Ask a leader at any industry-leading tech company what sets them apart from the competition and you’ll hear about their technology — but that’s not all you’ll hear. Yes, developing cutting-edge products and tools is important to success, but so is listening to the needs of your customer, investing in the professional development of your team, and cultivating an intentional, inspiring company culture.
We recently caught up with leaders at three Los Angeles tech companies to learn more about what sets their company apart from the pack, as well as which trends they’re incorporating into their business to stay ahead of the curve.
The healthtech industry is rapidly growing as companies of all types develop cutting-edge technologies that help patients, healthcare companies, insurance providers and everyone in between save money and work more efficiently. While SimplePractice knows how important tech is to success in this space, CEO and co-founder Howard Spector said that what sets his company apart is its customer focus — and more specifically its customer success team.
How has your company set itself apart as a leader in your industry?
As cliche as it may sound, what sets us apart is our relentless drive to understand who our customers are and what they are trying to accomplish. Understanding their needs allows us to thoughtfully build innovative and intuitive features. Our outstanding customer success team represents our customer focus. CS is the largest team in our company and has customer satisfaction scores consistently in the upper 90th percentile, as well as net promoter scores in the upper 60s.
Unlike other companies that view CS as a cost center, we understand the value it brings to everything we do. We happily invest in not just finding the most exceptional people to join our team, but also in ensuring they have all the tools they need to support our customers and one another.
As cliche as it may sound, what sets us apart is our relentless drive to understand who our customers are and what they are trying to accomplish.”
What is the next big tech trend in your industry, and how do you plan to stay ahead of it?
We’ve seen exponential growth in telehealth adoption by our customers and their clients. Being able to ensure continuity of care regardless of where you are, in addition to missing fewer appointments and reducing lost income, are just a couple of the benefits telehealth provides. We recently added this feature to our platform, and the customer adoption has been remarkable. We continue to receive requests on how to improve this feature and are committed to expanding its benefits. The more people our customers can reach, the bigger the impact they make in the world. That’s what this is all about.
According to Albert’s Head of Engineering, Rishi Patel, the fintech industry has a people problem. More specifically, the issue is that people have been removed from the equation and replaced with bots and other technology that automates user interactions. Patel said that what makes Albert different is that it pairs human experts with machine learning algorithms to provide personalized and holistic financial advice.
How has your company set itself apart as a leader in your industry?
Most fintech apps are transactional. Users are interchangeable and cannot customize their experience. They have little guidance, and no human element is involved. Albert allows our customers to speak about their individual finances with a team of experts and receive truly personalized advice. Our engineers employ the latest and greatest innovations and tools in tech to create a robust framework from which our in-house team of financial experts operates. The original technology we created — which is used both inside and outside of the app — empowers our experts to connect with our customers faster and more efficiently.
By empowering human experts with machine learning algorithms, we deliver our financial guidance in an affordable and scalable way.”
What is the next big tech trend in your industry, and how do you plan to stay ahead of it?
Most fintech companies revolve around a single product, like a loan, a savings account or an investment account. However, we believe customers will increasingly gravitate to companies that address their financial concerns in a holistic manner. By empowering human experts with machine learning algorithms, we deliver our financial guidance in an affordable and scalable way. Though we expect the fintech space will shift back toward a human-led model, it is currently saturated with automation and bots. And thus, we’ve positioned ourselves ahead of the curve, rebuilding the future of financial advice from the ground up.
Companies often say their employees are their greatest asset, but SnackNation really means it. Co-founder and CEO Sean Kelly said that while a culture centered around professional development is what separates it from the competition, its focus on data is what’s keeping SnackNation ahead of the curve.
How has your company set itself apart as a leader in your industry?
Our culture of personal and professional development is what sets us apart. Our mission is to inspire more conscious decisions, starting with the food that nourishes and sustains us all. While tremendously motivating, we know this mission won’t fulfill itself. Culture is the key to creating that future. We know there’s a direct connection between the growth of team members and the company’s success because it’s our people who create all the value in our organization. Our “better every day” ethos and emphasis on professional and personal development translates into a world-class member experience and brings us one step closer to realizing our mission.
Our culture of personal and professional development is what sets us apart.”
What is the next big tech trend in your industry, and how do you plan to stay ahead of it?
Data and AI are the future of the snack industry. In an era of increased brand competition and virtually limitless consumer choice, snack brands can’t afford to waste time or money. The ones who succeed will be those who think and act more like tech companies than typical consumer packaged goods brands. Our tech team has built, and is constantly refining, SnackNation Insights, a next-generation data and analytics platform that offers product intelligence gathered from millions of consumer insight data points.
For consumers, SnackNation Insights optimizes discovery, creates more customized curations and will fuel our forthcoming recommendation and predictive analytics engines. For brands, our platform provides the product intelligence needed to make faster and better decisions. It’s the future of our industry, and we are so proud to be leading the charge.
