Teleperson's Vendor Hub
The Teleperson Vendor Hub provides a single place to manage all of Bob’s many companies he uses on a monthly or otherwise frequent basis. These could include companies from various industries, including Insurance (home, auto, boat, etc.), Finance (credit cards, bank, etc.), Subscriptions (streaming, news, magazines, audio, etc.), Television (cable, satellite), Recent purchases (furniture, home improvement, electronics, etc.) and Public Utilities (gas / electric, water, trash services, etc.), among others. After downloading the Teleperson app, Bob clicks on Vendor Hub. He is then asked to sync his bank account information with the app (made possible through Plaid integration).
Bob can then agree on which companies to ultimately add. Bob is then given the option to sync his account with each company on the Vendor Hub. Once added, Bob can then manage all of his account management needs through the Teleperson app. Through the Vendor Hub, we are able to offer multiple services for both companies and customers. One example is cross-vendor loyalty programs, where one company can offer coupons or loyalty points when customers engage with other companies within their Vendor Hub (e.g., through the Teleperson platform, AT&T knows that Bob goes to Starbucks every Thursday at 10:00 am, and so on Wednesdays offers a free Starbucks drink for being a terrific AT&T member).
This is a platform upon which companies can offer solutions, gain customer intelligence, or identify partnership opportunities with other companies who share the same customers. In addition, Teleperson will be able to offer competitive intelligence from the perspective of a given customer (anonymized however to protect customer privacy); for example, because Bob has Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart on his Vendor Hub, and because he has agreed to share his purchase history with Teleperson, we will have access to what products Bob buys at each individual store—information which would be relevant to all three stores as well (with all information completely anonymized).
Envisioned Means to add new Vendors to Consumers’ Vendor Hub
Barcode Reader for physical receipts. Consumers can simply take a picture of the receipt to record new products / services purchased. If the company (say, AT&T) is not currently in the Vendor Hub, an automatic message appears that says “Thanks for taking a picture with Teleperson’s barcode reader. To confirm, do you want to add AT&T to your Vendor Hub?”
New vendor call-based prompts. If consumers call a company in the Teleperson database but the company is not yet in the Vendor Hub, a separate prompt is sent: “Hey there! It looks like AT&T is not in your Vendor Hub yet. Did you want to add? Just some benefits include the ability to automatically transcribe calls, integrate with product purchase and improve future customer service calls. See more benefits here”.
Geofencing-based marketing. Consumers can update their Vendor Hub based on stores within a set location (e.g., when consumers are in a mall or driving around in a retail-heavy area). Stores which are Teleperson customers would then appear and can be added to the user’s Vendor Hub. This is an opportunity for “Sponsored Vendors” to offer contextual advertising.
Community Updates (as friends join / update their own Vendor Hub). Upon updating one’s Vendor Hub, a separate page can be added “See Community Vendors” with new vendors (as a filter) offered. Consumers can be asked if they want to add “Top Vendors” within their community to their Vendor Hub.
Prompts to Update & Engage. With each sign-in (or maximized to prevent frustration with the app), consumers will receive prompts to update their Vendor Hub or otherwise engage with companies on the Vendor Hub itself.
We believe the Vendor Hub represents a significant and sustainable competitive advantage, as it provides a platform through which customer intelligence can be gained, new services and products offered, and an opportunity for customers to engage with individual companies. The Vendor Hub will offer company information (store hours, products & services, store activity (such as Facebook check-in’s), targeted (by persona / behavior, geolocation) employment information, as well as third-party, developer-based solutions.
Join us as we make that vision a reality and chart the future of customer service for the better. If interested in speaking, don’t hesitate to reach me directly!
Thanks for reading :)