When Steve Bederman (News - Alert) recently announced he would be leaving Denver-based TouchStar in favor of a UK startup, he did so with confidence that the contact center technology business he built over the course of a decade was in a position to thrive on its own.

 

In addition to leaving behind a company not boasts nearly 3,000 customers, Bederman now can look back at his work knowing his dedication to the highest level of customer service has helped drive the TouchStar business, which been named to Deloitte’s (News - Alert) Technology Fast 50 Program for Colorado. The Fast 50 list is a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences firms in a particular region.

 

From 2003 to 2007 — the period on which these rankings are based — TouchStar (News - Alert), in addition to expanding its customer base to include large call centers and enterprises, grew its revenue by an average of 416 percent per year.

 

“TouchStar provides all the features that the traditional phone system providers have but we also include cost saving technology such as: predictive dialing, automated messaging, customer self service IVR, screen pops, CRM integration, and VoIP connectivity,” said TouchStar’s Global Director of Sales Chris Rieple. 

 

Over the years, TouchStar has enhanced its solutions, starting from a small call center offering, then adding capabilities to meet the needs of the mid-size market, and then ultimately the large contact centers as well. Though it is outside the scope of this recognition, TouchStar is well poised to continue its growth, having announced a product for the enterprise space as well, earlier this year, effectively morphing itself over ten years from a fledgling small call center-only provider to a solution provider for nearly any business in the world.

 

TouchStar’s success has been a combination of strategic acquisition and organic growth. Bederman was always proud of his company’s success in bringing on new products and personnel and successfully integrating them into the TouchStar environment, the cornerstone of which is customer service, including offering alternatives instead of one rigid offering.

 

“We have some of the top expertise in development and design in the world — through our own business and through acquisition — in what we do,” said Bederman. “And, I’ve always felt that we have to be responsible and ensure options for clients, and that’s what drives our business.” 

 

Indeed, TouchStar has been able to stay ahead of the market thanks to its focus on the customer — every kind of customer. The question, despite its success these early days of the economic downturn, is whether it can continue its success. With a customer based that not only spans the customer size scale, but also the globe, it is certainly poised to continue Bederman’s legacy.

 

“TouchStar has grown rapidly because we deliver fairly priced communications technology that helps businesses and call centers increase revenue and improve customer services,” explained Rieple.  “TouchStar’s business has been steady despite the general economic slowdown because we serve multiple industries and every global market.”

 

TouchStar was also recently recognized by ColoradoBiz Magazine as one of the top 100 businesses in the state overall, as well as by the Denver Business Journal as one of the Fastest Growing Large Private Companies in the state.