Aspect Software

Aspect Software, Inc. is an American multinational call center technology and customer experience company headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts. Aspect has offices in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America.[6]

Aspect Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryCall center technology
Customer experience
Founded1973 (1973)
Headquarters
Phoenix, Arizona
,
United States
Key people
[Patrick Dennis] (CEO) [1][2][3]
ProductsAspect Via CEC
Aspect CXP
Aspect Workforce Optimization Suite[4]
Revenue$443 million (FY 2014)[5]
Number of employees
2,088 (2017)

History

Founding, Early Years

Aspect was founded under the name Aspect Communications in 1973, when its solution powered the first call center flight booking system with an intelligent Automatic Call Distributor.[7] In 2005, Aspect Communications was acquired by Concerto Software for $1 bln,[8] with the new entity called Aspect Software.[9]

Expansion After the Merger

In 2006, Aspect borrowed $1.16 billion to finance its international expansion.[10]

In 2006, Aspect opened its first office offshore in Bangalore, India.[11]

In 2008, Aspect formed an alliance with Microsoft[12] with the latter making an investment in Aspect.[13] Later in 2008, Aspect acquired Massachusetts-based BlueNote Networks.[14] In 2009, Aspect acquired UK-based AIM Technology.[15] In 2010, Aspect acquired St. Louis-based Quilogy.[16] In 2011, Aspect opened a facility in Ireland.[17]

New Management

In 2012, most of the management was replaced with a new team[18] led by Stewart Bloom.[19] Over the next year, Aspect relocated its headquarters to Phoenix, Arizona.[20]

In 2013, Aspect invested into Bright Pattern[21] and acquired Voxeo for $150 million.[22] In 2015, Aspect acquired LinguaSys[23] to add natural language messaging capabilities.[24] LinguaSys technology became the basis of Aspect's Natural Language Understanding component for the Aspect CXP platform.[25] The technology was used to create a chatbot for the supermarket chain Lidl,[26] that won the 2018 Best Consumer Chatbot award at the CogX AI conference, beating X.ai and Microsoft's Xiaoice.[27]

In 2012, Aspect had its credit rating lowered by Standard & Poor's because of the large amount of debt.[28] In 2015, Moody's lowered its credit rating as well.[29] In March 2016, Aspect filed for bankruptcy to reduce its debt load,[30] and emerged from Chapter 11 in May 2016.[31]

In 2016, Aspect released Via Customer Engagement Center, including various products from Aspect's portfolio.[32]

Later in 2019, Aspect was acquired by Vector Capital.[33]

Awards and recognition

Aspect Software was recognized by industry analyst firms such as Frost & Sullivan.[34]

References
  1. "Leadership". Aspect.
  2. "Aspect Software, Inc.: Private Company Information". Bloomberg.
  3. "Aspect Software announces appointment of Chris Koziol to CEO". ITWeb.
  4. "See all Aspect products". Aspect.
  5. "SEC FORM 10-K". SEC.
  6. "Global-Office-Locations - Aspect". Aspect.
  7. "History of Invention - Aspect". Aspect.
  8. "Concerto to Acquire Aspect for $1 Billion". The New York Times.
  9. "Concerto Software And Aspect Communications Complete Merger And Form Aspect Software". CRM Marketplace.
  10. "Ratings Agency Knocks Two Golden Gate Companies In One Day". PE Hub Network.
  11. "India is Aspect Software's 2nd largest centre". Business Standard.
  12. "Microsoft and Aspect Form Global Strategic Alliance". Microsoft.
  13. "Microsoft Buys Aspect Stake". The Wall Street Journal.
  14. "Aspect Acquires BlueNote Networks". No Jitter.
  15. "Aspect Buys AIM to Broaden Performance Management Portfolio". Gartner.
  16. "Quilogy sold to Aspect". BizJournals.
  17. "Aspect Software opens new facility in Galway". Galway Science & Technology Forum.
  18. "The New, New, New Aspect?". No Jitter. Archived from the original on 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  19. "Aspect Software Names New CEO Following Top Exec's Exit". CRN.
  20. "Aspect Software Acquires Orlando-based Voxeo Corp. for $150 million". AZ Tech Beat.
  21. "EX 2.4 BRIGHT PATTERN AMENDED AND RESTATED VOTING AGREEMENT". SEC.
  22. "Aspect Software to acquire Voxeo for $150 million". India Times.
  23. "Aspect Software Announces Acquisition of the Technology Assets of LinguaSys". Aspect.
  24. "Aspect Software Acquires LinguaSys". Destination CRM.
  25. "Radisson Blu Edwardian Guests Can Now Text Edward The Chatbot For Service". Forbes.
  26. "Grocer Lidl rolls out natural language chatbot to improve customer experience". ComputerWeekly.
  27. "CogX 2018 Award Finalists". CogX. Archived from the original on 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  28. "Ratings Agency Knocks Two Golden Gate Companies In One Day". PE Hub Network.
  29. "Moody's downgrades Aspect Software to Caa2". Moody's.
  30. "Aspect Software files for bankruptcy with creditor plan". Reuters.
  31. "Aspect Software's $1.2B Debt Rework Wins Court OK". Law 360.
  32. "Aspect Software Announces Launch Of Aspect Via™". Contact Centres.
  33. "Aspect Software to be Acquired by Vector Capital". Aspect Software.
  34. "Aspect Software Recognized By Frost & Sullivan As The Workforce Optimization Industry 2016 Global Company Of The Year". TheStreet.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.