As we enter a new year, XBIZ World is pleased to honor Vendo’s Debora Xavier as WIA’s Woman of the Month.
Xavier manages client services for Barcelona-based Vendo, a non-traditional biller that offers new revenue-increasing tools and services to make its customers money.
I would have to say that my favorite part of working with Vendo is working with a team that is smart and innovative. Everyone is constantly thinking of ways to better optimize processes for both the company and for our partners.
We honor Xavier with her accomplishments as we learn more about her role at Vendo, and the company itself, in this Q&A interview.
XBIZ: What’s your role at Vendo?
XAVIER: Thanks for choosing me as WIA Woman of the Month! What a great honor. I really appreciate it. It’s feels great to be recognized for the service I provide our clients and contribution to the industry.
We have something similar called, “Idea of the Month” which I’ve also won at Vendo. I’m happier to be named the Woman of the Month than having won the idea of the month. It’s much better to be a woman than an idea (ha ha).
My role at Vendo? Service. My perspective on service is that it is an honor and a privilege to serve. If you have a lot to offer, if you’ve been given an education, enthusiasm and skills, the best thing you can do is serve others. It’s the highest calling. Like Muhammad Ali said, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”
Specifically, I help our partners get the most out of their relationship with Vendo. That means a smooth, simple integration and optimizing revenue with all of our features. I measure my success by how much more money they make.
XBIZ: In a nutshell, tell me about Vendo services.
XAVIER: Vendo isn’t a traditional billing company. We didn’t make our money a long time ago and get fat and lazy. The truth is Vendo is innovative and creates great value for our partners — that’s something I don’t see other billers doing right now.
We use artificial intelligence (AI) to grow revenue. We let our partners do dynamic pricing. They get to use the same tools that airlines and hotels have been using for years. It’s become an essential tool if you want compete. Amazon is doing it, Rosetta Stone, etc. Gartner sees average gains from dynamic pricing at 10 percent in mainstream. We’re seeing similar results for our partners, which represent about 80 percent of industry leaders. That 10 percent is a really interesting number ... it’s in the same neighborhood as billing costs. Results vary but you could say that the lift is making billing free for some of our partners.
XBIZ: What’s coming up for Vendo in 2016?
XAVIER: We’re going further into AI. We expect great results for our partners.
XBIZ: What’s the best part of the job?
XAVIER: I would have to say that my favorite part of working with Vendo is working with a team that is smart and innovative. Everyone is constantly thinking of ways to better optimize processes for both the company and for our partners. We recently published a blog about our Idea of the Month initiative (which I’ve won ... did I mention that!), this is where everyone in the company contributes an idea or suggestion on how we can provide the latest cutting edge services to our partners and the industry. We meet as a company once a month and discuss the ideas and how we can best implement them. This is one of my favorite parts of my job because it always keeps you on your toes, it keeps you constantly looking for areas where we can improve and expand services.
XBIZ: What’s a typical workday like?
XAVIER: My day always starts with attending to any requests from our partners. It is important to me that they have their questions and requests answered so they can start their day off on the right foot. I typically meet with a variety of departments at Vendo to discuss implementation of new tools and services we offer.
With my marketing role I then work on introducing these new tools and services, such as dynamic pricing, and educating our partners on how these tools can help them make more money. We use a variety of educational outlets such as social media, blogs and podcasts to accomplish this, so I spend my day managing the distribution of information to the industry and meeting with potential partners to discuss how Vendo tools can help them make more money.
XBIZ: In your spare time, what do you like to do?
XAVIER: I like to get a change of scenery on my spare time, so I travel. It can be a simple day trip or a few weeks in a new city or country. I think it’s important to disconnect every once in a while to prevent burnout.
Funny enough, I usually get my best work related ideas when I am taking time off, I think stepping away from everything makes room for new ideas.
Each month, industry news media organization XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry's most influential female executives.
