Parature Announces Increased CRM Customers

Parature, a vendor of on demand customer support software, has announced an increase of 60 percent to its total customer support product end user base during the past four fiscal quarters ending June 30, 2006.

Parature announced in July that the company successfully completed a Series A financing for $13.5 million.

This oversubscribed round includes Vienna, Virginia.-based Valhalla Partners, and Menlo Park, California-based Sierra Ventures, both private venture capital firms with strong track records of success in the information technology industry. Gene Riechers, General Partner and Co-founder, Valhalla Partners, and Vispi Daver, Principal, Sierra Ventures, have been named to Parature's board of directors.

The company plans to use the financing to further enhance its customer support and help desk solution, as well as boost sales and marketing efforts.

The Customer Support Product is currently used by over 400 organizations in a variety of industries, including high technology, education, retail, gaming, and healthcare.

Parature's Internet-based software is used by organizations for self-service via a support portal, knowledge base, download centers and discussion forums.

"Using Parature's Customer Support Product makes much better sense for our business than using e-mail or other outdated methods," said David Dembowski, Director, Business Development, MoveOnIn Network.

And that particular customer testimonial was included for the simple fact that it's the first time this reporter's seen e-mail referred to as "outdated." Is the world moving too fast for some people?

In June Parature signed a deal with Maryland’s Capitol College to implement Parature’s Campus Support Solution. College officials say the move was to “increase the efficiency and quality of support it provides its students and faculty.”

“We selected Parature due to its easy customization tools, the fact that it is a Web-based help desk software product, its high cost effectiveness, and great staff. Overall, we’ve been very pleased,” said Danielle Faison, Director, Distance Learning Services, Capitol College.

In May, Parature announced the results of what company officials call an “in-depth nationwide survey of customer support professionals,” revealing “surprising trends associated with operating customer support organizations in both small and large companies.”

Evidently, according to the survey results, all companies, regardless of size, spent the majority of their budget on personnel costs. Further investigation showed that companies using a customer support product spend 47 percent of their budget on personnel costs, while companies who do not have a product in place spend 64 percent on personnel.

When separated into categories for large and small companies, the difference is even more apparent, the study found. Small companies are defined as those with 15 or fewer customer service representatives and large companies as those with 16 or more CSRs.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.

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