commerce, into a single platform and external data sources. This holistic view allows organizations to understand their customers better, anticipate their needs, and engage with them more effectively.

How does Salesforce address the needs and challenges of various clients?

Companies worldwide use technology to lower costs, speed up time to value metrics, reduce the complexity of operations, and create long-term value for their business. Salesforce empowers them with all the technology they need to sell, service, and market to their customers. Because customers expect more from companies, these solutions unite every team around a shared view of real-time data and give all tools to engage with the customers at each stage. So, it helps companies to lower costs, drive efficient growth, and consistently exceed customer expectations.

What specific advantages and outcomes do companies achieve by investing in Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Organizations see 20% to 40% Return on Investment in different sectors. According to Forrester's January 2023 report, some companies reported nearly 300% ROI with Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

With economic uncertainty, companies have tighter budgets and headcount shortages but are pressured to increase efficiency, boost sales, and lower costs while continuing to meet customers' growing digital-first expectations. Today's customers are more inclined to look for and buy experiences, not just products. After investing in Marketing Cloud, companies can quickly capture, analyze, and, most importantly, engage customers on higher-quality insights. They understand the customer journey, the series of interactions a customer makes with a brand, from initial consideration to repeat purchases.

How does your service offering contribute to efficient revenue growth and cost reduction for organizations?

Our solutions consist of a suite of unified applications that meet business needs towards designing, delivering, and optimizing customer journeys and campaigns, including Customer Data Platform, Personalization, Engagement, Account Engagement, Intelligence, and Loyalty Management. All the above facilitates revenue growth, cost reduction, and customer value creation.

Every customer inquiry should be responded to promptly with the right message, as swift communication is essential in industries where personalization is crucial.

In the working environment, combining segments and customer journeys creates microsegments, a necessary step towards delivering effective personalized service. Services tailored to individual customers significantly enhance customer engagement and satisfaction in specific sectors, such as retail and e-commerce. Therefore, listening to customers and responding quickly with tailored messages improves overall customer experience and is imperative for success in industries reliant on personalized approaches.

Can you share a success story or case study where your company's Salesforce solutions significantly impacted a client?

We touch 120 million people globally through our Salesforce services. Among these, we can mention the companies that are well-known internationally: Coca-Cola, Carrefour, and Trendyol. Coca-Cola manages its customers, such as local stores, restaurants, and hotels, in 11 countries, from the Middle East region of Pakistan to Turkiye.

Over 300K points of sale are managed on the Salesforce platform. Trendyol is managing over 60 million customer engagements on its mobile application. Carrefour has customer journeys explicitly created for the customers without segmenting them, so everyone enjoys the shopping experience.

There are hundreds of companies INSPARK successfully cooperated with and assisted in achieving remarkable results in EMEA. Further information can be found on the company webpage: inspark.com

INSPARK BUSINESS SOLUTION

İstanbul Türkiye Office
+90 (212) 299 8980
hello@inspark.com