• Aims to rev up digitalisation for local service businesses through advanced online booking and business management tools.
• Petrou plans to focus on doubling its annual revenue for the next few years.
• Company does not expect to become profitable in the next 3-5 years and eyes venture capital to accelerate growth.

Integrating cutting-edge loyalty software solutions is a transformative strategy for businesses striving to build lasting customer relationships.

By prioritising engagement, personalising interactions and cultivating trust, companies can not only boost sales but also secure unwavering brand loyalty in an increasingly interconnected world.

Loyalty software empowers businesses to understand customer behaviour deeply, facilitating personalised experiences that resonate with individual preferences. This level of personalisation fosters a sense of value and belonging among consumers, which is essential in today’s competitive marketplace.

Altegio, an online-booking and business automation platform, is set to cash in on the growing demand and help customers seamlessly manage all personal bookings in one place, while helping businesses improve customer retention and engagement. 

Yri Petrou, Managing Partner of Altegio, speaking to TechChannel News said that Altegio is a comprehensive platform that goes beyond simple task automation.

“It optimises business performance with over 30 modules, automating up to 85 per cent of operations across marketing, finance, sales, and team management.”

Key features include an online booking widget, a fully-branded mobile app, financial and inventory management tools, insightful analytics, a flexible loyalty program, and advanced SMS and email marketing tools.

The story of Altegio began in 2022 when a network of independent companies was spun off from YCLIENTS, an online booking platform, to establish operations fully independent of Russia.

How it all started

Petrou, a technology entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in building SaaS solutions for more than 60,000 business clients, successfully sold his business YCLIENTS, which was a leader in the CIS market with a 70 per cent market share.

“Our main innovation is our focus on customer retention. Unlike other solutions that redirect users to their own B2C platforms, where customers may end up booking with competitors, Altegio integrates seamlessly across websites, maps, social media, and other touchpoints, solving these conflicts of interest and protecting the client base,” Petrou said.

Additionally, Altegio offers its own B2C app, Altegio Me, which increases customer lifetime value by allowing bookings exclusively at places they’ve already visited. This system helps businesses to offer clients a personalised experience and communicate with them without relying on third-party apps.

However, he said that Altegio’s capabilities are designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as big chains that need to streamline and automate their business processes. 

“We focus on the service sector, particularly beauty, wellness, sports, and healthcare services because these industries rely heavily on repetitive tasks and complex workflows. These businesses often deal with scheduling, client management, billing, and inventory, which can be time-consuming and prone to human error. By automating these processes, we can ultimately increase productivity and reduce operating costs.”

Why customer retention is key?

Customer retention has a substantial impact on revenue and business growth, with studies indicating that a five per cent increase in retention rates can boost profits by up to 95 per cent.

Despite big platforms like Engage365, a Customer Engagement solution powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM and as well as well-established small players in the market, Petrou said that there are significant differences between the products.

As for Engage 365, he said that Microsoft’s solution primarily focuses on external business processes, such as customer interactions to enhance engagement, while Altegio concentrates on internal business processes and customer management, building an open ecosystem.

Therefore, Engage365 is more likely to be “Altegio’s potential partner than a competitor,” he said.

“We prefer to compete in the market by continuously adapting our core product to meet the needs of specific verticals and business niches, rather than building universal solutions like larger SaaS companies do.”

Unlike many direct competitors, he said that they do not charge a commission on clients’ revenue.

“One of our key advantages is our transparent subscription model with a fixed price that does not change based on the number of clients or turnover. As was previously mentioned, our system does not redirect customers to marketplaces with clients’ main competitors as other solutions do. It allows us to focus on helping businesses increase the customer retention rate and protect their customer base.”

Data privacy and security

When asked about the privacy and data security as they deal with healthcare sector, he said that they never had a data breach in the last 15 years.

“However, we fully understand that, one day it could happen to any company, from tech giants to data security agencies. Perhaps, we were lucky enough to hire highly qualified engineers, or perhaps the type of data we store is not particularly valuable to professional hackers.”

In case if a breach happens, he said that Altegio has a well-established response plan in place.

Altegio’s core infrastructure is distributed across several data centres in Germany and has multiple cloud providers for development and internal infrastructure purposes. They also use CloudFlare services for local caching.

Altegio has offices in Hungary, Brazil, the UAE, Ukraine, Cyprus, Armenia and several other countries.

“We have clients in over 89 countries but only in 10 of them the number of paying clients exceeds 200. The overall number of active business clients in the MENA region has not yet reached 1,000 as this is a market niche of larger and more developed markets. The total number of end clients bookings processed by Altegio exceeds 200,000 per month, generating an annualised GMV of $75 million (total cost of goods and services sold by our clients),” Petrou said.

UAE: An ideal launchpad

He added that they have recently reached a significant milestone of 10,000 clients and achieved break-even. However, he does not expect to become profitable in the next 3-5 years, as they plan to secure venture capital to accelerate their growth.

The company, which entered the UAE market, sees Emirates as an ideal launchpad for expansion in the Middle East and North Africa region, combining strong demand with significant growth potential, supported by government initiatives.

“UAE is also a key destination for entrepreneurs from Ukraine and former USSR countries, where our brand is already well-established. These entrepreneurs establish new international businesses and expect us to maintain the same high standards of product quality and service that they have come to expect,” Petrou said.

With its strategic location and progressive regulatory environment that fosters technological innovation, he said that the UAE provides the perfect conditions for them to build brand awareness and extend their reach across the region.

Although the UAE has become a leading digital hub with increasing demand for automation solutions that enhance operations and customer loyalty, Petrou does not see tough direct competitors in the region.

No major expansion plans this year

“The main challenge is the relatively low number of potential clients here. To make our operations scalable and profitable, we must focus on larger companies with higher average transaction values, providing them with a higher level of reliability and customer service.” 

“Additionally, we face cultural differences and strict data protection regulations that require additional investments in the region. We must also mention the government’s focus on innovation and smart city initiatives that provide a strong foundation for growth, making it an ideal environment for companies like Altegio.”

Petrou plans to focus on doubling its annual revenue for the next few years.

“The goal will primarily be achieved through expanding our presence in the markets where we have already launched our products. We do not plan to expand into new regions this year. Our focus will be on driving product adoption in the markets where we are already present and increasing penetration among well-known client brands and large chains. It will require significant effort to ensure this audience is satisfied.”