CRM firm RightNow Prepares New Version of Hosted Service

On-demand CRM firm RightNow Technologies will swim against the prevailing orthodoxy with the release of a new version of its service due for UK users this summer. A key feature of the upgrade is a new user interface that installs on the desktop rather than using a browser for its front-end.

Codenamed Castle, RightNow version 8 uses a Microsoft Outlook-like client that, the company argues, speeds up operations and offers a richer environment than is possible with pure web interfaces.

“Up until now [software-as-a-service] companies have typically used Ajax, Dynamic HTML and Web 2.0 technologies but we’ve taken a different approach,” said chief executive Greg Gianforte. “We get the speed and capabilities of desktop software but it’s network-delivered.”

Gianforte said that web-based desktops suffer from latency and performance issues that can slow down the operations of contact centres. “We’re on the agents’ desks for eight hours a day so a little clunkiness can add up to costing millions of dollars.”

The new release also offers a Visual Studio-like Workspace Designer feature and vertical-industry support starting with retail and public-sector. New analytics and customer-experience design tools are also featured in the release that the company is touting as its most significant yet, having accounted for $25m in research and development costs.

RightNow is among the largest of firms focused on selling hosted services and has an upscale user base, especially among customer service-orientated organisations. The company counts BA, BT, EasyJet, Thomas Cook and Nikon among customers and took over $110m in revenues for its last financial year.

However, that blue-chip customer roster is leading to increased competition from Oracle’s Siebel subsidiary and SAP, which is expected to step up its on-demand activity this year.