Parature Nets $13.5 Million Funding, New Board Members

Parature, an on-demand customer support software, vendor, has announced that the company has successfully completed a Series A financing for $13.5 million.

This oversubscribed round includes Vienna, Va.-based Valhalla Partners, and Menlo Park, Calif.-based Sierra Ventures, both private venture capital firms with strong track records of success in the information technology industry. Gene Riechers, General Partner and Co-founder, Valhalla Partners, and Vispi Daver, Principal, Sierra Ventures, have been named to Parature's board of directors.

Parature plans to use the financing to further enhance its customer support and help desk solution, as well as boost sales and marketing efforts.

Duke Chung, CEO and President, Parature said the software-as-a-service market is quickly gaining momentum, and "while some companies are just now attempting to integrate this software model into their business strategy, Parature has already seen substantial success."

Last month Parature signed a deal with Maryland’s Capitol College to implement Parature’s Campus Support Solution. College officials say the move was to “increase the efficiency and quality of support it provides its students and faculty.”

“We selected Parature due to its easy customization tools, the fact that it is a Web-based help desk software product, its high cost effectiveness, and great staff. Overall, we’ve been very pleased,” said Danielle Faison, Director, Distance Learning Services, Capitol College.

In May, Parature announced the results of what company officials call an “in-depth nationwide survey of customer support professionals,” revealing “surprising trends associated with operating customer support organizations in both small and large companies.”

Evidently, according to the survey results, all companies, regardless of size, spent the majority of their budget on personnel costs. Further investigation showed that companies using a customer support product spend 47 percent of their budget on personnel costs, while companies who do not have a product in place spend 64 percent on personnel.

When separated into categories for large and small companies, the difference is even more apparent, the study found. Small companies are defined as those with 15 or fewer customer service representatives and large companies as those with 16 or more CSRs.

Small companies not using a customer support product spent 45% of their costs on personnel, while small companies using a support product spend 22% on personnel. Large companies not using a support product spend 81% of their costs on personnel, while those using a product devote 56% of their overall budget to personnel.

David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.

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