Stuart Berkowitz, Founder, President, and CEO, VoiceGenie

Q
Congratulations on your new funding. What are your plans for the proceeds? Do you have any plans to broaden your product line?

A One of the reasons why Insight was attracted to invest in us was they are convinced that our current model is working very well. This round's proceeds are designed to allow us to put the foot down on the accelerator to expand upon what's working. That means we will be aggressively expanding our salesforce in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. We also have funds earmarked for additional marketing and in the areas of pre- and post-sales support. We want to rapidly expand our customer base, while ensuring that our existing customers still receive the world-class levels of support they have grown accustomed to.

Q
Will there be any board or organizational changes?

A Jeff Horing, a co-founder and managing partner at Insight, has joined our board. He replaces one current director, who has agreed to move to our board of advisors. Other than rapidly expanding our organizational headcount, no other changes are planned.

Q
How does this impact VoiceGenie customers?

A We recently held our second annual Users' Group Meeting in June. The get-together gives our valued existing customers a direct interface with the VoiceGenie organization, from the executive-level to sales to engineering. Sometimes the feedback sessions can get into technical details that our customers ask us to improve. This year, only one concern was raised by customers: 'Please don't grow too fast.' They all recognize the success that VoiceGenie is enjoying in the market. Their concern was that, in expanding our headcount, we were not going to be able to keep up with our amazing customer service. I have one strong message for all of them: This VC funding will help us provide even better customer service. We will have more sales and engineering resources to address enterprises and telco customers.

Q
It seems that there is going to be even more consolidation in regard to the 'speech ecosystem.' For example, Scansoft and SpeechWorks' upcoming merger. Does this mean VoiceGenie may be in position to be an acquirer in this space?

A We have gotten to where we are today through focus, focus, focus. We've never tried to be anything else other than the best VoiceXML platform provider in the world. We think that focus has been a critical aspect in our success. We intend to continue to grow organically - not through acquisition. We will always stay open to making selective moves in certain niche areas, but we have no strong plans at this time.

Q
HP recently purchased PipeBeach, an active company in the European marketplace and in standards bodies such as VoiceXML. What impact does this acquisition have upon VoiceGenie and the 'speech ecosystem'?

A HP adding VoiceXML to its platforms adds weight to the argument that customers should abandon remaining proprietary IVR platforms in favor of VoiceXML Gateways. I hope that they will promote open-standards aggressively. In a recent article, HP announced that they are targeting VoiceGenie as their #1 direct competitor. Frankly, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. We welcome the challenge. When companies of the size and scope of HP enter the VoiceXML market, it is a great form of validation for the entire speech ecosystem. We expect new customers to look at the space, and its market leaders, as a result of HP's decision to enter it.

Q
Recently there have been moves to lower the price of browsers. How does this impact VoiceGenie's position? Will we continue to see the lowering of price of the 'speech solutions'?

A We're not aware of this trend. Our average selling price has not lowered in the past two years. We find our customers are running mission-critical business processes and, as a result, want extremely reliable products. That's our job, and we've had good success selling the value of our software to do that.

Q
Last year you were critical of Nuance's shift in partner strategy. Nuance's new CEO Chuck Berger has said that in fact they are trying to support their partners to a greater extent. Do you still have the same criticisms and why?

A Chuck is trying to rectify these matters. Nuance has made a bet that competing with its distribution channel is better than not doing so. We are very partner-friendly and would look favorably to Nuance dropping its competition.

Q
Are most of your deployments touch-tone based or speech-based?

A Almost 100 percent are speech-based. We only have one major deployment that is touch-tone based.