Pondres Successfully Transforms its Business
In order to foster and develop collaboration and innovation, Pondres created a center of excellence with GMC Inspire, and its IT department collaborates closely with GMC Software’s development teams.
Pondres is a Dutch service provider of data-driven multichannel communications. The company was founded in 1957 in Amsterdam. Over the years, Pondres has grown into one of the largest service providers in the Netherlands, with over 165 employees. Pondres serves major Dutch financial institutions and retailers and is a trusted provider for charities and the Dutch government. GMC Inspire at the core of Pondres’ development strategy.
Pondres had been using VIPP for a long time, but in 2012, it was obvious that the solution was not evolving and it needed to be replaced to manage ever more complex personalized communications. Pondres looked at various solutions but its management wanted a solution that could truly support its growth strategy and that shared Pondres’ market vision.
“I was looking for a solution that was fitting with our DNA. At Pondres, we constantly seek innovation. We wanted to select an innovative software vendor that shares our vision. We were already quite advanced with interactive solutions, for instance. GMC Software’s strategy in terms of mobile, dynamic communications convinced us. I could foresee that the partnership would create a lot of value for us and for our customers,” said Jeroen Beckers, Managing Director, Pondres.
Given their proven track record, the IT department’s feedback on GMC Software was very positive. In order to foster and develop collaboration and innovation, Pondres created a center of excellence with GMC Inspire, and its IT department collaborates closely with GMC Software’s development teams.
“Our ambition is to embrace the mobile trend and develop digital solutions that will drive new international business opportunities. We do already have customers in Belgium and Germany, but our goal is to become an international reference for customer communications management. Today, GMC Inspire is one of the cornerstones of our growth as a company,” said Beckers.
A smooth integration
Pondres decided to implement the solution as a platform and to move applications one by one into GMC Inspire. “Users are very enthusiastic as they see it as a great opportunity to improve and extend their expertise. There are so many options in data variability, in design, etcetera. As a center of excellence, we are testing a lot of new functionalities in new versions. We have permanent exchanges with the GMC Inspire Developers Community. We challenge them and they support us.”
Today, Pondres uses GMC Inspire as a standard for its new customers. Fifteen people at Pondres are using GMC Inspire, which is the largest team in the Netherlands.
Pioneering with Dynamic Communication
In 2014, Achmea, the largest insurance company in the Netherlands, wanted to initiate the switch from paper to digital for pension statements. Pondres offered to create dynamic pension statements, using GMC Inspire Dynamic Communications, to induce customers to prefer digital information over printed statements. Among participants, the digital option stimulated a larger interest in the individual pension information. A large percentage of the participants chose to receive the dynamic digital pension statements as opposed to the printed version. Pondres received the GMC Inspire Innovation Award in 2014 for their application.
What’s Next?
The success of the dynamic statements triggered a lot of interest from the market. “Together with GMC Software’s teams, the Achmea project put us on a learning path,” Beckers concludes. “Customers now want consultancy and innovation. Our business is changing and our ambition is to be the number one customer communication provider in the Netherlands. GMC is supporting that strategy.”
Project at a Glance
Challenge
Pondres sought a solution to support its growth strategy, providing true innovation to its customers and embracing digital and mobile trends.
Solution
Pondres partnered with GMC Software to combine its expertise of customer requirements and data management with cutting-edge capabilities of GMC Inspire.
Results
• The ability to develop omni-channel communications quickly and easily
• Increased flexibility
• Pondres created a center of excellence with GMC Inspire