Blackdot growing its Asia footprint despite the crisis

In the third quarter of last year, Blackdot launched an operation in Asia. Despite the Covid-19 crisis and its impact, the sales & marketing consulting firm has managed to grow its presence in the region.

Headquartered in Sydney, Blackdot helps its clients improve sales and their customer experience. Solutions range from from initial support with developing a customer strategy all the way through customer processing and sales, with additional expertise in customer technology that can enhance the entire experience.

This suite of services has only intensified in demand recently – particularly in key Asian markets – as evidenced by the steady growth in Blackdot’s engagements since the establishment of its Singapore office in October last year. The firm’s clients already span Australian industry leaders such as ANZ, Citi Group and Commonwealth Bank, and global players including Ebay and HSBC, among others.

Since opening the Singapore office, Blackdot has run projects across Japan, China, Indonesia and in Singapore itself, with players in the pharmaceutical, consumer goods and banking sectors all featuring among the clientele.

“With Asia being a key growth region for many of our enterprise clients, particularly in pharma and financial services, we’re seeing significant demand for solutions that accelerate omni-channel maturity and create attributable value at the country level,” explained Blackdot Managing Director Marty Nicholas.

He indicated how the response in Asia has spurred the firm on to consider expanding its Australia-focused structure and take on a more international look. Part of this shift in focus is a hiring drive planned across China, Japan and Singapore to better serve regional clients. According to Nicholas, Blackdot is also looking to adapt to individual markets, as well as market trends that are unfolding under the Covid-19 crisis.

“Most clients are currently straddling contradictory customer experience, growth and cost challenges which has resulted in them preferring to engage us on an outcome-basis (rather than a more traditional deliverables-based model),” he said.

Nicholas is an expert in sales & marketing, and founded Blackdot back in 2001. Under his leadership, the specialist consulting firm has expanded to have a presence in most major markets, with offices in Sydney, London, Singapore and most recently a San Francisco office that was opened in March this year.

The firm is expanding steadily, and demand for its services is only likely to increase as the crisis intensifies. Trust in a brand and customer experience have become central consumer priorities in the “new normal,” and many will be turning to customer experience professionals to help navigate these changing preferences.

Add to this the fact that Blackdot has extensive experience with the banking and financial services sector, which is growing increasingly competitive when it comes to digital innovationin the customer experience space. All things considered, the firm is anticipating a steady growth trajectory in the near future.