Sharpen Technologies, developers of the agent-first omnichannel cloud contact center platform, experienced continued rapid growth in the first half of 2020, with a 236% increase in new bookings compared to the first half of 2019. Recent customer wins came from the mid-market and enterprise sectors and across multiple verticals, including retail, telecom, outsourcers, and financial services.
In March, as COVID-19 swept the globe and employees were ordered to shelter-in-place, Sharpen launched Quick Start, a highly successful program that enabled businesses stuck with legacy technology to move to the cloud quickly. Simultaneously, the platform’s flexibility allowed all existing Sharpen customers to seamlessly move to a WAH model overnight, with many reporting dramatic improvements in call times, CSAT scores and bottom lines. A leading fintech company, with 700 agents worldwide, experienced a reduction in handle times by 4.5% and increased utilization by 6%, resulting in a projected savings of more than $850,000 annually.
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“The value of Sharpen has never been more evident than in these last six months,” stated Chief Revenue Officer Ty Baldwin. “With agents continuing in a WAH model, and supervisors forced to manage their teams remotely — a trend we believe will remain — Sharpen continues to invest in features and functionality that help agents perform at levels even they hadn’t thought possible.”
One new customer, Radio Systems Corporation, the largest manufacturer of pet products in the U.S. and parent company of PetSafe, SportDog and Invisible Fence Brand, chose Sharpen over NICE inContact and Talkdesk for its “cloud capabilities, simplicity of licensing, and of course, the overall value,” said John Bates, Manager of the Contact Center Technology Team. “When stacked up against other top choices, Sharpen was the best value when looking at features and functionality we’d gain for the cost. The simplicity of having an all-inclusive license cost per user frees us up from worrying about paying for functionality we’re not using. Sharpen being cloud-native was a big factor in our decision as well. It is not an existing on-premise product that has been refactored and migrated or just hosted in a cloud environment.”
Velocity, a privately-owned telecom and network services provider with more than 500 employees, selected Sharpen over Genesys, Five9, and NICE inContact, to replace three disparate voice, email and chat point solutions and streamline operations. “We chose Sharpen over other providers we evaluated because of the way they regarded us from the very beginning of our interaction with them,” remarked Ginger Duhaime, Senior Director of Support Services at Velocity. “It was clear that our business was not only important to them, but they demonstrated they were actively listening to our current state and future requirements. Through the evaluation process, they provided the insight and expertise to quote, and ultimately deliver, a solution that is the perfect fit for our organization. We quickly formed a strong partnership where we genuinely believe everyone at Sharpen is invested in our success.”
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The momentum of 2020 follows a successful 2019 for Sharpen, where the number of new agents put into production increased more than 300% from 2018.
“At a time when every dollar counts, Sharpen’s simple pricing model, white-glove account management service, and agent-first features provide a tangible ROI,” Baldwin noted. “And, it does so while allowing agents to provide exceptional customer service with every interaction.”