Part 1: KnowEx and CRM

Hi Andrew, How did you first become interested in business?
My parents came from a jewelry background, so I like to know trends. I check out what's going on in the retail business to see what's new and what people are looking for.

Tell us more about what led you to start KnowEx
I founded KnowEx after I stopped Maximum PC in 1998. Basically, KnowEx came from my own frustration as a shopper. I couldn't get good customer service on the Internet. I thought that one of the biggest problems on the Internet was customer support. In 1998, email was the only way to contact someone while you were online. No one had a cable modem or DSL, so the phone was the only way to get help if you were confused. I don't see forcing someone to get offline as an Internet solution.

What specific technology has KnowEx developed?
Live customer service on the Internet. We have developed chat technology for customer service on PCs and wireless devices. KnowEx has also created translation services that allow you to chat to someone in a different language. I want to be able to help businesses offer their customers a movie-like experience. The Internet allows a site to use images of video and audio to give the customer an experience that's not possible through a phone line. For example, if you're shopping for a ring, you can see a 3-D movie of the ring. If you are looking at an apartment, you can see a video of the space.

And do you focus on assisting regular businesses or specifically i-businesses?
I'd say that we do both. Sometimes we assist pure i-businesses, but there are also a lot of regular businesses going onto the Internet. Usually, old business has their customer service already set up over the phone. In that case, we look for solutions that will fit their Internet presence. For example, The Gap, before it went online, did all its business through its stores and its catalog. The second it went online, 40% of its revenue began to come in through the website. In this case, the Internet showed that it played such a powerful role in the company's profits that it would be unusual not to provide people with Internet support.

Given that you're not the only company offering CRM solutions, how does KnowEx differ from its competitors?
LivePerson (another interactive software developer that creates customer service solutions) offers solutions in ten different languages, but not language translation between languages. KnowEx does that. While other CRM companies looked to create CRM solutions from a traditional problem-solving approach, KnowEx developed its new technology first. We then added CRM on top of what is basically an IT company.

And what kinds of businesses use Customer Relations Management (CRM) technology?
Mostly businesses that sell higher-margin products. A lot of businesses whose sales are more complicated, whose products cost over $200, have customers who take the time to think about what they're buying. Their customers want to ask questions and make decisions based on the information that they can get online. It makes sense to provide them with good customer support over the Internet. It's another step forward to closing an account.

Continued...