When Robert LoCascio started surfing the internet back in 1993, he thought, "This is awesome--but where are the people?" They were chatting in forums with one another, but there was no connection between consumers and companies that were selling things or services online; 800 numbers owned that role. LoCascio thought that offering companies a chat platform would let them better manage the relationship. Now, New York City-based LivePerson has revenue of $250 million and 1,000 employees in eight countries, giving heft to LoCascio's theory that no one wants to be put on hold. Here's LoCascio:
The Web's Next Wave
Everyone thought the internet digitized the relationship between brand and consumer. But when they communicate, it still goes offline to voice, and that's not the way the world is today. We're riding the internet's third wave. The first was organizing the world's information through search--i.e., Google. The second was connecting people with people, so Facebook. The third is how we connect with businesses.
My first idea, in 1995, was for companies to bring their customers together in a community. Chatrooms existed online, but the business application did not. Xerox was my first customer, and within a couple of months they said, "We don't want our customers talking to one another, because it's a bitch session." But Xerox liked the chat capability, and being able to connect with customers and do support online. LivePerson launched in 1997 focused entirely on that.