Today we launch two new editions of HTK Horizon. A big deal? I think it is, and I'll explain why.
This launch marks a major milestone for HTK, for small/medium businesses, and for the customer experience management industry.
For HTK, it's the culmination of over a decade's work on the Horizon software platform. We started building Horizon way back in 2001 for some bespoke UK government and police IT projects, because there simply wasn't anything available off-the-shelf that could do what we needed. Even today, some of our features like real-time geospatial segmentation are pretty cutting edge.
Over the last couple of years we've transformed Horizon's UI and capabilities, and I'm just as excited about showing our existing customers what they'll be upgrading to as I am about welcoming new customers into the HTK Horizon community. Horizon started out life as a world-leading tool for 'mass notification' and emergency messaging, and has finally evolved into the kick-ass marketing and customer experience platform that we always knew it could be.
For small/medium businesses, struggling to differentiate in an ever-more-competitive marketplace and make the most of their (very) tight marketing budgets, Horizon gives a new set of options. Until today, SMBs had a choice of fairly one-dimensional email or SMS marketing products and the standard campaign-management tools in CRM systems like Sage, MS Dynamics and Salesforce.com. With today's launch, HTK Horizon opens up the possibility of truly integrated, multi-channel marketing and customer experience software that's accessible to non-technical users and won't break the bank.
What does this mean to the average business? It means they can focus on customer loyalty as well as customer acquisition. Ever heard someone say it's easier to keep an existing customer than win a new one? Unlike its competitors, Horizon has been designed to do both - and our focus is to help our customers do the same.
And for the wider customer experience management industry, I hope today's launch will help to signal this shift. 2012 is going to be an amazing year in this industry, with the convergence of technology and social psychology into services that can measure sentiment, scan social media to identify customers' likely future behaviour, and wrap all of this into better customer experiences.
For businesses that truly care about customer experience and loyalty, the scope for competitive advantage is getting more and more exciting. And so is HTK Horizon :)
If you'd like to find out more, I'd love to hear from you.
Best regards,
Justin Bowser
Managing Director, Online Business