Technology and AI are permeating to every aspect of the business- from marketing to customer service and reshaping how firms interact with the world around them. With the promise of speed, efficiency and personalisation, AI is upending traditional customer services and experience.
Locobuzz, an AI-powered unified customer experience platform, says faster responses, smarter resolutions, and in some cases, decreased need for human intervention has been the hallmark of tech in customer service. Locobuzz today powers customer experience (CX) strategies for some of India's largest telecom, retail, BFSI, and e-commerce brands. The company is now aggressively expanding into Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Over the last five years, Locobuzz has grown 50% YoY, with the company now aiming even higher -- with a revenue target of Rs 100 crore in the next 18 months. In a conversation with ET Digital, Shubhi Agarwal, Co-founder and COO of Locobuzz, unpacks the journey so far -- how the company is solving customer experience at scale and what it takes to stay ahead of giants like Sprinklr and Zendesk. Edited excerpts.
Economic Times (ET): Locobuzz leverages AI and automation for customer experience management. Can you share how your AI models work and how they improve customer interactions?
Shubhi Agarwal (SA): In simple terms, we are the backstage crew who make customer interactions feel effortless for brands.
AI and automation are at the core of our work. We use a combination of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Small Language Models (SLMs) to analyse mountains of data and derive intelligent analysis and insights into reports. Our AI pilots also provide customer service agents with automated and brand-aligned responses.
The result? Faster responses, smarter resolutions, and, in some cases, decreased need for human intervention, ensuring seamless customer service.
Locobuzz has successfully deployed AI as a copilot for customer service agents across 25 leading brands in India, where the manual work has been reduced by 40-60%. By leveraging AI and automation, these brands can do more with less while maintaining efficiency.
It's efficient, smart, and built using advanced technology to help the brand make the most of what's at hand.
ET: How does Locobuzz integrate multiple digital channels into a unified platform? What advantages does this offer brands?
SA: The customers today are omnipresent - imagine a situation where a customer raises a complaint through email, sends a follow-up on Whatsapp, and even tweets it. Here's where Locobuzz comes in. We pull all the interactions -- from social media, email, voice calls, and messaging apps -- into a single dashboard. Brands do not have to jump through different platforms; they can see all the inbound customer interactions in a single place.
They can then pick and resolve queries based on their priority. This streamlines brands' customer journeys, helps brands meet or exceed their customers' expectations and drives positive emotions about the brand.
We work with many brands where, by tying a diverse set of communication channels, Locobuzz has been able to help them create a single identity for users. Even when they are reaching out from diverse channels, we help brands understand the priority, seriousness, and context of the problem. This helps brands to give due consideration to customer complaints and assign priorities to create exceptional experiences. Whether it is in travel, hospitality, banking, automotive, or any other industry, we have seen multiple times that quick turnaround with acknowledgment and resolution of problems has helped brands create relationships with their customers that go beyond single transactions.
ET: What role does machine learning play in sentiment analysis and customer feedback processing within Locobuzz?
SA: There is a sea of difference in how sentiment analysis was done in the past and is done currently. We use several machine learning models to not just create an overall sentiment in, say, a tweet or a Facebook comment, but also analyze specific aspects of feedback. This is also enabled by using AI to assess the sentiment of a mention, aspect-based analysis, and key themes in the conversation. This helps to put context to overall conversation and derive actionable insights much more easily.
We also use AI to detect the language, translate it, and generate automated reports, ensuring brands can access accurate and actionable intelligence.
ET: What differentiates Locobuzz from other CX platforms like Sprinklr, Zendesk, or Salesforce regarding features and user experience?
SA: In plain words, agility and innovation. Unlike our larger competitors, we are nimble in bringing cutting-edge AI solutions to the market. Our AI co-pilots and CMOverse.ai set us apart as industry pioneers. CMOverse.ai will be a game changer for marketers keen to derive insights in real time. The platform is highly intuitive, reduces users' learning curve, and is far more affordable than traditional enterprise CX solutions.
And Salesforce is not really our competitor -- they're more like a partner. We are even listed on their marketplace. While Salesforce does a great job in combining customer interactions from various channels, capturing insights from social signals is our forte.
Fun fact, two of the biggest Salesforce accounts in India are powered by Locobuzz.
ET: How do you see the CX industry evolving in the next five years, and what innovations are Locobuzz working on to stay ahead?
SA: The future of CX lies in AI-driven automation, real-time insights, and hyper-personalised customer experiences.
Locobuzz is well-positioned to lead this transformation by harnessing AI for predictive analysis. One area we are excited about is brands using customer conversations as a product-innovation tool. That will be a game-changer.
ET: What has Locobuzz's growth trajectory been so far, and what are your expansion plans -- geographically and in terms of product development?
SA: India remains our core market. That said, we've also made serious headway in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, where brands are doubling down on AI-driven CX. We are aggressively scaling operations in emerging regions.
Our focus now is to expand AI capabilities beyond customer service into influencer analytics, advanced social listening, and crisis management.
ET: Are there any upcoming features or developments that customers can look forward to shortly?
SA: CMOverse.ai is just the beginning and in the next few months, we plan to unveil additional AI-powered solutions, redefining market intelligence, social listening, and digital engagement. Our goal is to continuously innovate, providing brands with unparalleled insights to drive strategic decision-making.
