Cloud-based contact center specialist LiveOps is buying New Zealand-based DataSquirt for $12.5 million. As a result, LiveOps will take ownership of the firm that provides CONTACT(TM), a suite of services that augment the core, live agent/voice services with an array of delivery options that include text messages, email and Twitter. The new services, packaged as LiveOps Multichannel and LiveOps Mobile are “available for purchase” as of now, with general availability scheduled for the first week in December.

LiveOps has offered “white label versions of DataSquirt services to its clients for some time and held exclusive North American distribution rights since May of this year. The acquisition marks another step toward making CONTACT to market and integrate DataSquirt’s code and personnel into the LiveOps fold. This is consistent with the company’s policy of making sure all elements are both field-tested and “hardened” to operate well on the LiveOps platform.

Through acquisition, LiveOps is also adding over 60 mobile and multichannel clients. This, in turn, brings new use cases that make the “social/mobile/cloud” mantra more than just a series of buzz words, as well as case studies that show how well-recognized (and often conservative) outfits like ADT which made text messaging the preferred means to conduct “safety checks” with its guards; Amway, using the cloud to manage text and email messaging with its network of salespeople; and the Royal Mail Group (which operates the British Post Office) which added Twitter as a channel in and out of its contact centers.

But the acquisition is not primarily about adding new customers. LiveOps has already demonstrated the power of cloud-based resources to support a community of remote agents. They, in turn, have gained experience using social networks to maintain a sense of community and bolster morale among geographically-dispersed employees. These agents are likely to be more comfortable than their brick-and-mortar counterparts when communicating with customers and prospects – in addition to each other – using text, Tweets or email.

The growth of remote agents and the “fractional workforce” is a sign of the times. Our informal survey of contact center oursourcers shows that virtually every one of them is building more infrastructure to support growing communities of at home agents. With a history that dates back to 2000 (or 2002 when you consider the combination of LiveOps with CallCast’s platform) LiveOps was the first company to start tackling technological and social issues associated with building a business based on fostering the growth of work-at-home agent activities.

The acquisition of DataSquirt acknowledges that the integration of text messaging, social networks and email is a must to keep conversations growing on the platform.

Categories: Articles

Tags: Contact Center, conversational commerce, Cloud Services, LiveOps