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Telephony
SNAPin Cracks Down on Customer Complications
Dec 13, 2004
Serial entrepreneur Brian Roundtree returned to wireless last week with the launch of Kirkland, Wash.-based SNAPin Software, which promises to cut carrier costs and drive revenue by eliminating common user problems associated with the next-generation mobile applications he enabled with his previous venture, Action Engine.
Founder and CEO Roundtree lifted the lid off SNAPin after about a year in stealth mode. “Carriers are spending more and more on customer support,” he said. “We're looking at what we can do to help people with their phones without changing or creating new behaviors.”
SNAPin's portfolio currently includes four products—SNAPin Care, SNAPin Diagnostics, SNAPin Metrics and SNAPin Guide—which work independently and in tandem to address subscriber issues. The software intercepts customer care calls by directing users to their handset, which automatically downloads answers and instructions for solving common questions; in addition, it automatically solves problems as they happen, and can walk users step-by-step through advanced features like sending photos from their camera phones.
“The idea is that as users are interested in accessing new features, we show them how to do it when they're actually doing it,” Roundtree said. “It's context-based training, in the moment they're really interested in learning how to do something.”
SNAPin's approach also pledges to minimize the volume and duration of customer care calls, which on average cost U.S. carriers about $6 per minute, as well as curtailing the requirement for interactive voice response (IVR) systems. “IVR can be pretty effective at providing small bytes of information to callers, but it's not that efficient for the user—sometimes it tells you the information so fast, you don't hear it,” said Tom Trinneer, the McCaw Cellular vet who recently signed on as SNAPin's vice president of marketing and product development. “A call handled exclusively by IVR costs a lot less than $6 a minute, but the user isn't getting a good experience. Software running on a mobile device can work that problem much more effectively.”
SNAPin's business model is validated by the results of a recent Wacom Components survey, which found that 85% of consumers claim they are “too dumb” to access or use advanced mobile services, complaining that wireless handsets are now too complex to use. The report adds that if handset manufacturers were to simplify mobile device user interfaces, 55% of respondents said that they would feel more encouraged to use next-gen applications.
SNAPin's software is currently under evaluation by several U.S. and European mobile carriers. Last week, the company announced completion of its Series A financing round, led by Frazier Venture Partners. A dollar figure was not announced, but SNAPin reportedly raised about $2.5 million.
"Mobile operators can capture a huge opportunity to drive down their cost structure by leveraging the power of mobile devices," said Dan Rosen, general partner at Frazier Technology Ventures. "SNAPin's unique device-centric approach allows operators to deploy common applications on all devices without requiring firmware changes or expensive new network infrastructure.",
Article also available on Telephony's site.
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Communique PR
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Alani@communiquepr.com
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