An Interview with Alejandro Peña, CEO of Consensus (HQ: Argentina)
Let's start with some personal questions. How are you and your family doing in the COVID era?
The family is fine, taking care of us and still in quarantine waiting for the vaccine!!!
Can you tell us about how you founded or joined this company?
I was a Commercial & Marketing Manager for one of the biggest LATAM IT Company for 20 years. In 2007, I created from scratch my own company and I had being very lucky after 13 years having a company with very talent’s people around several business unit. We have offices in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, London, in few months we are opening in Montevideo, and next years, after Covid, we will be open an office in the USA
What makes your company unique from others in the field?
I have the firm conviction that an IT software and services company is 100% based on people, not the smartest, but the most passionate. I was lucky to have a team with all these passionate people, and if you have the right people, all our clients' problems (which are people's problems) can be solved and I firmly believe that in this way we become a unique company for each of them.
Has the coronavirus pandemic affected your business and if so, how are you adjusting?
We had to go from all people sitting in the offices to 100% home office. Our business is growing, but we are adjusting new ways to find and communicate our capabilities to new prospects and customers and but also we need to improve our internal communication procedures, ie when new fellows are coming in to the company, how to transmit our company DNA?, it is a continues work to discover new ways to talk each other, to listen & understand each other.
What do you think are the major trends in your field?
What was supposed to happen in the next 5 years is happening now thanks to COVID. From the small business to the largest corporation regardless of their industry, a great digital transformation is going through them, so the main trends will be the large-scale use of software and / or business applications. The global market will need all kinds of software and services that strengthen relationships between people.
What are the keys to customer success and satisfaction and has that changed in the era of COVID?
All relationships have an emotional component — and that holds true for the connection between people and brands. Your business’s relationship with customers is built over time, nourished by experiences along many online and physical touchpoints in their journey, grounded in expectations, and confirmed through repeated interactions. COVID is teaching us a great deal about the true nature of interaction and collaboration: that they will lead to a deeper appreciation of putting people first, that brands will have had the opportunity to show their true colors (positively or negatively), and that companies, brands, workers, and consumers are capable of adapting in a positive way to a change that is imposed upon all of us, and emerging, together, in a better place.
How would you see your company ten years in the future?
I can imagine a company always focused on our talents, prepared to always listen to the new needs of our customers and providing them with innovations and added value to their business. Having direct presence in several LATAM countries and Europe and having built a strong network of business partners.
Alejandro Peña, CEO, Consensus
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