Lorraine Hariton, President & CEO, Apptera

Q Congratulations on your recent appointment as president and CEO of Apptera. Tell us where you came from and what you bring to Apptera.

A Thank you. It's a fantastic time for the company. Previously, I spent nearly four years as CEO of Beatnik, and today continue as the company's chairman. During that time, Beatnik became a market leader in audio technology for wireless devices, so I have had recent success with a small company and remain very sensitive to the critical developmental stages that an emerging company experiences. I have a strong customer background from managing sales, business development and marketing for IBM and Network Computing Devices. While at IBM, I spent six years in the ROLM division managing call center PBX, and computer-telephone integration products. Additionally, I have driven several acquisitions and spearheaded major OEM deals with Sun, IBM, AT&T, Nokia and Novell.

Q What is your current outlook for Apptera?

A It's an incredibly exciting stage for the company. We're continuing to hit key milestones in product development, securing new definitional and beta customers, as well as key industry partnerships. Apptera is very well positioned for growth, and the technology is now at a point where the market is ready to embrace it.

Q What are your short-term and long-term goals for the company?

A Today, Apptera is focused on providing packaged applications for voice self-service in the financial services market. We are working closely with customers now, and have a number of definitional customers that are interested in deploying our applications. Long term, we are positioning the company to offer packaged applications in other key vertical markets, and to ultimately dominate the applications market for speech across a number of verticals.

Q With so few female CEOs in the speech industry, do you feel any extra pressure to succeed in your new role?

A Pressure is not gender-specific and neither is success! But certainly, I strive to encourage women in business, and have long been an advocate for women's leadership in business. In fact, for several years I have served on the board for a number of women's non-profits, including The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and The Women's High Technology Coalition.

Q What are the important events that need to happen for speech to become more 'mainstream?

A Even though many voice-enabled customer programs have increased overall customer satisfaction, there is still an inordinate amount of perceived risk and uncertainty that businesses associate with speech recognition systems. Enterprises need a speech solution that can minimize this risk, is easy to install and can be managed in-house - without excessive upfront costs and deployment complexities. The traditional 12-18 month custom development cycle is too arduous and costly for today's businesses, so installation times need to be significantly reduced and the total cost of ownership cut dramatically. Apptera's unique approach addresses these concerns and is the basis for our model today.

Q We've been hearing a lot lately about packaged applications and there seems to be some confusion in what vendors claim a packaged application is. How does Apptera define packaged applications?

A Many of today's so-called "packaged applications" are simply nothing more than reusable templates and components that serve as starting points for the delivery of a custom system. Apptera defines a packaged speech application as an out-of-the-box voice user interface (VUI) that is highly configurable in-house and is a true software product—complete with documentation, upgrades and reporting tools. Additionally, packaged speech applications need to support open standards, such as VoiceXML, and be platform-independent.

Q What is so important about packaged applications for customers?

A Packaged applications now make speech available beyond the largest enterprises with extensive resources. Businesses want to be able to shorten their time-to-market and rapidly deploy a speech solution that can begin saving them money almost immediately. Packaged applications can cut as much as 70 percent off the up-front system cost, making the total cost of ownership for speech extremely attractive. It is much more cost-effective for businesses to buy a fully-tested, off-the-shelf pre-packaged application than an application that is custom-developed. Packaged applications lower the barriers to entry and continue to drive the momentum of voice self-service.

Q What is the significance of the recent $5.6 million funding Apptera secured?

A The recent funding provides a clear validation of our business model and ensures that the company has access to capital to build a robust business infrastructure. It also clearly demonstrates the continuing support for enterprise software, and more specifically, that the voice self-service market is a compelling space where investor confidence remains strong. Most importantly, this funding allows us to respond to the growing customer demand for packaged applications across the enterprise.