Traction on Demand x DLL: Transforming Customer Experience
‘It all started with a 06:30 am phone call’, says Aaron Zuccolin, VP of Industry Solutions and Financial Services Practice Lead. ‘Right from Traction on Demand’s first experience with DLL, Rafe—DLL’s Chief Innovation Officer—made it very clear that the customer came first’. This customer ‘obsession’, as Aaron puts it, forms the very foundation of Traction on Demand and DLL’s partnership. And as Traction on Demand’s financial services practice lead, Aaron is its chief customer advocate.
What Traction on Demand does is two-fold: first, it consults financial services companies, and second, it helps them implement new technologies. ‘That’s a wide scope’, Aaron explains. ‘We’re involved with traditional sectors such as banking, insurance, and lending and leasing, but also venture capital, private equity, and fintech’.
The Partnership
‘As a global company, DLL wants to deepen their relationship with their customers’, Aaron explains. Traction on Demand will help the group build a scalable platform and work with DLL to eventually hand over complete platform control. According to him, Traction on Demand would love to have a longstanding relationship with DLL far into the future. ‘Part of our mission is to ensure they can maintain the technology themselves’, he tells me. ‘But we aim to strategise and be a true partner. That’s how we take the next step of the journey’.
DLL’s next steps will involve incorporating some lessons from fintech. Most fintechs collect high-quality data, learn quickly, and adapt fast. ‘You see what’s working’, Aaron says. ‘Pivot. Adapt. Be agile but do it with intention’. He adds that established businesses such as DLL benefit from adopting an experimental approach. ‘What works? What doesn’t?’ he asks. ‘And how can we best serve the customer?’
Further, Aaron takes a nuanced approach to the technology versus human debate that’s all too often black and white. ‘We talk a lot about data’, he tells me. ‘And, of course, it’s critical to collect it. But it’s also critical to understand when you need a human touchpoint. Technology can solve 80% of the customer journey. But the last 20%—that’s how companies succeed’.
The Teamwork
DLL and Traction on Demand work well together because they hold similar corporate values—community, honesty, and opportunity. ‘We’re not an up-and-out culture’, Aaron says. ‘We create paths for our people so that they can pivot. I’ll be honest. I’ve spent nine years here because I’ve had the freedom to grow as an individual’. Further, he attributes the success of their partnership to mutual respect. ‘Our partnership is honest, upfront, and customer-obsessed’, he says. ‘We’re a natural fit’.
Even their organisational structures are similar. Although DLL is a global business, it’s built strong regional and country hubs, which end up forming a matrix. This mirrors Traction on Demand’s lines of business around functions and industries. ‘Our partnership is unique in that regard’, Aaron says. ‘We understand each other, and we collaborate from a personal, cultural, and operating perspective’.
The Future
In the next 12 to 18 months, Traction on Demand and DLL want to build a more integrated customer experience. ‘What are our customers buying? Services or products’, Aaron says. ‘But what’s really important is their experience. You have to provide more value than just the product’.
As a result, both companies donate 1% of their revenue to joint community projects in order to give back to their local communities. And there’s no sign of them stopping. ‘We’ll definitely work with DLL to strategise what’s next and give them the next leg up in the industry’, Aaron tells me. ‘We do excellent work together. And we align on what’s important—the customer experience’.
