What is our primary use case?
The Pega CRM use case is end-to-end. You have a customer center where people are reaching out for their self-service portal, self-service request, or some change requests in their account, or they want to check on their balance or different things. They reach out to a customer care executive and get authenticated during the call by using their account number, credit card number, debit card number, or their applicant number. As soon as the executive receives the call, because it's an authenticated person, all the details are already popped up in the stream for that user, like the account information and personal information. Instead of browsing all 10 different systems, there would be a desktop that gets all the information from all the different upstream systems and downstream systems. Then they ask how they can help and create service cases and resolve them or proceed further. In the transaction, if the person needs assistance, the call would get transferred to another person and all the details and data will also get transferred to the other person's desktop so they can take care of the request. This is all about one use case where we are basically orchestrating all the different systems into one system and making sure that all the information is presented on one page, which improves the efficiency and results in a good experience for the customer. It also reduces the duration per call, and it ensures a first time resolution of the issue. In these kinds of use cases, there are many variances. In some places, like if it's a credit card company, they will get to know why you have called them and if it's related to some charges or something. Then out of your profile, they will get options from the system for the retention of customers. This happens mostly either in the banking industry or telecommunication industry where you have a phone or internet connection.
What needs improvement?
For many of the clients, they have a separate system or separate layer of UI and a separate layer of the business rules engine, which Pega has taken care of in the recent releases. The performance is also better. But developers should be properly trained so that the solution is developed properly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Pega for 16 years. Currently, I'm managing a Pega engagement.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. If the designers have followed Pega's best practices, it is very scalable and there are no design issues.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate technical support 4.5 out of 5.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have been using Pega for the last 16 years, from the beginning of my career. I am familiar with solutions like Appian and OutSystems. But for enterprise-level solutions, Pega is the best.
How was the initial setup?
Since Pega has promoted cloud, it is not as cumbersome as it was earlier when we used to manage their servers in-house. If you want to use another cloud, then Pega will configure it on another cloud. It won't take that much effort, but it is much more secure and much more reliable. Since Pega Deployment Manager came into picture, deployment is very easy. It won't take a lot of time. Based on the number of rules or size of deployment and how big the release is, it won't take more than a couple of hours or even less. It's very smooth. If you're deploying small packages, it's almost done in real time.
What was our ROI?
Pega claims that the ROI is 300%. People get ROI very early.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 9 out of 10. The results are good from implementing this product. My advice is that you need to have a well-trained and experienced team. If you have that with a quick turn-around time and the requirements are clear, then you will see the magic.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner