Telrex Gets SaaS-y

Internet protocol (IP) call recording and contact center optimization software provider Telrex announced yesterday it will offer its CallRex suite of products on a monthly subscription basis. Telrex CEO Robert Kapela says the company is the first market leader in its field to offer all its solutions on a subscription-based licensing model.

Subscribers using the new model pay a monthly fee for Telrex services based on the number of users being recorded. Kapela says the program is being marketed for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) aiming to lower or eliminate capital expenditures.

"The biggest problem SMB customers have is cost," Kapela states. "A one-time capital expense with some annual maintenances built in is a lot more expensive for call centers."

Companies purchasing the subscription start with an initial five licenses, and can add more as needed. And because the subscription can cover all Telrex products, organizations can expand past call recording, integrating services such as workforce optimization, speech analytics, and eLearning. Unlike a hosted model, in which data is funneled in through a vendor, the subscription model is a software as a service (SaaS) license where software and data are stored on-site.

Kapela also notes that the SaaS licensing model will help companies without a contact center to lower costs. Telrex's call recording products are, he says, used by companies whose primary focus is not customer care; call recording is done for dispute resolution or compliancy. For example, a company distributing automotive parts may wish to keep a recording of conversations  that could result in a guffaw: ordering a '68 Mustang part when the customer's intent was buying a part for a '78 Mustang. For SMBs with a contact center focus, the subscription model allows them to integrate more advanced solutions like speech analytics.

"Our speech analytics is really tailored more to the SMB market," Kapela explains. "It's not going to be the same type of speech analytics you'd think of with Verint, Nexidia, or Utopy. The customers in the SMB market really want the ability to look for key words or phrases--we're not offering the type of advanced apps that require more professional servce and support."

Telrex's only current hosted products are sold through service providers who also host customer information. The company has not yet offered a hosted solution to first-party customers. Under the even cheaper subscripion-based plan, the company hopes it can open up the contact center technology market to more customers.

"Once you make the service available monthly, that opens up call recording to a lot of businesses," Kapela says. "There's a lot more companies that would record phone calls if they could simply afford it."