Cloud-based customer experience (CX) intelligence platform InMoment has acquired boutique customer experience agency, brandXP and appointment of a local team of CX experts.
The company has chosen Melbourne as its fifth international base, and will also have a New Zealand office as part of this expansion.
For five years, InMoment has been operating in the ANZ region as a pure technology provider.
With the acquisition of ANZ-based boutique CX firm, brandXP, InMoment will now have direct points of sales, marketing, services and support.
InMoment has an established track record of success with both global and regional brands in the ANZ market, and works with 25+ brands in the region across a variety of industries, such as Hyundai, Coca Cola Amatil, Carls Jr., Countdown and Auckland Airport.
In acquiring brandXP, InMoment has brought a highly experienced delivery and services team in-house alongside a number of new hires.
Australia also serves as home base for additional expansion into Asia this year.
InMoment already serves dozens of brands in the region, including Foot Locker, Marks & Spencer, Tiffany & Co., and more, and will leverage this elevated presence to fuel even stronger growth.
InMoment’s efforts in Asia Pacific will be led by Claire Fastier, VP of APAC. Claire has previously held global senior executive roles at Hewlett-Packard, and has extensive expertise in digital marketing and customer experience in both physical and digital spaces.
She has also worked with top brands such as Sony, Shell, Westfield, Adidas and OpenText, managing the development and impact of a variety of creative engagement campaigns across APAC and globally.
Australian brands are facing a critical tipping point in consumer behaviour, and now is the ideal time for InMoment to invest in this market.
With the introduction of GDPR, data scandals and a changing perception of Silicon Valley’s tech giants, there are global indicators that a shift in power between individuals and organisations is taking place.
Brands are able to collect more data and have more access to their customers than ever before, but consumers are also increasingly aware of their own value and ability to influence and connect as a result.
As brands grapple with the challenges that lie ahead, there is an urgency to understand how to compete differently.
Traditional market research and metrics simply aren’t enough when brands want and need to build meaningful insights and authentic connections with their customers.
Andrew Joiner, CEO of InMoment comments on the expansion. “InMoment has already established a strong track record of serving leading brands across ANZ and the larger APAC region.
“While customer experience isn’t a new concept to businesses in this area, we are seeing an important shift in CX that promises significant disruption and massive opportunity for brands that act. This is the right time for InMoment to uplevel our APAC presence.”
InMoment has nearly half a million active users and gathers and analyses more than 15 million data points every day.
The company is a pioneer in CX intelligence software and the first to bring a number of technologies to market, including an AI-powered conversation engine (Active Listening), a recommendation engine, and predictive intelligence from unstructured data.
Bootstrapped and profitable for the past fifteen years, InMoment experienced its highest ever year on year growth in 2017, bringing in a record number of new clients.
Joiner said, “When it comes to our growth strategy and expansion, we never take it for granted that we will automatically succeed in a new market. We take the time to get to know local landscapes, and we invest in local leadership and talent to earn our success.
“This acquisition and the on-the-ground team of CX experts we now have, have already accelerated our goals in this region beyond initial expectations.”
Fastier commented, “Research carried out by InMoment shows that consumers in this region place higher value on companies that authentically understand and reflect the needs of the local market.
“In taking this same approach with our own growth, we’ve assured that our technology delivers against the unique needs of local and regional brands, while offering the additional benefit of a global CX perspective.”
“My own experience has shown that CX is undoubtedly the battleground where brands differentiate themselves.
“InMoment’s unique approach of providing intelligent and actionable insights that harness the human connection inherent in brand experiences, enables us to help businesses understand and build great relationships with their customers, and ultimately deliver better outcomes as a result.”
On the acquisition of brandXP, she adds: “There was a fantastic cultural fit between InMoment and brandXP: the team is entrepreneurial, innovative, and relationship-oriented.
“Having built such a productive and successful partnership in recent years, it’s been wonderful to welcome the team on board and ensure that InMoment customers continue to benefit from their deep local expertise and knowledge.”
