Catering for the whims of top staff and clients through souped-up PAs makes sound business sense, Irish firm Kudos believes. Gabrielle Monaghanreports
Need a table tonight at L'Ecrivain, a VIP ticket to the Rolling Stones concert, or a First Communion party for the little one at the Four Seasons? Kudos, a new Irish "lifestyle management" company, can get any of its clients past life's velvet ropes.
The company pitched its services to a string of financial institutions, wealth managers and stockbrokers in Dublin this week in the belief that high-profile employers will reward senior managers and affluent customers with concierge services to cater for their every whim in the same way employers do in the US and Britain.
The creation of Kudos comes just months after research by Bank of Ireland found there are now some 30,000 millionaires in Ireland, and that we are second in the overall wealth league of major OECD countries.
However, Ireland's super rich often lack the free time for mundane tasks, such as taking the cat to the vet or grocery shopping, or they want to flash their cash in the hippest joints in town but don't know how. This is where Kudos comes in.
"There are people out there who have a good career, earn a nice salary and want to do nice things, but they don't know which restaurants to go to or how to get into them because they don't have the contacts," said Orlagh Nevin, managing director and co-founder of Kudos.
"Lifestyle concierges" at Kudos are a phone call away, willing to do everything from buying an anniversary present for your spouse to arranging a personal shopper, stylist and make-up artist to come to your house for a special occasion.
Quintessentially, a worldwide concierge service that serves the stars and, famously, was once hired by Jennifer Lopez to find 12 albino peacocks for a party, entered the Irish market in October.
Lifestyle concierges have been thriving in the US for some time, with companies such as Microsoft and American Express using these services as a loyalty and retention tool for clients and senior employees. Some US organisations even have concierge desks on site that will run errands for employees so staff can focus on their job.
Kudos, however, has differentiated itself by focusing on the corporate market. It will provide its service through credit card companies, wealth management firms, stockbrokers, luxury car vendors and mobile phone companies, all of whom operate in the major battleground for high-net-worth individuals.
"When you look at customer satisfaction scorings in the UK, it goes into the higher quadrant when companies offer lifestyle management," Nevin says.
Indeed, Kudos has teamed up with TenUK to bring lifestyle concierge services to the premium credit card and other markets in Ireland for the first time.
TenUK launched the first concierge service in Britain in 1998 and is now the largest of its kind in Europe. By linking with TenUK, Irish customers of Kudos clients who travel can access a concierge service globally.
Research has shown that credit companies that offer a lifestyle concierge service see spending on that card double within 90 days, according to Nevin.
Because all concierge bookings are charged to the credit card, the card is used more frequently than others.
"In the UK, every major gold or platinum credit card offers travel insurance, access to lounges in airports, and lifestyle management," Nevin said. "In Ireland, you're lucky to get travel insurance, but if I have access to lifestyle management on one card, I will use that.
Before Kudos launched its service, it tested the business model on 100 people, giving them two months free access to their lifestyle assistants.
Nevin, a former senior executive at 02, came up with the idea after she began consulting for BPI Telecom. She now sits on the management team of BPI, Ireland's biggest importer and distributor of mobile phones and accessories, and is responsible for new business development.
The forerunner to BPI was set by up Barry Napier and Fergus Sweeney, who started out in 2000 from Sweeney's front room, using the garage as a store room. BPI now generates revenue of more than €93 million. The directors of BPI and Nevin set up Kudos, at a cost of €500,000.
