In an interview with PME Magazine, João Santos, WYgroup’s COO, discusses the company’s recent years, referring to how it distinguishes itself from other organizations in the CX market.
1. How do you analyze the company’s two decades? What were the biggest milestones achieved?
WYgroup was founded in 2001 and started with a team of 3 entrepreneurs. Today, 20 years later, it is already a holding of 7 different companies – Bliss, Bloomcast, By, Fever, Performance Sales, NERVO, and White – in the areas of Creativity, Design & Technology, and Media & Data, and has 14 partners and more than 330 people. This growth has always been sustained, year after year, thanks to the combined efforts of leadership, talented people and customers, and stakeholders who have placed their trust in the group over time. We now lead our market with solid growth of 20% per year. In this last year, which I believe to have been a hard and challenging year for all companies, the Group grew by more than 21%, with all units achieving or exceeding their plans.
2. What is the biggest innovation or novelty that WYgroup has brought or has brought to the Portuguese market? In other words, what differentiates WYgroup from other companies in the same sector?
We believe that there are two truly differentiating axes of our offer in the national market. Firstly, we offer the unique expertise of those who work in the most competitive markets in the world: although there are many multinationals in our sector in Portugal, the truth is that they only make local implementations. Strategies are global and implementations are local. At WYgroup, we do it differently: we develop the strategy and implementation whether the client is in the United States, Canada, Germany, Holland, or Mexico, and we use these same tools and the knowledge gained to apply it in the Portuguese market. The same people and the same tools, the same knowledge, and the same talent serve in multiple latitudes and in different markets and make us accumulate truly global experiences. The second axis has to do with the fact that we are a hybrid between a consultant and a creative agency: generally, in consultants, evaluations, and data analysis are carried out, but without offering creativity and content, and in a creative agency, it is usually always lacking a more quantitative analysis of the business model. We manage to be an authentic “one-stop-shop”, a true technological and digital marketing vertical that adjusts itself according to the needs of each of our customers. And nobody can deliver this in our market.
3. Derived from the covid-19 pandemic, what was the biggest challenge/adversity the WYgroup had to face? How did these impacts change the company’s work dynamics?
Business as usual has changed and our work model was no exception. Although it was challenging, we carried out a process of rapid adaptation and learning, in which we incorporated the innovation and creativity characteristic of our DNA, strengthened positive communication and cross-feedback, and gave (even) more space for empathy. This process has brought us a new modus operandi and has proved to be extremely valuable, as our levels of organizational satisfaction and happiness are at a very positive level.
4. How do you justify the company’s growth?
I think there is an essential combination of three factors: leadership, market, and talent. We have a inspiring, visionary, and entrepreneurial leadership, who came to structure the group to grow in digital. The Pandemic has been a catalyst for digitization and new business models for which we have the tools and the in-house talent to develop and leverage. We saw the future in time, and we have the right people with us to help build it.
5. How do you see CX’s market in Portugal? Do you consider that companies pay due attention to this “angle” of the market?
There is more and more of this concern. But the heart of the matter is that the CX is not an angle, it’s the foundation of the project. When we develop it without taking this crucial piece into account, failure usually awaits us later, either by quick obsolescence or by choice. I like to say that every euro invested in CX is a kind of life insurance but with an immediate return.
6. Are there prospects for expanding the business internationally? In addition to the Boston office, are there more market insights?
We are currently working in over 20 different geographies, and we are being challenged to break into many more. The pandemic has shown us that physical spaces are easily altered as a result of needs. Physical presence makes sense for the sake of time zones more than anything else. Our expansion is always organic and oriented and the physical opening will be made when the market, due to its maturity and interest, so warrants.
7. What future projects can we look forward to from WYgroup?
We are developing three innovation projects, which are intended to meet the future needs of the market, those that we feel exist and for which there is still no structured and sufficiently comprehensive response. One of these bets is already in production and should be presented very soon. The other two are still in the structuring and conceptualization phase. We believe that this will be the beginning of an important area for marketing in the future and that, we hope, will surprise the market and customers.
8. Can you advance billing numbers?
Of course, but more important than invoicing is the gross margin, the value with which we manage all our operations. In 2020, the gross margin was 11 million euros, and for this year we have a forecast of more than 14 million euros.
You can read the original interview in PME Magazine.
