The following article was produced in association with KAVA CRM.
It was all due to a coincidence. After starting his career in Silicon Valley, selling software worldwide and a stint as a stay-at-home dad, GJ Wechgelaer (pictured) formed KAVA CRM with long-term friend Bob Hitztaler.
“Initially we provided CRM software to any SMEs and by total coincidence one of our first clients was an insurance company,” he explained. “We instantly realised this was a very good fit. Insurance companies have a high volume of leads, renewals, endorsements, claims etc., and a lot of these companies ran their businesses on spreadsheets and email.
“So, we provided these organisations with CRM solutions that help them to better manage their processes. They can create one view of a client or prospect and share that with anybody in the organisation. They can provide analytics where they can see their book of business by product, by insurer, by client, look at growth trends, be able to use automated emails, create automated documents - in short, drive a lot of efficiency and gain a lot of insight in how their business is operating.
“For a lot of insurance companies this was an eye opener.
“So, we are a CRM company – however, we see ourselves as a technology partner that helps insurance companies understand technology and how they can apply technology to their business.”
That was all 10 years ago now, and KAVA CRM has enjoyed consistent growth, something Wechgelaer attributes to the bespoke nature of their solutions.
“Everything we do is customer driven. This also applies to our building and design process,” the company director said.
“We design and build insurance processes on top of a powerful CRM solution. We have all the advantages that a standard CRM solution provides, but augment that with insurance business processes. We also integrate with core policy systems, like INSIGHT and Winbeat.”
For KAVA, a customer-centric approach is paramount and evident in not only its design process but in terms of how it models its contracts.
“There are no upfront costs,” Wechgelaer explained. “Our solutions are provided on a SaaS basis, and we charge clients a fee per month for that service. That includes everything from license cost to training, support, initial data uploads and minor enhancements. There is also no lock-in contract, thus a client can cancel at any time without giving a reason.
“This means that the business risk for our clients is zero, we take all the risk, and we need to have a client for the long term in order to make a profit. We strive for ongoing relationships.
“Probably most importantly, we run a very strong customer success program. For the first three months we catch-up with our clients once a week to listen to them and see how they are going with their new solution.
“These sessions are really about knowledge transfer, we listen to our clients, to their questions and ideas, and in return we provide knowledge and more importantly transfer of knowledge so that over time they get more and more benefits out of their solution and also become self-sufficient.”
This transferring of knowledge is key to company growth, as Wechgelaer attested.
“What I love is working with clients to understand their challenges, their vision and strategic direction, and then putting solutions in place that helps them get there,” he said. “Every time I meet with a client, I learn something, and the better we understand their business the better solutions we can build for them.”
To learn more, visit KAVA CRM.
Biography
GJ Wechgelaer began his career with Silicon Valley start-up, Siebel, who were pioneers in providing CRM solutions for organisations such as Westpac, Telstra and ING Bank. After being based in Amsterdam and heading up the North Europe, East Europe, Middle East and Africa regions for Siebel, he progressed to working for Oracle and Salesforce. He then spent five years as a stay-at-home parent raising two children. In 2013, he founded KAVA CRM with business partner Bob Hitztaler. He has a passion for helping companies make the best use of technology to enhance customer relationships, drive operational effectiveness and improve financial performance.
