Loyalty service provider Customer Loyalty Solutions Sdn Bhd (CLS) is targeting between 30% and 50% revenue growth, riding on the robust market of the niche segment to provide loyalty services outsourcing options for local companies to better manage their customer database.

Its general manager Ooi Hooi Cheng says the entry of CLS into the market in April last year was timely as most companies were seeking to relinquish certain tasks in their loyalty programme to CLS, such as the delivery and fulfilment of rewards to their customers.

“Our initial revenue target for this year was RM7 million. For the first eight months this year, we have already reached the target,” she tells FinancialDaily.

The company's revenue streams include customer knowledge-based management, call centre management, procurement and fulfilment, marketing support, IT support and systems integration.

Ooi says as more companies are gearing up to focus on their core businesses, they have begun to outsource the loyalty programme operations to third-party companies. CLS' existing customers include financial institutions and multi-national companies.

She says there is also a need for business-to-business loyalty programmes whereby companies require the presence of CLS to communicate with their extensive networks of vendors nationwide.

CLS has its own proprietary technology solutions for its IT support and data-mining system, developed by its holding company Advance Information Marketing Sdn Bhd. For a minimum fee of RM3,000, CLS offers its customers a basic loyalty marketing programme.

Ooi says through its data-mining program, it has the capability to store customers’ individual information, which includes their preferences and activity history with the companies concerned.

The information is important for the companies to carry out their personalised marketing campaigns, particularly for high-value customers.

Ooi says CLS also expects to sign up another three to five new clients by year-end. On the outlook for its niche segment, she remains optimistic that the market will continue to grow.

Its chief executive officer Nyang Koon Seng says the company would also be investing an additional RM3 million to enhance its call centre, and procurement and fulfilment depot to cope with the rising demand for its business process outsourcing (BPO).

“Organisations are seeking speed to market and improve their levels of customer service and turn to service providers like CLS to increase these efficiencies,” he says.

The new call centre will be able to manage inbound and outbound calls for multi-clients while the fulfilment and procurement depot will increase efficiency in purchasing and redemption services.

Its technology system would be able to generate reports and analyses to include detailed descriptions of calls outcomes, transactions of fulfilments and customers’ activity reports.

According to a Gartner survey, BPO revenue is expected to reach RM11.4 billion this year, a 65% increase from last year’s RM4.94 billion.

“2004 has been a breakthrough year for BPO. Between 2003 and this year, we have acquired more than 15 clients,” he says.