Star Solutions: A Hugely Compelling Proposition Across Technology, Marketing, and Data

Kareem Qureshi, MD & Sharada Balagopalan, Managing Partner

The market for CRM is growing ever rapidly with a greater need for sophistication and attention to detail. The CRM vendor landscape has many different players competing for share of wallet. Technology companies providing CRM solutions do not necessarily have marketing, loyalty, data or analytic skills. Similarly, advertising companies offering CRM solutions do not always meet technology, data and analytic requirements. Consulting firms that are great with strategy and process don’t always have in-house CRM software solutions in place. Amidst such contrasting trends, Star Solutions comes under the spotlight with its cutting-edge proposition across technology, marketing, and data. Thus, landing them a place as one of the Top 25 CRM specialists in Asia-Pacific.

“At Star Solutions, our DNA combines marketing, data, and technology. We bring this full skill set under one roof!” says Kareem Qureshi, Founder and Managing Director of Star Solutions. Kareem, “a technology guru” in the CRM industry along with Sharada Balagopalan, “a marketing guru,” who is also the co-founder and Managing Partner of Star Solutions strengthen the company with their 48 years of combined experience across technology, data, loyalty and analytics.

At the heart of their proposition is STARDriver^® CRM software, fully powered by Oracle. STARDriver^® CRM software offers modules for multi-channel campaign management, loyalty management, mobile apps,help desk, outbound telemarketing and sales management. The proposition is further strengthened by offering complementary services in loyalty management, data and analytics and telemarketing services. Star Solutions has worked with over 30 blue-chip clients and has an 18- year proven track recordin helping large global and local companies to acquire, retain, grow and win-back their customers.

Amidst contrasting trends in the CRM market, Star Solutions comes under the spotlight with its unique amalgamation of technology, marketing, and data

“Ultimately, the success of our business comes down to our people. Recognizing our team and saying thank you is very important to us,” says Kareem, highlighting the informal, fun, and slightly geeky work culture which is the backbone of Star Solutions. The company has innovative initiatives such as, “Pat My Back” to recognize employees for their contributions. In addition, the company also provides great benefits to its employees such as free breakfast and lunch, medical insurance and travel perks, amongst a few. “We have an amazing team from the 3 worlds of marketing, data and technology, all coming from diverse backgrounds and cultures. As a diverse group of individuals, we ALL share ONE common ambition: and that is our passion for achieving results for our Clients and making a difference to their business.” says Sharada.

The company is not award-centric. Instead, their driving force is the value they generate for their Clients and the Client testimonials they receive. One such client, a large FMCG company—that has over 50,000 retailers and 400 sales personnel on ground, needed a means to troubleshoot retail issues on the ground, to the right people at the right time, driving rapid closure of issues. Star Solutions implemented a synthesis of STARDriver^® Mobile Apps and STARDriver^® CRM Engine with the former to report ground issues and the latter to process large chunks of data. STARDriver^® Dashboard governed the entire operation by tracking and highlighting key statistics in real time. The results were exactly what the client wanted: significant reduction in on-ground retail issues. In another instance, for another client, (an American multinational conglomerate) Star Solutions have put together three of its innovative CRM solutions to construct a ROI-generating loyalty platform that will aggregate and report real-time statistics from six different APAC markets the client operates in.

Any business’s success can be calculated based on the degree of satisfaction of its clients, and Sharada puts forth a bold proposition—the firm's clients will vouch for its work. Just a quick glance at its clientele which comprises of names such as Japan Tobacco International, Heineken, Shell, Maxis, Juniper Networks, Telekom Malaysia, Astro, CIMB, Malaysian Institute of Accountants amongst others.But, an enviable clientele is not something that puts the brakes on the innovation wheel at Star Solutions. “We will be extending our expertise in the areas of marketing automation, big data, and machine learning, continually making our clients’ customer interactions as sophisticated as possible,” concludes Kareem.