QuoDeck: A digital engagement platform that leveraging AI to transform corporate learning

Setting a trend for others, Kamalika Bhattacharya, CEO and co-founder and the business brain behind QuoDeck, a B2B SaaS digital learning and engagement platform has carved a niche for herself and her team in enabling organisations to use interactivity and games to engage audiences such as employees, value chain, and gig workforces.

Her passion for entrepreneurship has been built over many years through her 22-year-long career, where for the most part, she has worked with startups and ventures to raise private equity and venture capital for them. She co-founded QuoDeck in 2017 along with Arijit Lahiri with a view to combine their love for gaming with their ambitions of building a global product. Under her leadership, QuoDeck has grown into a thriving company with marquee fortune 500 clients.

In an interview, with Bizz Buzz, Bhattacharya, discusses her vision for the future of digital learning and engagement, as well as how QuoDeck is leveraging AI and machine learning to enhance its solutions.

Can you provide an overview of QuoDeck and its mission in the corporate learning and development space? How has the company evolved since its inception?

QuoDeck’s mission in the learning and development space has always been to bring cutting-edge mobility and interactivity to dealing with the enablement of large enterprise workforces and audiences. This came from our own experiences in industry, where we dealt with these problems on a regular basis.

Given the proliferation of mobile as the device of choice, affordable data plan access, and changing content preferences of new-gen workforces, we saw a clear gap in how technology was evolving to address this large-scale problem. That is where we wanted QuoDeck to make a difference.

Since our launch, we’ve seen strong growth and QuoDeck has achieved a prominent position within B2B SaaS Digital Engagement and Enablement Platforms. As the demand for digital engagement has increased, our scalable platform has provided our clients an uncomplicated way to nurture and enable their workforce.

When we started we were primarily a game-based learning system, but in response to an increasing array of needs, we’ve developed into a digital engagement suite known as the QuoDeck Interactive Cloud. The suite encompasses offerings for employee and ecosystem audiences, as well as customer engagement, addressing an expanding digital spectrum for organizations. We currently cater to over 5 million users across a diverse set of organizations.

In a rapidly changing business environment, how does QuoDeck stay innovative and adapt to emerging trends to meet the evolving needs of its customers?

As a large enterprise SaaS platform, staying at the forefront of innovation is what allows us to continue to be successful in a competitive world today. Given the rapid pace at which digital advancement is happening and the ever-changing business landscape, we take a multi-pronged approach to innovation at QuoDeck.

Our biggest source of intelligence on what are emerging requirements and trends is our own customer base. They are also constantly looking forward to staying ahead of the curve, and our constant dialogue with them allows us to co-architect solutions to solve critical problems that can later be ported into our product offerings.

We invest in research and data analysis to spot patterns and trends that our massive user base is telling us in terms of gaps they feel or what they want more of. We do this across a global landscape, and adjacent sectors and functions. For example, looking at what is happening in the world of digital marketing or OTT providers helps us anticipate requirements for UX, adoption marketing, etc. Collaborations with industry experts and tech providers is also a powerful source of innovation, where we are able to tap into diverse perspectives and approaches.

How is QuoDeck leveraging AI and machine learning to enhance its solutions, and can you provide some examples of AI-driven features within your platform?

We are harnessing the power of AI and ML to create more intelligent and personalised learning experiences for our users. AI and ML-driven analytics plays a key role in defining understanding learner behaviour and performance. Through machine learning algorithms, we can process vast amounts of data generated by users, such as completion rates, assessment scores, and time spent on each module. This data is then transformed into actionable insights. For instance, we can identify areas where learners may be struggling and recommend specific content or resources to address their needs, ultimately improving learning outcomes.

AI also enables us to personalise the learning experience to an unprecedented degree. We leverage AI algorithms to analyse user preferences, past interactions, and performance data. With this information, our platform can recommend relevant courses, modules, and assessments tailored to each learner's unique needs and objectives. This level of personalisation enhances engagement and knowledge retention by ensuring that learners receive content that is both relevant and challenging.

AI can also assist in content creation and curation. Could you elaborate on how QuoDeck utilizes AI to assist in the development and management of training content?

We are currently working on integrating generative AI into our authoring approaches so that customers can harness its incredible power to supercharge their content creation. While the legal and copyright implications are still largely uncertain today in an enterprise context, there is no arguing that this is the wave of the future.

Looking internally, at QuoDeck we believe in a concept called Dogfooding. Dogfooding is a practice where tech companies field test their technology for their own use cases to understand gaps or issues in usage. We’ve been following this practice for quite some time, and have been using generative AI with our platform for various digital enablement and engagement initiatives we’ve taken. This gives us a robust view of how this can be used by our customers and how we can make it better and easier to use for them.

Do you think AI will be able to replace humans in various roles and tasks, or will there always be essential human elements that AI cannot replicate?

We should approach the discourse surrounding AI with a nuanced perspective. It is incontestable that AI has a high potential in transforming how content creation is done. However, this discourse must be tempered by the fact that AI cannot function in a vacuum, and that to get AI to give us what we want, there must be human interfacing.

AI just like any other tool or technological advancement, is primarily designed to supplement and improve human abilities. For example, consider ChatGPT, which has been incredibly helpful for individuals in non-writing professions.

It’s an AI-driven tool that has empowered users to craft more compelling presentations, compose more effective emails, and articulate their viewpoints more clearly. In many instances, English may not be the primary language of people whose jobs demand a high level of English proficiency. Tools like these bridge that gap, allowing them to attain the desired level of language competence. Also, some may find writing to be a less enjoyable aspect of their work, and AI can alleviate that burden.

This example is just one aspect of AI's multifaceted utility. Other domains exist, such as art, graphic design, coding, and music, wherein individuals who aren’t experts can use AI to explore and experiment.

What is the vision for QuoDeck's future growth and expansion, both in terms of new markets and potential product innovations?

In the contemporary world, the need for scalable workforce engagement and training platforms transcends borders, it’s of global significance. This need applies to any organization with a distributed value chain, customer base, or merchant ecosystem. As mobile data becomes more affordable and more people own smartphones, we believe digital enablement will no longer be a choice for organizations, but a necessity.

While we’ve been largely focused on India as a geography, we are making forays into international markets, particularly MENA, SE Asia, and Latin America. To enter these markets successfully, we are carefully tailoring our product suite to match the diverse languages spoken in these regions. We also make sure to include games that resonate with the culture of these areas.