How to Build Loyalty That Works? Global Lessons in Personalization, Culture, and Trust with Comarch

Paula: This is a really special day, and I’m thrilled for an awesome conversation.

Paula: We have an awful lot to talk about.

Marlena: As Comarch, we are not just sponsoring the show to slap our logo somewhere here on the screen right now, but we do it because we do believe in the real conversations, and we do believe in loyalty and bringing some value.

Paula: It is the very first time that we have invited a technology company to be hosting our show.

Paula: The fact that you got to host an episode of Loyalty TV, tell us a bit about how you’re feeling about that.

Marlena: I’m here because I want to steer these things up.

Marlena: I don’t want to talk about another successful use case and success story.

Joanna: I’ve been in the loyalty now for around 16, 17 years around the world.

Marlena: I’ve been in IT industry for 14 years now, but precisely with Comarch, it’s been eight wonderful years.

Marlena: As we chat in here right now, as we speak, there are 300 million people globally using our platform.

Marlena: Think about that.

Marlena: 300 individuals somewhere there are currently, well, reliant on their points being accumulated or redeemed through the Comarch engine.

Joanna: Comarch was the only one who was able to build that system customized for us in less than three months of time.

Marlena: We built everything in-house.

Marlena: There’s no Frankenstein stack.

Marlena: There’s no powered by another vendor type of label.

Marlena: No, everything comes from Comarch.

Marlena: What does it say to the brands out there is that we do not blame other vendors when things go wrong.

Marlena: We fix it.

Marlena: We own it.

Marlena: We take the full responsibility.

Paula: Hello and welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, a show for loyalty marketing professionals.

Paula: I’m Paula Thomas, the founder and CEO of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, where we feature insightful conversations with loyalty professionals from the world’s leading brands.

Paula: If you work in loyalty marketing, join us every week to hear the latest ideas and insights for loyalty marketing specialists around the world.

Paula: Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.

Paula: Today I’m thrilled to announce our biggest partnership of 2025 with Comarch, who are now the platinum sponsor for Loyalty TV.

Paula: Comarch is actually our longest running and therefore most loyal partner for our Let’s Talk Loyalty podcast.

Paula: So, we were thrilled when they told us they also want to become our lead partner for Loyalty TV.

Paula: This partnership is a way for Comarch to showcase their ambition to be recognized worldwide as the go-to partner for Loyalty professionals.

Paula: In today’s episode, I’m joined in studio by Marlena Polrola and Joanna Witsch, both based here in Dubai with Comarch’s Middle East team.

Paula: Marlena and Joanna will share why you should be following, learning from and talking to Comarch throughout your Loyalty journey, including some real examples of the scale and success of their loyalty projects worldwide over more than 30 years so far.

Paula: I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Paula: Hello Anne, welcome to Loyalty TV.

Marlena: Good morning, Paula, how are you?

Paula: I’m super well.

Paula: Great to have you here, and welcome back.

Joanna: Good morning, Paula, how are you doing?

Paula: Amazing, amazing.

Paula: This is a really special day, and I’m thrilled for an awesome conversation.

Paula: We have an awful lot to talk about.

Paula: Marlena, it’s your first time on the show.

Paula: So that is no pressure, my goodness.

Marlena: Pressure is always there, but yeah, fine.

Paula: You’re a pro, a total pro.

Paula: And Joanna, I think you’re now one of our most frequent guests.

Joanna: Oh, am I?

Paula: Per time on the show.

Paula: So we’re looking forward to catching up with everything.

Marlena: We’re getting loyalty points from the Loyalty TV.

Joanna: Indeed, from the Let’s Loyalty.

Paula: Totally, totally.

Paula: We’ve got to make that work.

Paula: So listen, let’s get straight into it.

Paula: We do have a lot to talk about.

Paula: So first and foremost, as you know, we have an opening question, which is quite new, but it’s something that’s designed to, I suppose, inspire us all, get a little bit of extra education beyond our loyalty persona, just to get a sense of what we might like to read as a non-fiction book.

Paula: That’s our only requirement.

Paula: You can talk about anything in the world of non-fiction.

Paula: And so Marlena, given that it’s your first time on the show, tell our audience, what’s your favorite book at the moment?

Marlena: I will, and honestly, Paula, this is my time to shine because I am obsessed about books.

Marlena: I love reading.

Marlena: It’s part of my daily ritual.

Marlena: And the book that became my favorite, it’s called The Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom.

Marlena: And no, it’s not another get-rich-fast kind of book.

Marlena: It’s more about, it’s like a slap in the face to anyone who thinks that success equals money.

Marlena: So the five types of wealth the book talks about is the time, social, physical, mental and financial.

Marlena: And the biggest takeaway is that if you are only wealthy within the financial spectrum, but at the same time your friends don’t call you, your back hurts, you’re eating bad things, then you’re not wealthy at all.

Marlena: So I would recommend this book to anyone who is very successful professionally and is nailing their jobs, but at the same time might be feeling like something is missing and it’s not enough.

Paula: That is pretty profound and you know I haven’t been well recently and thankfully nothing serious, but definitely I need to focus more on taking care of myself.

Paula: So a brilliant answer.

Paula: Thank you, Marlena.

Paula: And Joanna, you’ve given us an answer before, of course, on the show, but I think you’ve got a different one.

Paula: So tell us.

Joanna: This time it’s going to be actually about the loyalty.

Paula: OK, relevant.

Joanna: So I really enjoyed the very recent recommendations, actually.

Joanna: It’s Loyalty Programs and the Currency Effect.

Joanna: So what I really enjoyed about this book is that different approach to the Loyalty and all of us practitioners who run the Loyalty Programs, we’re starting Loyalty Programs.

Joanna: You do it, yes, for your customers, but you do it obviously to build an extra revenue for your business.

Joanna: And everyone, I think, struggles with proving what that actually incremental revenue is about.

Joanna: We focus a lot about this.

Joanna: There are many models in an end, but we all actually struggle to prove how much that value the Loyalty Programs actually generate.

Joanna: Even we know it works, but to prove how much it’s adding actually to the bottom line, it’s very difficult to actually estimate, right?

Paula: Yeah.

Joanna: So this approach, so the authors of that book, they take it from completely other perspective.

Joanna: They say it’s the points which are actually your extra revenue, right?

Joanna: This is the big value that you are having in your pocket, and it’s so important to utilize that.

Joanna: And I would recommend that to, I think, everyone who either is about to launch the Loyalty program, or who already are running the Loyalty program, and perhaps looking into transforming it, because it’s so important to start well from scratch.

Joanna: How do you actually build the proposition, the entire business model, including the points, because only then you may do it right or wrong in terms of giving yourself that possibility to make money out of the points, right?

Joanna: When you’re doing your partnerships later on.

Joanna: So very interesting.

Joanna: I really like the different approach, and not just the focus on incremental revenue in here and now you have to show.

Joanna: It’s another way, actually, of generating the value of the Loyalty program, the monetary value.

Paula: Amazing.

Paula: I’m not going to get any sleep with all these books.

Paula: Incredible.

Paula: I will indeed.

Paula: And we did an episode on it, but I didn’t post it, and I haven’t read it, but I love the author.

Joanna: That’s why I was thinking I missed that, so I did not.

Paula: We will put it in the show notes for the episode as well.

Paula: So thank you.

Paula: So let’s stay with you then for a minute, Joanna.

Paula: I know some people do know your background already from your previous star appearance on the show.

Paula: But tell us, just a recap, and especially for anyone who hasn’t met you before.

Joanna: Yeah.

Joanna: So since almost half a year now, I’m Senior Loyalty Consultant and Customer Success Manager at Comarch Middle East.

Joanna: But my background is mainly retail loyalty.

Joanna: So I’ve been in the loyalty now for around 16, 17 years actually, starting 2008.

Joanna: So time flies around the world and here in the regional for eight years.

Joanna: So before the job at Comarch, I was Head of Loyalty, Product and Operations at Alshayah Group, and before that as a Senior Loyalty Manager at Shaloub Group as well.

Joanna: So incredible.

Joanna: Something I know about loyalty, I can say.

Marlena: A lot and about shopping for sure.

Paula: Indeed, indeed.

Paula: And I think you know a lot about both topics as well.

Marlena: So I do, I do.

Marlena: Yeah.

Paula: So tell us about you and your background, Marlena.

Marlena: Yes.

Marlena: So I’ve been in IT industry for 14 years now.

Marlena: But precisely with Comarch, it’s been eight wonderful years.

Marlena: And it all started in our office in Malaysia.

Marlena: After being with Comarch for three years in KL, I moved to Bangkok where I stayed for another three years.

Marlena: And after Bangkok, I moved to…

Marlena: I actually was upgraded to finally be in our office in Dubai, which I’m soon going to also have three years in here.

Marlena: So let’s see what’s around the corner, what’s expecting me.

Marlena: But to be very honest, I’m very thankful and grateful for the opportunity that I had because actually seeing how people in different parts of the world react to loyalty program, it’s like a crash course on customer, on human behavior actually that you can have and it’s the best lesson ever.

Marlena: And in terms of my role, obviously I am working as a pre-sales consultant.

Marlena: So how I can always explain that is that I’m trying to bridge between the business ambition the companies have, which especially here is super high and super demanding and bridge that all our ambition with the technology stack and the tech reality.

Paula: Yeah.

Marlena: That is somehow challenging.

Paula: Yeah.

Paula: Amazing.

Paula: Two things I love there that you just said.

Paula: First of all, that global perspective, because I don’t know about you guys, but when I was back in Ireland, you know, when I had this kind of need for knowledge, which I clearly still have.

Paula: But the reason that I was always concerned was I always felt that there was only a US perspective.

Paula: Everybody thinks it’s the US and nothing else.

Paula: And here I was sitting in a tiny country and we were getting no visibility.

Paula: And we were doing some great work.

Paula: So what’s going on in Malaysia?

Paula: What’s going on in Bangkok?

Paula: There’s extraordinary stuff.

Paula: So we like to think of ourselves as having a really global perspective.

Paula: And I know you guys do by definition.

Paula: So I know we’re going to talk about that an awful lot.

Paula: And the other piece which amuses me that you talked about is the ambition that’s here in this region.

Marlena: Sky is the limit, not even the sky is the limit.

Paula: Not even the sky, indeed.

Paula: So I love that, obviously, when there is a realistic understanding of what it takes to build world class loyalty.

Paula: I think sometimes they expect it like last year and immediately profitable, which is not easy.

Paula: Let’s be honest about that.

Paula: But good, I think people often say to me, and I’m sure to you as well, why do you live in Dubai?

Paula: And I’m like, I love this place.

Paula: It believes in itself and it wants to be the best in the world.

Marlena: It has different energy in the air.

Marlena: It’s incredible.

Paula: Yeah.

Joanna: And it’s the world of the possibilities.

Paula: It exactly is.

Paula: Exactly.

Paula: Which leads to loyalty.

Paula: And I know you guys are doing loads here.

Paula: So we’ll definitely talk about the regional successes in a little while.

Paula: But I suppose the first thing I really wanted to get into as a topic was this new sponsorship that Comarch has come on with Loyalty TV.

Paula: This is thrilling, I have to say.

Paula: It’s brilliant, brilliant news.

Paula: And I guess, you know, there’s so many reasons why I wanted this to happen.

Paula: I said in my introduction that Comarch has been our most loyal partner on our podcast.

Paula: You know, the longest standing partner.

Joanna: Well done to us.

Paula: So well done to you.

Marlena: Pet in the back.

Paula: Amazing.

Paula: Thank you for that.

Paula: And now it’s coming across to our video format.

Paula: So let’s stay with you then, Marlena, just in terms of this kind of partnership coming to a whole new level.

Paula: What does it mean to you to be the sponsor of Loyalty TV?

Marlena: Yeah, honestly, it’s a big news and I’m so grateful for this as well, because I do believe that Loyalty TV and all the job Paula, you do is it’s not like different media or not like other podcasts, because I do believe that the place where the bold conversations should happen, you know, and I’m here because I want to steer this things up.

Marlena: I don’t want to talk about another successful use case and success story.

Marlena: I’m here because I want to talk about things that are broken, the campaigns that failed, things that didn’t work, and I want to find out why it happened.

Marlena: And the reason behind is that I do believe that as human beings, we learn more from the mistakes and the chaos rather than we do from all this polished, sanitized, beautiful case studies, right?

Marlena: So again, as Comarch, we are not just sponsoring the show to slap our logo somewhere here on the screen right now, but we do it because we do believe in the real conversations and we do believe in loyalty and bringing some value.

Marlena: So yeah, it’s not just about talking tag, but it’s also about flipping this table a little bit.

Paula: Shaking it up, absolutely.

Paula: Well, no better woman.

Paula: And I suppose part of this means we’ll be able to bring loads of our Comarch clients onto the show wherever in the world, whether they’re back in Malaysia or Bangkok or wherever they may be.

Paula: So getting that learning piece is really important to me.

Paula: Like I’ve always said, the values of our show are education and inspiration.

Paula: And again, I have been accused of being positive Paula.

Paula: It is my nickname.

Marlena: That’s why I’m here.

Joanna: There we go.

Joanna: But nothing.

Paula: There you go.

Paula: So absolutely.

Paula: So yes, we’re here to learn and anything people can share, our audience truly, truly appreciate.

Paula: I can tell you, we get amazing feedback from people.

Paula: So I love the idea that Comarch is not afraid to say it’s not always going to be perfect.

Paula: Let’s learn from what we would never do again.

Paula: So I think that’s a brilliant perspective as a company.

Paula: Joanna, from your side, I suppose, just in terms of, I suppose, first of all, why do you think Comarch wants to be part of the show?

Paula: And then we’ll talk about the extra piece of news, which is coming soon as well.

Paula: So just tell us a bit about that.

Joanna: Yeah, I think that’s very obvious.

Joanna: And, you know, we we believe very much in, you know, all that content and all the things like Marlena was saying, you’re doing Paula and we know lots of loyalty experts do listen to you and do follow all the conversations that that you have.

Joanna: And from our perspective, this is that, you know, perfect partnership, perfect relationship with your work.

Joanna: You know, we can bring some piece of content with people who know us, who are our clients on the other side, helping others, you know, to learn more about this small piece of work.

Joanna: As we said, it’s not US only.

Paula: Yes.

Joanna: It’s just so much more happening as well.

Paula: Indeed.

Joanna: So I think these are the, you know, the main elements of why we are looking, we are looking into that.

Paula: Amazing.

Paula: Great, great.

Paula: So we have loads of work ahead.

Paula: So, you know, I’m exhausted already thinking about it, but it’s all exciting.

Paula: And again, the audience is going to be thrilled.

Paula: I suppose the second piece of news, it is the very first time that we have invited a technology company to be hosting our show, which is a little bit scary.

Paula: Now, I think, Marlena, you’re the total pro again.

Paula: I’ve seen you in action, so no question.

Paula: But the fact that you’re going to host an episode of Loyalty TV, tell us a bit about how you’re feeling about that.

Marlena: Honestly, being a guest host is such a vibe.

Marlena: I love the opportunity.

Marlena: And I must say that me and Joanna, we are the prettiest consultant, right?

Marlena: So we are always in the office, usually, maybe not for Joanna, but I’m in the office working on the RFPs, doing the product demonstrations.

Marlena: And suddenly, you give us the chance to just grab the mic and tell all the stories we have.

Marlena: This is incredible.

Marlena: So I really like that.

Marlena: And as I said before, I’m going to focus on the raw stories, the real stuff.

Marlena: I’m planning to roast all the bad loyalty campaign.

Joanna: I feel sorry for whoever is going to be against.

Marlena: I’m just like, waiting for it.

Marlena: I’m planning to laugh on the term gamification, when all you mean is basically spinning the wheel of sadness.

Marlena: I’m going to talk about that campaign that suddenly, within 24 hours, issued a million points, because someone forgot to cap it at a certain level.

Marlena: Let’s be real in here and let’s just learn all together from all that mistakes you’ve done.

Paula: Hilarious.

Paula: I mean, you heard it here first, okay, no more spin the wheel.

Joanna: The majority is the sadness.

Joanna: There are only a few winners usually.

Joanna: So yes, perhaps 90 plus percent would be a sadness.

Paula: Like we love gamification, but it can be dumbed down.

Paula: I think that’s the key point.

Paula: Yes, let’s do it in an intelligent way.

Paula: Let’s put our rules in place.

Paula: Let’s make sure that absolutely we do it really well.

Paula: So can’t wait for your episode.

Paula: My goodness, but a little bit scared.

Paula: And Joanna, then you’ve been again as a guest on the show now.

Paula: How do you feel to be coming to this side of the table?

Joanna: The first thought is like it’s a challenge because you can’t be Paula, obviously, right?

Joanna: Like Paula is the one.

Marlena: The bar is so high.

Paula: Exactly.

Joanna: So how can you be a good host actually?

Joanna: But I’m very happily accepting that challenge.

Joanna: So when I got that question, would you like to?

Joanna: I was like, yeah, of course.

Joanna: Like there was not even a second of a doubt.

Joanna: The doubt came a bit later, like, oh, I’m not going to be as good as Paula.

Joanna: But besides that, it is an excitement because it is to be on the other side of the table and needs to be able to ask the questions we want to ask or I want to ask personally and know that the guests will be coming together with me.

Joanna: And that’s coming in a couple of weeks from now, right?

Joanna: So yes, it’s getting very exciting.

Joanna: Not sure if we can reveal or we are not revealing for now.

Paula: I think we’ll keep it a secret.

Joanna: We’ll keep it a secret, we’ll keep it more interesting.

Joanna: Yes, it will be someone from the region, obviously.

Paula: Yes, indeed.

Joanna: It’s going to be an interesting one.

Paula: Indeed, somebody we know very well.

Paula: Oh, yes, somebody who is a total advocate of Comarch.

Paula: So yeah, there’s a total love fest, I think, going on right now.

Paula: So I’m just going to admit that.

Paula: But anyway, they’re great stories.

Paula: You’ve got the knowledge.

Paula: He’s got the knowledge.

Paula: We’ll give that much away.

Paula: And for me, I think I just see that the Middle East is exploding in loyalty terms, given the ambition, extra budgets, in interesting countries.

Paula: So there is, of course, the UAE that we often talk about.

Paula: But again, our global audience mightn’t realize how ambitious Saudi Arabia has become.

Paula: So we’ll definitely get into stories about that.

Paula: But before we get too much into, I suppose, the regional stuff, Joanne, I’ll stick with you in terms of, you know, you are obviously very proud to work for Comarch.

Joanna: That’s the reason why I came back.

Paula: Exactly.

Paula: See, you left and came back again.

Paula: I mean, that’s just incredible.

Marlena: She just grabbed you.

Marlena: This is retention we do inside of Comarch, you know.

Joanna: I will never forget Marlis last time on the CUG when she was inviting me as a speaker.

Joanna: And she’s saying, you know, people may leave Comarch, but Comarch never leaves people.

Joanna: There you go.

Marlena: It’s part of our DNA.

Joanna: Half a year later.

Paula: Honestly, yes.

Paula: There you came back.

Paula: Yeah, honestly.

Paula: Yeah, she’s very convincing.

Joanna: Yeah, she did a good job indeed.

Paula: So listen, you guys are a force of nature, I would dare to say, in the loyalty industry, more than 30 years, you know.

Paula: So tell us from your perspective, like what are you most proud of?

Paula: Like you’re out selling this technology.

Paula: You’re competing with the other, like very ambitious, you know, so it’s not an easy job.

Paula: So what are you most proud of?

Paula: You think that Comarch does best?

Joanna: It’s very difficult, I think, to even find that one thing, because there are just so many, right?

Joanna: First of all, most, we both are Polish.

Joanna: So I think, you know, when you come to Poland, and then you say, I work for Comarch, everyone knows Comarch.

Joanna: It’s not like here, right?

Joanna: I mean, yes, we are part of the huge company, but here we are like, you know, 20, 20 plus people in our office in the UAE.

Joanna: So people are like, oh yeah, we heard something about Comarch.

Joanna: But when you’re back there, home, back home, it’s like, oh wow, you know, that’s a huge company with beautiful heritage, right?

Joanna: Which was created more than 30 years ago.

Joanna: And, and it keeps on shining, right?

Joanna: You don’t see, I think nowadays, you don’t see so many businesses, so many companies, you know, which started the business early 90s, and they are still thriving and they are growing and they are looking for more opportunities, right?

Joanna: And this is what I’m really enjoying.

Joanna: Like, my very, actually, it’s my third time at Comarch, because my very, very first job was at the Telco site of Comarch, which was my first job after university for two years as a QA and as a trainer.

Joanna: So back then, I knew only something about the Telco, right?

Joanna: Then I moved over to Loyalty and BP, and then I was like, oh, yeah, that is Comarch doing something, Loyalty.

Joanna: Then when I moved on and then I came here, I was like, oh, there are people doing something in banking, in finance, in health care, and also a number of industries that we actually do an amazing systems for, amazing platforms for, to basically support every day’s life nowadays, because it’s not only Loyalty as mentioned, it’s invoicing and stuff, right?

Joanna: So I think every smallest company, like even my auntie who has her small bakery, she is even using Comarch invoicing system and stuff like that, right?

Joanna: So that’s absolutely amazing.

Joanna: So I think that’s the biggest part I’m really proud of, to be working at Comarch.

Joanna: And the other part is also people.

Joanna: So it was not long time ago on LinkedIn, someone said, you don’t choose the job, you choose the people you work with.

Joanna: And that was a little bit with me, you know, like I knew Wojciech who is our manager already for a while from, you know, he was taking care of us when I was working at Alshaya, but also before.

Joanna: And then, so I was thinking, you know what, if there is someone I can be working for, are those people, right?

Joanna: That’s why I kind of decided to make that move in.

Joanna: I could see the things are changing, things are going in a different direction.

Joanna: So something which I thought, you know, it’s a good time actually to join in and with right people.

Paula: Amazing.

Paula: And you briefly mentioned BP and I love the BP Comarch story.

Paula: Would you mind just briefly sharing that for anybody who hasn’t heard it?

Joanna: Oh boy, I think this is like 30 years ago as well.

Joanna: And it wasn’t the Comarch loyalty management as it stands now.

Joanna: It was, you know, some hand held devices and stuff like this.

Joanna: So that history started many, many years ago.

Joanna: And the reason why Comarch has been chosen by BP, that’s the story I had from my manager back then.

Joanna: She said Comarch was the only one who was able to build that system customized for us in less than three months of time.

Joanna: So there was still a very small loyalty team back in the 90s.

Joanna: And one of the colleagues, you know, who was taking lead in that project, he gathered all the people, all the developers, understood what the requirements were.

Joanna: And there we go.

Joanna: And the system was ready in less than three months and was up and running.

Joanna: Yes, it was back then, as mentioned, offline system, but it was working, right?

Joanna: It was meeting the requirements of the loyalty program BP wanted to have.

Joanna: And that story then continued because when then CLM has been created, then BP said, oh yeah, we are now ready to go fully real time and online and and end, right?

Joanna: So there were one of the first companies in Poland and I guess worldwide, which actually had that real time points issuance, you know, so you can pay for your fuel and you can redeem for your coffee right away in the show, those points, right?

Joanna: I remember, you know, the colleagues from Comarch coming for the reference meeting from around the world.

Joanna: It was even the JetBlue guys from the US.

Joanna: And they were all like opening their eyes like, wow, how are these things working in real time?

Joanna: I can pay for the fuel and get my coffee with those points.

Paula: Yeah, amazing.

Paula: And then as they expanded, yeah, loyalty around the world, they, Comarch obviously followed and set up operations in all the countries that they’re in.

Joanna: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joanna: The most recent being Australia, I believe a couple of years ago.

Joanna: So yeah.

Paula: That’s just a true sign of strength of a relationship, honestly, because companies like that do not make decisions unless they’re thrilled a bit.

Paula: So well done, you guys.

Paula: So I just wanted to make sure we share that because we had BP on the show and that’s exactly what they said.

Paula: It’s like we just we couldn’t operate then unless Comarch came with us.

Paula: So yeah, a big story.

Paula: And again, 30 years, my goodness.

Paula: Wow, makes me feel old.

Paula: Two of us.

Paula: Yes, yeah.

Paula: And Marlena then, just from your perspective.

Marlena: Well, I think, Paula, 30 years, it’s quite an impressive number.

Marlena: And, you know, there are lots of those numbers, like 50 offices and more worldwide.

Marlena: Yeah.

Marlena: 7,000 people working for Comarch and blah, blah, blah.

Marlena: But then there’s one number that’s stuck to me particularly.

Marlena: And it’s very impressive is that as we chat in here right now, as we speak, there are 300 million people globally using our platform.

Marlena: Think about that.

Marlena: 300 individuals somewhere there are currently, well, reliant on their points being accumulated or redeemed through the Comarch engine.

Marlena: This is fascinating for me.

Marlena: Yeah.

Marlena: And if I had to summarize Comarch in one sentence, that would be that we never blindly follow the trends.

Marlena: Okay.

Marlena: We stayed focused and built the product that lasts.

Marlena: Meanwhile, our competitors have been busy chasing the trends, you know, blockchain here, blockchain there, revamping, rebranding, changing their names recently.

Marlena: We stayed focused.

Marlena: We kept building.

Marlena: We kept testing, listening to our customers and improving.

Marlena: That’s how right now we might see ourselves as those who already built the Loyalty Empire, right?

Marlena: And I think what is also quite remarkable is the fact that we built everything in-house.

Marlena: This is one-stop shop solution and there’s no Frankenstein stack.

Marlena: There’s no powered by another vendor type of label.

Marlena: No, everything comes from Comarch.

Marlena: Let it be Loyalty, Marketing Automation, Gamification, Machine Learning, Contact Center, it’s on us.

Marlena: So what does it say to the brands out there is that we do not blame other vendors when things go wrong.

Marlena: And well, let’s be real, they do go wrong sometimes.

Marlena: We fix it, we own it, we take the full responsibility.

Marlena: When clients call us something is going on, we are not just like, oh, this is probably your hosting.

Marlena: Oh, this is your mobile application.

Marlena: Oh, this is this and that.

Marlena: No, we pick up this phone call and we fix it.

Marlena: And I think that’s what made us so successful, especially in Middle East, because customers expect this kind of value when it comes to support being given to them.

Paula: Totally.

Marlena: So I do think this is like the most important thing.

Paula: Yeah, yeah.

Marlena: Another actually, maybe unpopular opinion, but it’s not just about what that brands need more technology.

Marlena: I think that just need better usage of the tech they already have.

Marlena: So that’s why me and Joanna, we are also not only working on the pre-sale side of that, but also on the post-sale as a customer success manager, because configuring these amazing campaigns, because of automating certain campaigns to the market and letting our customers realize that Excel spreadsheet and real-time personalization, that cannot coexist.

Marlena: So this is a very good point that we are trying to make at Comarch.

Paula: Amazing, amazing.

Paula: Yeah, it’s all about trust really, isn’t it?

Marlena: It is.

Paula: Amazing, brilliant.

Paula: Joanna, then we’ve talked a little bit about the global picture, and you’re both here in Dubai.

Paula: Yes.

Paula: You know, Marlena has already referred to the ambitions here, which we all love and keeps us on our toes, keeps us gainfully employed.

Paula: Thank God.

Paula: How do you feel loyalty is, I suppose, specifically in maybe UAE and Saudi, because you guys are focusing a lot on the Saudi market.

Joanna: Indeed.

Joanna: Yes.

Joanna: We have big news, hopefully, soon coming also in Saudi.

Joanna: We can’t reveal more besides that.

Joanna: Yes, we are really hugely expanding to Saudi and we are really looking for, you know, customers within different industries as well.

Joanna: And so, yes, hopefully good news coming very soon.

Joanna: Very recently, literally a couple of months ago, we have also opened a new office and we hired in, you know, more people in there.

Joanna: So definitely, you know, we see a huge potential, obviously, in the Saudi market.

Joanna: I mean, like we discussed, I think, last time when we spoke about the report, right?

Joanna: Where we said, I think it was Saudi and Brazil coming as the ones where people have used most of the loyalty programs, right?

Joanna: That they hold of 10 to 11 different loyalty programs, right?

Joanna: So you can really compare relatively young market, right?

Joanna: Being the Saudi market, but just you can see, you know, how many loyalty programs are there already?

Joanna: And what’s the hunger and ambition, right, to build in more.

Joanna: So we absolutely are happily getting in there and happily, really, you know, supporting the companies who have those ambitions to build the loyalty programs and build that partnerships together with them.

Paula: Yeah, absolutely.

Paula: And again, just to refer back to the same point about trust, the fact that you are putting people on the ground in Saudi Arabia is critical from a cultural perspective.

Joanna: Absolutely.

Joanna: It is absolutely and very crucial, right?

Joanna: Because very often, you know, that potential alliance would be asking us, right?

Joanna: Who is here?

Joanna: Are you guys here?

Joanna: Are you guys somewhere else?

Joanna: Right?

Joanna: They know we are Polish companies.

Joanna: Of course, you know, one of the first questions coming, oh, are you guys all based in Poland?

Joanna: And then they are happy to see some of us already are here in Dubai, which is, you know, extremely close by.

Joanna: But even more important that they have someone, you know, who can pop into their office, you know, have a bit of a chat, understand where the things are.

Joanna: Yeah, that’s absolutely important.

Joanna: And I think it’s still, when you look into the other vendors, I think this is another proud element for us, is that we are there, right?

Joanna: And I think still not so many are there and we are there.

Joanna: We understand that.

Joanna: And this is, I think, a bit of Comarch’s heritage, because I remember that from the past, whenever we would have a client in the country, our office was not opened.

Joanna: We would right away open the office, right?

Joanna: And I think, you know, this is then being brave, you know, it’s like, OK, let’s do it for that customer.

Joanna: And then have an opportunity to find another and another, another one, because you’re there, right?

Joanna: Rather than wait for something, let’s see what happens.

Paula: Yeah, absolutely.

Paula: And I remember as well from a previous episode that Wojciech also speaks fluent Arabic.

Paula: So to have somebody with that level of loyalty expertise who has been in the Comarch business for, I don’t know how many years.

Joanna: She can speak Arabic as well.

Marlena: Yes, I can speak Arabic.

Paula: Wow.

Marlena: Oh, it’s serious.

Marlena: Next time, implementation fully in Arabic, OK?

Paula: Wow.

Paula: OK, incredible.

Paula: Brilliant.

Paula: Well, listen, well done on that success.

Paula: I know it is exploding over there.

Paula: Please join you there at some point.

Joanna: It keeps us busy.

Paula: Yes, it totally does.

Marlena: Do you know what I also love the most about Middle East?

Marlena: Hummus is one thing, but what I also love seeing here is that there is no legacy nonsense.

Marlena: There is no, oh, we’ve been doing this for 20 years, so that’s the way to go.

Marlena: No, brands here are like, make it brilliant.

Marlena: You have six months.

Marlena: And that’s how it all starts.

Paula: Totally.

Paula: Every time.

Marlena: It’s wonderful.

Joanna: Or even if you would have someone trying to say so, you will always have someone who says, Yeah, I know.

Joanna: Yeah, let’s move on.

Marlena: And that’s so different from my experience back in Asia, because in Asia, sometimes I had to untangle 12 years of different systems magic in order to do anything exciting.

Marlena: Here, the story is completely different, and I think I adore it.

Paula: Amazing.

Paula: We’re going to have so much to talk about.

Paula: And I suppose directly on that, the way that you guys every year talk about your stories, your successes, is the Comarch User Group, which is coming up in May.

Paula: An iconic, invitation-only event.

Paula: I’m invited.

Paula: I’m so proud.

Paula: And Marlena, you are the hostess with the mostess.

Marlena: Oh, thank you, Paula.

Paula: Tell us a bit about CUG from your side.

Marlena: Yes.

Marlena: Actually, I still laugh at that, because, you know, on a daily basis, I’m this boring pre-sales consultant.

Joanna: You’re not boring at all.

Marlena: No?

Marlena: Okay.

Marlena: Drowning in those, like, thousands of technical questions, doing the software demos and so on.

Marlena: But once per year, I hit the stage and boom, it’s a showtime.

Paula: Yeah.

Marlena: And honestly, what surprised me is that people love it.

Marlena: And I love it because I adore creating a vibe.

Marlena: I love making people feel welcomed, and especially for the event like Comarch user group, that’s important because these people came from different sides of the world.

Marlena: They are here from Australia, South Africa, Brazil.

Marlena: So making them feel like at home with their own family, that’s a very, I think it’s a very responsible job to have, but I’m glad you brought this up, that it’s actually looking quite good.

Marlena: So coming back to the CUG itself, as the name suggests, this is a user-led conference.

Marlena: This is not another vendor pop-up of let’s talk whatever we want to.

Marlena: This is purely driven by our customers.

Marlena: And for that reason, we invite the IT directors, marketers, researchers, decision-making people to our headquarters in Krakow.

Marlena: And we do not do it for them to stay there and clap politely.

Marlena: We do it because we do believe that this is the right audience to challenge everything, including us, especially us.

Joanna: Especially us.

Marlena: Especially us.

Marlena: So I think this is a wonderful event because, and I witnessed that a few times.

Marlena: Imagine there’s this one moment.

Marlena: It usually happens after the first day before dinner or during dinner.

Marlena: Suddenly, everyone drops their corporate masks and everyone becomes human again.

Marlena: And everyone can exchange different stories.

Marlena: And the situation I witnessed was last year at the dinner table.

Marlena: From one side, I had this bank from Middle East.

Marlena: And on the other, there was a presentation from a telco in Asia.

Marlena: And suddenly, these two completely different industries from completely different markets found out that they struggle with the same issue in terms of customer drop off at a particular stage of their life cycle.

Marlena: And I was like, wow, that’s insane.

Marlena: This is something we could never stage.

Marlena: You know?

Marlena: So I love the value that CUG brings for our clients and also for us, because that’s where we ask questions.

Marlena: We want to know what’s wrong, what we can improve.

Marlena: This is how we also shape our roadmap based on the events like that.

Marlena: And that’s when we also can get a chance to tell you what’s next, what’s coming, what are we working on?

Paula: Yeah, absolutely.

Paula: And there is something about just sitting around a dinner table together a few days in a row.

Paula: Sometimes there are cocktails, but we won’t refer to that too much.

Paula: But in an extraordinary city, you know, I think even Krakow, I say to all my friends in Ireland, why did we not know about Krakow?

Paula: It’s so magnificent.

Paula: Like the restaurant is 800 years old, it’s cobbled streets, it’s proper beauty, history and culture.

Paula: And again, then on the outskirts or, you know, the office is there with this extraordinary infrastructure.

Paula: And again, I remember the former president of Poland coming to the opening speech, the first time I went, I was like, these guys are serious.

Paula: This is amazing.

Marlena: This year we only have me.

Marlena: I’m just kidding.

Marlena: I’m just joking.

Joanna: And now a new CEO.

Paula: Indeed.

Paula: Lots and lots going on.

Paula: So listen, we could talk for hours and I’m sure we will later, but we are running out of time for today.

Paula: So Joanna, I’m going to come to you for a little bit, maybe about the future.

Paula: You know, what’s coming for Comarch?

Joanna: Yeah.

Joanna: So I think I just mentioned the CEO, right?

Joanna: So yeah, changes are happening as we speak, actually.

Joanna: But I think what is the most important also from our audience perspective is we’ve been always, you know, spending and investing lots in the R&D.

Joanna: And nowadays, of course, we do focus a lot on the AI side of things, right?

Joanna: Which I’m guessing it’s not coming as a surprise, as we all know, you know, in order to manage the hyper personalization, in order to make everyone’s life easier, AI is here and now happening, right?

Joanna: And we just want to make it even more easy.

Joanna: And I’m not talking, I mean, of course, the hyper personalization side of things, right?

Joanna: So to allow our clients to really prepare one-to-one offers and benefits for their members, it’s absolutely crucial.

Joanna: However, what is also important from us, from the company perspective is, you know, to give people who are behind the scenes, and we are talking about thousands of people working behind the scenes, right?

Joanna: To make their life easier, to make their work more efficient as well, right?

Joanna: So the company is really a lot investing into the AI for the developers.

Joanna: And the other part of the AI, which is also related to loyalty and the Comarch Loyalty Management system, is that it’s also so much easier for those users of those applications, you know, to create a new offer, to create the segment, because today with, you know, with the AI assistant, they can do it so much faster and so much easier, right?

Joanna: So that AI is really now available and it will be even more advanced, obviously, and faster in the future within, you know, all those contexts, right?

Joanna: So for our employees, for the employees of our clients and for the members.

Joanna: So that’s, I think that one, you know, which is really being our big, big focus.

Joanna: And one more element I think I wanted to mention not related to AI, as you might know, majority of our target groups, clients are, of course, you know, huge, huge companies where we are looking into huge enterprises.

Joanna: And we are starting to looking as a company into, you know, what can we propose to the a bit smaller businesses, to the medium businesses?

Joanna: How can we change, you know, our approach, the ways we work, the system that we offer, you know, to still be the best of the best, as it is.

Joanna: But being most probably a bit more affordable, right?

Joanna: And find basically the new target group.

Joanna: Exactly.

Paula: Amazing.

Joanna: So this is what’s coming.

Joanna: Very exciting.

Joanna: No more for us, Marlena.

Paula: Indeed.

Marlena: More or less.

Marlena: There’s AI, so there should be less work.

Joanna: Less AI, it’s kind of less, and the size will be more.

Paula: They keep promising that they just give us more to do.

Joanna: Exactly, exactly.

Paula: From your side, Marlena, any final closing words of wisdom?

Marlena: Yes.

Marlena: Well, I would agree with Joanna on the AI.

Marlena: Of course, we have those algorithms for send time optimization, next transaction, next best offer, auto-segmentation and so on.

Marlena: But there’s one that particularly is of my interest, and maybe I shouldn’t reveal that, but let me tell you, we are working on the generosity model within the AI.

Marlena: Yes.

Marlena: So basically, you see, I’m the kind of customer that I wouldn’t move myself from the couch if it wasn’t for 50% off discount at the store.

Paula: Okay.

Marlena: Because I know everything is overpriced, high margin, like it’s 50% or nothing.

Paula: Okay.

Marlena: For you, Paula, maybe you would go and buy the particular item with 25% discount.

Marlena: So how do we know that as a brand?

Marlena: So that’s what we are working on within the generosity model.

Marlena: We’re trying to see and spot which customer can be influenced with a lower discount and which customer would, for example, require more to go.

Marlena: What’s the likelihood?

Marlena: What are the chances?

Marlena: So I’m very excited for that, especially for the retail sector.

Marlena: That will be a game changer.

Paula: Totally.

Paula: And I can just imagine all the CFOs that work with our CLOs, our Chief Loyalty Officers, suddenly going, oh, great, so now we can actually intelligently apply the discount where required and not where we don’t.

Marlena: Kind of, because usually whenever me and Joanna, we are presenting, the CMOs are always excited.

Marlena: They’re like, oh, yes, we’re doing it.

Marlena: The CFO is panicking.

Marlena: Yeah.

Marlena: What?

Paula: Every time.

Marlena: How much?

Marlena: That’s going to impact the discussion a lot.

Paula: Amazing.

Paula: My goodness.

Paula: So much more to come.

Paula: Ladies, I’m so thrilled you joined me in the studio together today.

Paula: It’s just been an absolute joy, the first of many, as we’ve said.

Paula: So I’m going to make sure, of course, that we have your LinkedIn profiles in the show notes for anybody today.

Paula: So look below.

Marlena: Hit the subscribe button.

Paula: Please subscribe.

Paula: Absolutely.

Paula: It’s all about Loyalty TV.

Joanna: Let’s Talk Loyalty, yes.

Paula: So Marlena Polrola and Joanna Witsch, thank you so much from Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.

Joanna: Thank you very much, Paula.

Joanna: Thank you for having us.

Paula: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

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