Q&A With Talisma CEO Dan Vetras

By DAVID SIMS
TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist

Questions and answers with Dan Vetras, the CEO of Talisma. This is a condensed version of the intervew, the full text can be found at First Coffee [http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/].

DS: Hi Dan, thanks for your time. Talisma is now working in the Customer Interaction Management space, how does that jibe with CRM systems?

DV: CIM unifies all of the “point” products critical for communicating with customers today, including e-mail, chat, Web self service, collaboration, and, soon, VoIP – through a common set of knowledge, monitoring, and reporting tools to optimize current and future interactions. CIM products also tap into relevant information across other businesses products such as CRM systems so that agents can access appropriate information for faster, more accurate inquiry resolutions.

DS: What was the thinking behind Talisma basically changing direction, and focusing on Customer Interaction Management?

DV: In a nutshell, as the total number of Internet communications are on the rise, e-mail, chat, Web self service, VoIP, and other technologies are already the de facto choices for many customers and their chosen channel of interaction. Companies don’t really have a choice anymore and must offer these channel choices if they don’t already. By integrating these channels with a CIM product, business will benefit from a universal view of the customers, access to third party information, and a holistic view of all interactions to optimize operations and efficiencies.

DS: How does CIM respond to market needs today?

DV: Today, people prefer to use Internet-centric means of communications and CIM enables businesses to offer relevant Internet-based communication through multiple channels that are seamlessly integrated for more effective and efficient interactions. Companies don’t have the luxury of choice and need to offer multi-channels communication choices such as e-mail, chat and Web self service. These and other Internet-centric technology are on the rise and businesses that integrate these offerings and tie them into existing data will benefit by delivering a seamless customer experience that will exceed customer expectations.

FC: Why should companies implement CIM strategies? What are some examples of the benefits of CIM?

DV: End-users today have become channel agnostic, a term which indicates how a customer might  “channel surf.” For example, a customer might communicate with a company via chat one day and the next day use the company’s web site for customer self service. And, the following week,  the same customer might revisit the web site and send an e-mail to customer service. People do not choose the same communication channel all of the time and, as a result, all channels must be integrated and all must be leveraging the same source of knowledge to deliver a seamless customer experience across the board.

There are many benefits of CIM including faster, more accurate inquiry resolution; more effective customer dialogues; access to assistance through the most appropriate and preferred interaction channels; seamless escalation across channels; and customer centric proactive features.

FC: What are your plans for Talisma’s CRM offering and how do they diverge from the CIM products?

DV: The latest version of Talisma CRM, version 7.0, is shipping November 2005 and many of its features are particularly advantageous for the Higher Education community, which is the target vertical for the product going forward.

FC: Talisma has operations around the world, but what type of work comes out of your Bangalore operations?

DV: What started in Bangalore in 1999 as an e-mail management company has grown to a truly global business. Talisma has a team of 250 located all over the world in North American, Europe, and Asia. Bangalore is home to many Talisma employees whose job functions vary from software developers and engineers to sales, service, and marketing.

FC: What’s the best music to listen to while working?

DV: I sometimes keep the radio in my office on, which is tuned 103.7, “The Mountain” (KMTT-FM). It plays a good mix of popular and classic rock by musicians as varied as Robert Cray, Marc Cohn, Coldplay, Clapton, Sheryl Crow, etc.

FC: As well as some artists whose names don’t begin with “C.” Why does Talisma see India as such a key market?

DV: India is the land of emerging opportunity. Today, the Indian economy is growing at 7-8% annually and IT spending is growing 25-30% annually. Both of these growth rates are among the fastest in the world. Furthermore, Indian companies have always been very customer service oriented, so there is a natural fit for our product. India is a world leader in the Business Process Outsourcing market and call center industries. Not only are these sectors growing faster than 30 percent but Talisma has a clear value proposition for these industries that go hand in hand with CIM software.

In addition, many countries in the South East Asia region look to India to provide technology leadership, so establishing a strong base in India is vital to doing well in the whole of South East Asia. Additionally, working with large global concerns in this market has provided the company with an excellent foothold into other operations of said company throughout the world.

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