Interview With Srii Srinivasan at Chargeback Gurus, United States

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Srii Srinivasan

Srii is an industry veteran at minimizing chargebacks and fraud for card-not-present transactions. In addition to that, she's also an active member of Electronic Transaction Association (ETA).



Interview with the 2021 TITAN Business Awards Winner - Srii Srinivasan

1Please provide us with a brief bio of yourself.

Srii, the CEO of Chargeback Gurus, is an industry veteran at minimizing chargebacks and fraud for card-not-present transactions. She specializes helping high-risk merchants optimize operations overhead, identify vulnerabilities and reduce fraud and chargeback revenue loss. Srii is an active member of Electronic Transaction Association (ETA). Prior to co-founding Chargeback Gurus Srii has successfully owned two e-commerce ventures and has firsthand experience dealing with friendly fraud and true fraud chargebacks. Srii is a seasoned speaker and consults enterprise businesses on revenue increase, automation and fraud minimization.

As a payments, eCommerce and software development expert, Srii leads a team of +150 delivering the fastest-growing chargeback representment and prevention services in the United States. For her, the greatest joy in business is getting to know merchants and empower them to succeed in their business. Srii holds a degree in Computer Science Engineering. Her goal is to share her experience with as many people as possible as she values the importance of fueling and leading this competitive society with more compassion and empathy.

2Please tell us more about your organization.

Founded in 2014, Chargeback Gurus is a global company helping businesses fight, prevent, and win chargebacks. Chargeback Gurus helps increase customer retention and satisfaction by pinpointing the business processes and customer service issues at the root of many chargeback claims. As trusted advisers to card networks and Fortune 500 companies, Chargeback Gurus is known in the payments space for deep expertise in the areas of risk management, chargeback and fraud prevention, and data analytics.

3Describe the industry your organization is specialized in, as well as its main characteristics.

We specialize in the fintech/payments industry. Over the past decade, fintechs (financial technology firms) have brought digital disruption to shake the status quo of the payments world. They have revolutionized the way we shop, live and pay for products and services. The pandemic has accelerated payment digitization by several years, as consumer spending habits dramatically changed all over the world.

This massive industry has many different facets, including digital payment methods, mobile wallets, Buy Online Pickup In Store (BOPIS) payments, digital peer-to-peer (P2P) apps, real-time Card-Not-Present (CNP) transactions, omnichannel/omnicommerce payments, biometric authentication methods, and digital business payments.

According to McKinsey’s latest Global Payments Map data, in 2016, the global payments industry accounted for 34 percent of overall banking revenues—up from 27 percent just five years earlier. For the next five years, annual growth will average 7 percent, making payments a $2.2-trillion-dollar-industry by 2021.

4Congratulations! As the winner of the TITAN Business Awards, what does it mean for you and your team to receive this distinction?

We are very honored and deeply grateful to receive two global distinctions from Titan Awards - Financial Services Company and Business to Business Company Platinum Awards. Winning these awards has given us instant recognition and credibility for our organization. It clearly establishes us as a world leader in chargebacks and fraud.

We have faced several challenges in our journey since inception, but each one of them has only strengthened us to make us the global chargeback leader we are today. All our achievements have been made possible only with our team’s hard work, commitment and dedication. They inspire me every single day to be the best leader I can be.

I want to thank our Gurus, clients, partners and industry peers who have helped us achieve this recognition. Much gratitude for the countless hours everyone put in behind the scenes to keep our company strong during challenging times. I also want to personally thank my business partner, mentors and my team, for whom I have the deepest respect, and from whom I have imbibed the strength to challenge myself and be a better leader.

5How has winning an international award help promote your organization?

Our vision is to help businesses around the world fight chargebacks and fraud. We have plans to expand into multiple continents including Europe, Asia pacific, and Latin America. E-commerce has grown exponentially especially during the pandemic and this has caused a huge spike in chargebacks and fraud. Merchants need to be aware of these increased risks and take proactive measures to protect themselves. Winning an international award gives us tremendous exposure to businesses worldwide so that they can get timely help to fight chargebacks.

6What is your own definition of a successful team / organization / business?

One of the markers of success is when our employees, clients and partners are happy and fulfilled. Our company’s success depends on our team and their willingness to buy into our brand and vision. Providing clarity in everything we do - vision, communication, goals, data, decisions, and planning – is crucial to our success. We have a strong people focus - this culture has helped us stay connected through the pandemic. Our leaders encourage our team to reach out for help and keep a “virtual” open door.

We put our employees first in many ways including:

- providing an awesome culture

- giving the tools to excel in their job role

- trusting everyone to do a great job

- giving clear goals and guidelines

- providing opportunities for learning and professional development including conferences, courses, and mentoring

- providing world-class benefits and flexible work hours + remote working

- giving autonomous decision-making ability

- implementing programs for appreciation, rewards, promotions and recognition

When we focus on employees first, effectively, in the end everyone benefits – clients/partners are happier and more satisfied, shareholders do well, and our employees remain happy.

7What led you / your organization to become successful within the industry you are currently in?

I’m happy to say that we are trusted as a fintech pioneer by the Fortune 500 and major financial institutions worldwide. As I mentioned earlier, our employees, clients and partners have been extremely crucial in our success within the payments/fintech industry.

The real expertise in our industry lies in how well a chargeback company can solve the many payments challenges faced by businesses, in addition to fighting chargebacks. It comes with understanding the payments industry as well as the client’s specific problems and providing unique solutions to overcome these challenges.

Businesses find our white glove services highly attractive and beneficial since it takes little to no effort from their end to combat their chargeback and fraud challenges. We are merchant advocates and work for the best interests of our clients.

We do not just fight chargebacks—the real value comes when you are truly helping businesses prevent disputes and fraud from happening in the first place. Businesses can learn great deal of information from their chargebacks and our motto is, “prevent what you can and fight what you can’t.”

The biggest opportunity for Chargeback Gurus is that chargebacks and fraud are a global problem and most ecommerce businesses do not know how to fight chargebacks, nor do they have the proper tools to identify why chargebacks are happening or strategies to prevent them. With the right people, the right processes, and the right technology, we have been able to recover $1.5 billion in lost revenue for our clients and successfully cut their disputes by 50% with proactive prevention methods.

8How has the country, you are based in, helped move your industry forward?

The USA is one of the best countries to innovate and implement business solutions. It is one of the most important economies in the world and the business laws are very favorable for entrepreneurship. Businesses from around the world market to US consumers and the e-commerce industry is booming here. It’s blessing and a major advantage to be in our home turf – we have access to major partners, clients, vendors and a huge talent pool to grow our business.

9What have you found to be a hindering factor, for your business, during the entire course of the pandemic, and how did you overcome that hinderance?

I’m grateful that our business has expanded during the pandemic due to the high demand for chargeback and fraud protection. As we experience fast growth, one of our challenges has been to sustain the growth by scaling our team, choosing the right platforms/tools and improving our business processes.

Our HR team has been very responsive to this challenge and they have implemented innovative solutions to do remote interviewing, hiring, onboarding and training. We also quickly calibrated with our leaders to understand their unique challenges while they handle our fast growth.

We are a highly collaborative, friendly and interactive team. Our strong company culture of innovation, resilience to change, integrity, people-first focus and gratitude has continued to help us overcome these challenges.

When the pandemic hit last year, we had to move fast to 100% remote work globally. That was also a huge learning experience and it has made us stronger as a company. As we all know, innovation and fast growth come with the possibility of mistakes – we mitigate this stress by fostering a culture of learning from mistakes. We remind ourselves that everything is “figureoutable” and we can get through tough times together. Of course, we couldn’t live without humor, laughter, celebration and fun as a team.

10What are the current trends in the business industry that you are most excited about?

The pandemic has reshaped the payments world and caused significant changes in both customer behavior and the way Card-Not-Present (CNP) transactions are processed. There has been a huge shift from brick-and-mortar transactions to the CNP world, including ecommerce, mobile commerce and phone orders, leading to a huge increase in chargebacks and fraud.

This is where we shine—we have been very successful in helping businesses prevent, fight and win CNP chargebacks and fraud. Demand for chargeback services continues to grow in lock step with eCommerce growth and this is our biggest opportunity to protect businesses from revenue losses.

11Where do you see the evolution of the overall business industry in the next 5-10 years?

Chargebacks, fraud and payment challenges will continue to evolve not just in the Americas but on every continent. We are well positioned for continued worldwide growth as we acquire clients across many verticals. Since we are an essential service for any business that accepts credit/debit card payments, we have been approached by financial institutions and other business partners to serve their customer base. This has fueled our expansion and it is very gratifying to know that we are providing a very useful service that helps businesses recover lost revenue with immediate ROI. Our growth trajectory continues to grow stronger every quarter and we are projecting even more growth in the next 5 – 10 years.

12Who inspired you in your life, and why?

I’ve been blessed with many people who are my sources of inspiration. One such person is my current mentor and life coach who has helped me to become a better human being in every way possible – from personal growth to becoming the best leader I can be. She guides me and provides deep insights by being open about everything. I have benefited from her wisdom and guidance both professionally and personally.

13What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?

Commitment, focus, and living a life based on principles.

14Which THREE (3) Entrepreneurs / Organizations would you nominate to participate in the TITAN Business Awards?

Jackie Clayborne, Founder of ONC National based in Dallas

Leonis Partners, an investment bank

SignaPay



Winning Entries

Chargeback Gurus, Financial Services Company | 2021

Srii Srinivasan | Chargeback Gurus

Founded in 2014, Chargeback Gurus is a global company helping businesses fight, prevent and win chargebacks with...
(read more at TITAN Business Awards)


Chargeback Gurus


Chargeback Gurus is an award-winning financial services company based in the United States.

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