Surviving The Dotcom Crash And Building A Sustainable Business: LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio (Part 6)

Sramana: What do you think of the crowdsourcing trend?

Rob LoCascio: Crowdsourcing has a lot of different applications. I think that it is something different and is based on the next phase of the Internet, data. People bringing their data together will change the way the Internet goes forward. If I have a problem and I can take my data to the Internet and see how others have solved that same problem globally, then I will get the best solution. To date, crowd sourcing has been qualitative but I think it will become more quantitative. When that happens then we will get far better results than we are able to see today.

Sramana: Have you seen CrowdEngine? They have hooks for enterprises to engage crowd solutions.

Rob LoCascio: I have not, but there are several iterations of this going forward. BazaarVoice does this as well. We did a research project four years ago looking at how consumer build trust. Our answer is a triangle of trust. When people need help they first reach out to people they know, then they reach out to bloggers and experts, and finally they will look to a brand. They go between these pieces until they get the right answer. The brand definitely needs to be involved in it.

Sramana: I think that is key, and you are building the platform that will allow the brands to manage these conversations. If expert customers are being equipped with knowledge by the enterprise, then they really can become brand experts and ambassadors. In cases where companies are operating under margin pressures, like telecos and consumer electronic companies, these will be good solutions.

Rob LoCascio: I think the trend is toward personalization. Connect people and get things specifically from people. I think it is all part of the equation of personalization. Consumer to consumer, consumer to brand, and everything that has to be taken into account to get to the right solution. I don’t believe that you can crowdsource 100% of corporate interaction. It has to be part of an overall strategy.

Sramana: It will work for level 0 customer support. Levels 1 and 2 will not go away. It is a very interesting trend. Companies like Jive are setting forums for customer to engage with each other. I think the trend is a significant one.

Rob LoCascio: You are absolutely right, and it is a trend that is used by real businesses.

Sramana: Where do you go from here now that you have a stable company? Would you talk a bit more about how the stock has recovered and the continued financing strategy of the company?

Rob LoCascio: As everyone always says, the stock follows the company. We have done very well in the past couple of months. The stock is trading around $11 and we have a $600 million market cap. We are generating about $30 million in cash flow this year. Now we are in the middle of releasing our platform so that our customers can go beyond chat. We are releasing a couponing product so that companies can reach out to customers individually with things like free shipping or coupons on specific items. Our platform is becoming a way to create the connected customer experience.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Surviving The Dotcom Crash And Building A Sustainable Business: LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio
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