HCL – Idir × Sammah – Video Mindmap

Q1 — Introduce yourself briefly?
- Question
  - 00:01:35:19 — Sammah… could you introduce yourself briefly?
- Answer
  - 00:01:39:18 — I’m Sammah from the HCL Software team.
  - 00:01:42:20 — I’ve had the pleasure of leading the team across EMEA for the past four years now within our organisation,
  - 00:01:48:15 — specifically around Martech — which I support throughout the year.
  - 00:01:53:07 — My name is Sammah Nasr and I lead the EMEA region
  - 00:01:56:07 — for Martech solutions — better known as HCL UNICA.
  - 00:02:01:20 — I’m Sammah Nasr — GTM leader with the HCL Software team,
  - 00:02:06:03 — and I represent the UNICA business unit.
  - 00:02:09:01 — I’m proud to support our teams across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region.
Q2 — What kind of industries do you work with?
- Question
  - 00:02:44:13 — What kind of industries do you work with?
- Answer
  - 00:03:31:09 — in highly regulated sectors like banking, insurance, and telecom,
  - 00:03:35:13 — where data and data protection go hand in hand.
  - 00:05:01:19 — We have plenty of clients across many different industries.
  - 00:05:06:09 — The first is about scalability.
  - 00:05:12:12 — a third of the world’s population every day.
  - 00:06:15:20 — telecommunications — a sector we care about deeply, because in this space,
  - 00:06:20:07 — you have a huge number of channels,
  - 00:06:24:03 — both digital and traditional.
Q3 — And what makes UNICA unique in this market?
- Question
  - 00:02:46:10 — And what makes UNICA unique in this market?
- Answer
  - 00:02:52:22 — UNICA is a leading solution — it was originally created back in the 1990s.
  - 00:03:06:09 — Since HCL Software acquired the platform, it’s evolved significantly.
  - 00:03:18:23 — data security, and agility.
  - 00:03:21:15 — These are key pillars that make it truly unique across the entire market.
  - 00:04:21:18 — That’s where UNICA has evolved — into a new generation
  - 00:04:26:04 — of Martech platforms we now call UNICA Plus,
  - 00:04:34:01 — hyper-personalization, and scalability — all on a single platform.
Q4 — Could you give a concrete example from an industry?
- Question
  - 00:04:38:17 — Could you maybe give us a concrete example from a specific industry
  - 00:04:42:08 — where a client implemented UNICA — and what kind of product
  - 00:04:47:08 — or competitive advantage they were able to gain from the solution?
- Answer
  - 00:05:12:12 — We’re able to reach, through a single marketing campaign,
  - 00:05:12:12 — a third of the world’s population every day.
  - 00:05:29:23 — For instance, we support major global airlines
  - 00:05:41:16 — to manage your loyalty points programs.
  - 00:06:31:23 — Other people might prefer to go to a physical store…
  - 00:06:47:19 — Even when you’re watching TV, we might push additional packages
Q5 — Do you think UNICA is valued for “privacy by design”?
- Question
  - 00:07:40:02 — Do you think UNICA is valued today for its “privacy by design” foundation?
  - 00:07:50:11 — What kind of feedback do you get?
- Answer
  - 00:08:10:14 — there are now serious restrictions at the EU level.
  - 00:08:23:01 — particularly around data governance and user consent.
  - 00:08:32:00 — where data protection and governance are absolutely central.
  - 00:08:35:22 — So what we call “privacy by design” isn’t just a buzzword.
  - 00:08:54:07 — deliver a 360-degree customer view,
  - 00:08:59:19 — And that’s exactly what our platform UNICA Plus is designed to support.
  - 00:09:31:06 — UNICA Plus integrates this CDP component
  - 00:09:40:06 — and enable organizations to invest in data they can actually trust.
Q6 — “Trusted platform built on trustworthy data” — what does it mean?
- Question
  - 00:09:44:22 — A trusted platform built on trustworthy data — what does that really mean?
- Answer
  - 00:09:53:22 — aligned with European regulations and compliant with all regulatory standards.
  - 00:10:07:11 — today we offer all our clients
  - 00:10:10:11 — a deployment model that is fully agile, open, and technology-agnostic.
  - 00:10:22:18 — a highly conservative one, to ensure strong data protection.
Q7 — Apple/Google phasing out cookies: impact and response?
- Question
  - 00:11:27:16 — Apple is phasing out cookies. So we’re heading into a rather…
  - 00:11:34:05 — “Cookie-less” future.
  - 00:11:35:22 — Is that something that’s impacting your customers?
  - 00:11:40:17 — And UNICA — what’s your take on it?
- Answer
  - 00:11:43:06 — So yes, the gradual disappearance of cookies
  - 00:11:49:14 — increasing limitations when it comes to collecting customer data.
  - 00:11:54:24 — with our UNICA Plus platform, to help clients invest in alternate data sources.
  - 00:12:05:05 — to plug into other information systems or all kinds of data environments,
  - 00:12:13:16 — real-time information streams — such as Kafka, for example.
  - 00:13:02:21 — the end of cookies — is continued investment in trustworthy data.
Q8 — Challenges by industry and key figures?
- Question
  - 00:14:23:13 — Can you tell us a bit about the kind of challenges you’re seeing, in which industries,
  - 00:14:28:02 — and which verticals UNICA operates in, and what people really value?
  - 00:14:32:02 — If you could share a few numbers with us, that’d be helpful.
- Answer
  - 00:15:32:14 — For example, today my team supports
  - 00:15:35:04 — over 150 financial organizations worldwide.
  - 00:16:23:20 — Today we support over 50 organizations,
  - 00:16:27:10 — more than 50 telco clients globally — including the largest American telecom provider.
  - 00:16:38:10 — And all for the same reasons: real-time responsiveness,
  - 00:16:41:13 — hyper-personalization, and scalability.
Q9 — Do offline and online need to work together (“phygital”)?
- Question
  - 00:17:00:06 — We often hear the term “phygital” — meaning a hybrid of physical and digital.
  - 00:17:07:11 — Does UNICA have a particular strength in that area?
- Answer
  - 00:17:28:18 — they deal with many channels of interaction,
  - 00:17:31:11 — and they expect those experiences to be seamless and smooth.
  - 00:18:06:08 — With our platform, we enable consistent engagement
  - 00:18:09:07 — across both traditional and digital touchpoints.
Q10 — With budgets constrained, is AI a challenge or an opportunity?
- Question
  - 00:18:13:24 — marketing budgets are becoming increasingly restricted.
  - 00:18:23:00 — Do you think IT is an opportunity for them or a challenge?
- Answer
  - 00:18:29:19 — Yes, there’s a clear trend around AI — both generative and predictive — being leveraged by teams.
  - 00:19:12:04 — We’re not offering full autopilot.
  - 00:19:27:11 — we don’t offer autopilot, we offer a true co-pilot.
  - 00:19:33:14 — It’s a smart co-pilot that helps marketing teams
  - 00:19:57:08 — to monitor outcomes and fine-tune them — with AI working alongside them.
Q11 — With UNICA Plus, how do you build the roadmap?
- Question
  - 00:20:10:06 — So with the launch of UNICA Plus, are we responding to that next-level customer demand?
  - 00:20:16:24 — And what roadmap elements are clients expecting that we’re planning to implement?
- Answer
  - 00:20:33:00 — Let me explain how we actually build the roadmap at UNICA.
  - 00:20:35:09 — It’s not just a concept — it’s co-created.
  - 00:20:52:23 — We have a user group, and a dedicated portal where clients raise feature requests.
  - 00:21:01:14 — not just a new version, but a true shift to a new platform.
  - 00:21:08:22 — and integrates generative AI, predictive AI —
  - 00:21:13:00 — what we broadly call agentic intelligence.
  - 00:21:27:23 — UNICA is a platform built around the concept of privacy by design.
Q12 — In one sentence, what’s coming next?
- Question
  - 00:22:21:06 — So, could you summarize in just one sentence what’s coming next —
  - 00:22:24:13 — something that will truly surprise clients on the roadmap?
- Answer
  - 00:22:31:08 — I’d say: doing more with less.
  - 00:23:01:17 — data protection, trusted data on a robust platform,
  - 00:23:06:00 — scalable, agile, omnichannel, and seamless.
  - 00:23:09:16 — That’s what we call a frictionless experience.
Q13 — Can you share use cases where we’ve really seen value?
- Question
  - 00:24:15:21 — some use cases, some actual client success stories?
- Answer
  - 00:24:38:22 — For example, we improve customer acquisition costs by 25%, which is significant.
  - 00:25:03:14 — a 25% reduction in customer acquisition costs.
  - 00:25:13:13 — time-to-market — the total time from campaign briefing
  - 00:25:20:08 — and analysis, is cut by up to 50%.
  - 00:25:31:19 — We also see a substantial improvement in conversion rates overall,
  - 00:25:41:01 — We see an average ROI of 30% — a more personalized message
Q14 — How does hyper-personalization actually work in practice?
- Answer (narrative sequence)
  - 00:26:30:24 — UNICA, UNICA Plus, is designed to support personalization.
  - 00:26:45:12 — Today, we’re in the next phase: hyper-personalization.
  - 00:27:10:11 — even better and anticipate their future needs.
  - 00:27:22:22 — data collection, the CDP, triggers, and decisioning engines.
  - 00:27:58:24 — All these examples allow the platform to build a thread,
  - 00:28:16:03 — the best next offer or the most relevant next message to send.
  - 00:28:16:03 — And to say it at the right time. Context is key in hyper-personalization.
Q15 — Does UNICA integrate new channels and third‑party tools?
- Question
  - 00:29:03:12 — Does UNICA offer a certain degree of flexibility to integrate these channels?
- Answer
  - 00:29:12:03 — a seamless, fluid experience.
  - 00:29:19:19 — the UNICA platform offers, in a unified way,
  - 00:29:28:14 — achieve omnichannel—real omnichannel.
  - 00:29:38:05 — we support organizations that are already equipped with third-party applications.
  - 00:29:47:13 — plug seamlessly into the client’s tech ecosystem—
  - 00:30:02:11 — So being API-first means having a platform that offers
  - 00:30:16:15 — lets clients integrate their own applications.