Contact Center Customer Experience

fintech services

THE CHALLENGE

A super regional bank’s customers were complaining about contact center wait times, difficulty getting resolutions to their inquiries that were accurate or timely. Internal lines of business felt that they’re operating personnel were fulfilling the majority of the inquiry resolutions. Executive management felt the contact center was extremely expensive for the service provided and the contact center believed they were being unfairly measured.

THE SOLUTION

An end-to-end analysis of 6 months of customer inquiries was performed to understand the contact center services and the customer experience through the lifecycle of an inquiry inclusive of initial call to IVR to customer service rep to the relevant back – office operation to the resolution to the delivery of the resolution to the customer. The analysis measured the duration of each phase, the point at which the resolution occurred, the customer satisfaction, and evaluated the technology solutions, processes, and customer service reps roles and responsibilities. As a result of the analysis, the IVR menus were rewritten, inquiry resolutions were automated and moved earlier in the cycle, functions were automated, the customer service reps roles were redefined, operating dashboards were implemented, and the contact center revenue generation and cost were reevaluated.

THE BENEFITS

Over 50% of the customer inquiries were resolved earlier in the inquiry lifecycle, inquiries making it to the back office for resolution were reduced by 25%, customer satisfaction increased 30%, and product cross sell revenues increased by 6% while the contact center operating cost remained flat.

Harnessing Your Customer Data for ROI and Value Add

THE CHALLENGE

A US based financial market data provider had grown from $10M in revenue and roughly 30 products into a world-wide $60M revenue firm with over 100 product and services offerings. The company didn’t have an overall view of their customer inclusive of products and services provided, customer experience, operating needs, and sales data; exec management wasn’t able to provide accurate operating reports; and customers were experiencing significant customer service and data quality challenges.

THE SOLUTION

A customer profile system was implemented with a 360 view of the customer inclusive of the company’s overall products and services, the customers and their purchased products and services, contract terms, product and services operating and delivery detail, and integration into the customer points of contact (mobile, browser, etc.). Management dashboards were developed, automated intelligent customer operations alerts and next product to sell heuristics were implemented, and data analytics to develop customer retention and sales programs were implemented.

THE BENEFITS

More precise and comprehensive executive management reports allowed for improved decision-making and investment decisions, cross sales by an average of 25% within each customer, customer service satisfaction increased and operating issues reduced, new revenue generating services and products were identified, regulatory compliance issues were mitigated, and company morale improved.

FinTech Software and Data Company M&A

The Challenge


A FinTech software company placed itself on the market for sale. Detailed due diligence was necessary to determine the value, risk, and cost of integrating the firm. If the due diligence process resulted in the acquisition of the Fintech company, the integration had to be executed flawlessly without any adverse customer experience impact.

The Solution


Due diligence was performed on the customers, products and services, financials, information technology, organization and personnel, business and data operations, cybersecurity, compliance, and other critical aspects of the potential target. Merger P&L forecasts, integration roadmaps and timelines, synergies, integration risks and a bid price were developed. The company was acquired and integrated.

The Benefits


Revenues were increased 60% and EBITDA by 30%. A significant customer list was acquired. The geographic footprint and market were significantly expanded in the US nationally and across Europe and Asia. The overall breadth of financial market data content was significantly increased, the software product and managed services portfolio were significantly expanded and the feature/functionality of existing product and services was greatly enhanced. There was zero adverse impact to the customer bases caused by the integration.

Harnessing Your Customer Data for ROI and Value Add

The Challenge


A US based financial market data provider had grown from $10M in revenue and roughly 30 products into a world-wide $60M revenue firm with over 100 product and services offerings. The company didn’t have an overall view of their customer inclusive of products and services provided, customer experience, operating needs, and sales data; exec management wasn’t able to provide accurate operating reports; and customers were experiencing significant customer service and data quality challenges.

The Solution


A customer profile system was implemented with a 360 view of the customer inclusive of the company’s overall products and services, the customers and their purchased products and services, contract terms, product and services operating and delivery detail, and integration into the customer points of contact (mobile, browser, etc.). Management dashboards were developed, automated intelligent customer operations alerts and next product to sell heuristics were implemented, and data analytics to develop customer retention and sales programs were implemented.

The Benefits


More precise and comprehensive executive management reports allowed for improved decision-making and investment decisions, cross sales by an average of 25% within each customer, customer service satisfaction increased and operating issues reduced, new revenue generating services and products were identified, regulatory compliance issues were mitigated, and company morale improved.

Tax and Accounting Principles for Hedge Funds

tax plan

Today’s environment and market volatility have prompted fund managers and investors to evaluate the tax implications of their portfolios. The dislocation of markets has created a dynamic that is more important than ever to monitor your portfolio from a tax perspective. 


The main events influencing tax planning this year are lessons learned from the 2008 financial crisis, the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, the COVID-19 pandemic, and various regulatory changes. There are a variety of topics that are of particular importance this tax season, as well as considerations that might arise in the coming year, such as modifications to the 2017 tax bill. Another area of special relevance this year is how the CARES Act impacts taxes. For instance, how should Paycheck Protection Program loans and Employee Retention credits be treated? What are the state and local impacts of a remote workforce? Also influencing tax planning this year is the recently released “The Made in America Tax Plan[1]” by President Biden.


The current corporate income tax regime contains incentives for corporations to shift their production and profits overseas. Declining corporate tax revenues hinder the ability of the United States to fund investments in infrastructure, research, technology, and green energy. The Made in America tax plan would fundamentally reorient corporate taxation to reverse this legacy.

The proposed tax plan implements a series of corporate tax reforms to address profit shifting and offshoring incentives and to level the playing field between domestic and foreign corporations. These include:

  1. Raising the corporate income tax rate to 28%.
  2. Strengthening the global minimum tax for U.S. multinational corporations.
  3. Reducing incentives for foreign jurisdictions to maintain ultra-low corporate tax rates by encouraging global adoption of robust minimum taxes.
  4. Enacting a 15% minimum tax on book income of large companies that report high profits, but have little taxable income.
  5. Replacing flawed incentives that reward excess profits from intangible assets with more generous incentives for new research and development.
  6. Replacing fossil fuel subsidies with incentives for clean energy production.
  7. Ramping up enforcement to address corporate tax avoidance.

These are the major elements of the Made in America tax plan, but the proposal contains several additional tax incentives that would directly benefit U.S. corporations, pass-through entities, and small businesses. These include, for example, a marked increase in the resources available through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and other housing incentives. These unique issues make it more important than ever to have a timely tax analysis on your portfolio, outlining tax efficiency goals and tools like a wash sale watch list, lost harvesting and aging reports.