November 11, 2008
Free Live Chat Comparison Webinar Dives Into
The Details of Six-Vendor Study
Former Gartner Vice President Tim Smith Discusses Strengths, Weaknesses
and
Offers Practical Advice for Organizations Considering Live Chat
Wichita, KS., November 11, 2008 — Tim Smith, a former Gartner Group vice president with more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, will lead a webinar discussing the results of his Live Chat Market Overview research report on Thursday, November 20th from 12:30-1:30 p.m. EST.
The webinar highlights Smith’s research and takes a closer look at six leading vendors in the live chat space, including (in alpha order): Boldchat™, InstantService™, LivePerson™, Talisma®, Velaro and WhosOn. Vendors were examined side-by-side against a set of criteria determined by Smith.
"In addition to determining the particular strengths and weaknesses of the six vendors, I was pleasantly surprised by a few things, such as a handful of smaller, lean vendors who have excellent offers at reasonable prices," said Tim Smith. "Overall, live chat is becoming an increasingly critical component to overall customer contact strategy. As a result, I think we will see more organizations integrate live chat into their contact centers. And with the market developing and implementations continuing to grow in scope, we’ll need to see more evidence of scaling capabilities from the vendors."
The study was commissioned by Bravestorm, makers of BoldChat, in an effort to better understand the key players in the live chat marketplace.
"We believed that we had an excellent offering for both SMB and Enterprise-sized clientele and we wanted to have an unbiased, in-depth understanding of ourselves and our key competitors," commented Bravestorm President and CEO Steve Castro-Miller. "After a thorough examination of what was out there, we realized the analysis we needed didn’t exist. So we commissioned Tim, a respected veteran of the industry, to do it. In our agreement with him, we guaranteed that we would publish the complete findings, and that’s what we’ve done."
Full results of the live chat side-by-side comparison can be downloaded from www.livechatcomparison.com. Stay tuned to the website for additional research findings and updates.
About Tim Smith:
Having served in the past as both a vice president at Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) and Director of Competitive Intelligence at Avaya, Tim is a product management professional with extensive experience in strategy, execution, product design, and business performance. He has been providing competitive/strategic assessments on behalf of participants in the communications industry for more than two decades.
During his tenure with Gartner, Tim developed research in a number of enterprise and service provider markets and drove the development of several new coverage areas. Tim’s presentations at numerous Gartner events, including the Gartner Symposium, drew consistently large audiences and high rankings. Tim, as a diligent and objective researcher adept at discerning key market trends and directions, has been a featured speaker at several industry-wide events including Interop and Supercomm (now NXT comm.)
About Bravestorm:
Bravestorm was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. With the launch of its flagship product BoldChat, Bravestorm released an effective and affordable live chat solution for any size business. Today, the company is a leader in the live e-support market with customers in over 70 countries, offering exceptional ROI. For more information, visit BoldChat.
Media Contact:
Jill Monahan
Tier One Partners
484-244-5300
jmonahan@tieronepr.com