The modern era of today creates many specific challenges unique to particular industries. What is needed are the specific solutions to remedy the situation. And who to trust than the best? SoftClouds has an established track record of providing successful CX enterprise and global level solutions. SoftClouds has implemented services across various industries and verticals. Their expertise, global alliances, and end-to-end services have helped redefine the business models of the clients with their innovative custom solutions that optimize costs and time within specific industries.
Balaji Ramchandran, the Founder and CEO of SoftClouds LLC unfolds the journey in an interview with The Enterprise World.
Tell us about the company.
SoftClouds was founded in 2005 with a core mission of guiding companies through their digital transformation journey by delivering innovative, creative & consultative solutions. Being one of the leading consultative solutions providers, we make customers successful by embracing their vision & enabling their transformation. Our focus is on providing innovations & technology solutions that rapidly yield measurable results & effective value. SoftClouds implements quality CRM/CX solutions and continues to work diligently to take customer experience with future insights.
What were the initial challenges you faced?
SoftClouds wanted to capitalize on the need for customization and hyper-individualization of customer experience for our clients. So, the first set of implementations were focused on bringing in next-generation customer experience solutions to the end-users that could help organizations with their customer management, engagement, and ROI. In the beginning, it was difficult for our customers to visualize our progressive and innovative solutions. We had a wonderful team with expertise in various technologies, but we were missing key ingredients to developing further without a proper sales & marketing team in place. We needed to expand internally with the right skills to attain customer delight.
SoftClouds LLC is an Employee Focused Company where our team is our biggest asset.
Which was that point that triggered the growth of the company?
Our focus on building our expertise, experience, and efficient solutions delivery at the turn of the decade made us stand apart from others in the industry. Our business expansion came from client referrals that helped us grow with the quality of solutions delivered and our relationships. We began making the right changes, expansions in technology along with process-oriented teams that created a workflow. This flow gave us the necessary foundation to cultivate and help clients to experience our full capabilities.
How have the company graphs changed since the foundation? Can you share a few statistics?
SoftClouds has grown exponentially in the past 15 years. We have received both positive and negative feedback on our journey to success and we value them as the same. The positives boosted our drive and morale and the negatives drove us to do better in all aspects of our business. Our right approach and views towards the importance of feedback continue to keep us on the right track to aid in becoming our very best for our clients.
Here are a few successes since inception:
- High Quality Team Increased to 150
- Distributers and Worldwide Office locations increased from 1 in the USA to 4 offices in 3 different countries (US, India and Japan)
- A considerable number of awards from industry leaders like Inc5000 and other worldwide industry leading magazines
- Accolades from both clients and partners, most notably the Partner of the Year Award from Oracle in 2019.
- Our executives presenting and showcasing our innovative solutions at many Oracle and Industry Leading Technology events.
What are the products/services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
SoftClouds takes on the perspective of the client when creating solutions to form the correct strategy to solve each problem. Every client and their business is unique, and we tend to offer the best solutions for clients so that we meet their business goals. We focus on Oracle CRM/CX Solutions like CPQ Cloud, Engagement Cloud, Service Cloud, and Commerce Cloud that gives users the very best Customer Experience. We strive to take customer experience to the next level and that is the reason our clients are elated by our outstanding services and creative solutions.
How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services?
Continuous innovation is the cornerstone of SoftClouds’s success. We consider customer experience and delight as our highest priority and continue to create innovative solutions that help both our clients and our advancements. We believe in quick and efficient execution of solutions delivery as our biggest assets to step forward with technology.
Is there any new addition to the list of products/services? Anything exciting you would like to share?
As a progressive technology solutions company, we have seen that our focus on innovation and futuristic technologies have made our clients love us. We don’t just deliver CRM/CX solutions and implementations – We incorporate modern technology solutions that involve NLP, ML, AI, and Analytics that push the envelope of customer experience.
SoftClouds LLC attained “Oracle Platinum Partner” status in 2018.
Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
My theory is based on a quote by Thomas Paine – “The mind, once enlightened, cannot again become dark” and I trust that all wounds will eventually turn into wisdom. Being a serial entrepreneur, I have over 20+ years of international experience in high technology sectors and have been involved in quite a few aspects of solutions and technology.
Here are some of the experiences in the recent past:
- Responsible for business development, channel sales & marketing, solution’ing
- Building Innovative Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions to Enterprise and Mid-Market clients
- Founder & Director of eRiva Systems Inc. – A System Integration Company
- Recommending strategies to address technology & market trends along with strategic alliances
- Speaker at international conferences on technology & customer experience
- Technology Development, Leadership and Project/Program Management
What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
As founder and CEO of SoftClouds – we have been blessed and accredited with many awards. Some of the coveted awards received in the recent past are:
- Attained “Oracle Platinum Partner” status in 2018
- Built & grown the innovative technology team to 150+ people and I consider this as one of the greatest achievements that we had thus far.
- Secured a position in the 2019 Inc. 5000 list of “The Most Successful Companies in America” for a record third time!
- Received “SMB Most Valuable Player Awards” at Oracle, North America FY20 Global Partner Conference
- Awarded the “100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in San Diego” in 2018 by the San Diego Business Journal for sustaining a wonderful three-year (2015-2017) growth rate
- Selected as one of the “10 most innovative business leaders to watch” in 2018 & 2019 by Insights Success
- Listed as “25 successful Indian Entrepreneurs in the US, 2019” by The Technology Headlines
- Named as 2018 Oracle CX Hero at the Modern Customer Experience, Chicago
How do you look after your employees? What makes your team unique?
SoftClouds is an Employee Focused Company where our team is our biggest asset. We make it a point for our employees to feel a sense of ownership by involving our team in all facets of SoftClouds. We have an open-door policy so that we all can listen to views & ideas from everyone that allows them to express their thoughts and opinions heard. We have many programs to appreciate & encourage their efforts through gratitude jars, company events, team fun activities, etc. Though employees are at a 9-5 workplace of employment, we always encourage them to maintain a solid work-life balance.
