Talkdesk launched an app store for enterprise call center customers

Over the last several years Talkdesk has offered a way for businesses to get a cloud-based call center up and running. However, the company realized it was providing just one component that its clients needed to provide the best support to their customers.

With that in mind, the company is launching AppConnect, a place where customers can connect with other vendors that provide services adjacent to its offerings. As a result, it can round out the products and services needed to efficiently run a call center.

AppConnect gives customers the ability to quickly and easily sign up for free trials of services that provide business intelligence, call monitoring or even workforce management. And for partners, the store provides access to hundreds of enterprise customers looking for solutions to their problems.

There were three things that were important to Talkdesk in creating its app store. First, it was important that all of the partner applications could be set up quickly and easily — in AppConnect’s case, that meant one-click installations of any app that a customer chooses.

Second, it was important that all AppConnect partners offered a 30-day free trial, allowing Talkdesk customers a risk-free way to find the services that worked best for their businesses. And finally, it wanted to create a pay-as-you-go option to avoid customer lock-in and long-running contracts for Talkdesk customers.

Free trials don’t exist in enterprise call center software,” Talkdesk CEO Tiago Paiva told me. Perhaps more importantly, previously it could take months for a business to evaluate offerings, negotiate contracts and integrate business intelligence, workforce management tools before they were deployed.  

Taken together, those three things reduce a lot of the friction involved with setting up and managing a call center. Like other app stores, Talkdesk plans to share in revenue with partners who participate and sign up customers through the platform.

The 16 companies launching apps on Talkdesk AppConnect represent a wide range of offerings, including: VoiceBase, PlayVox, AutoReach, TalkIQ, Grow, Teleopti, Simple Emotion, Deepgram, VoiceOps, Performetric, NomNom, Verizon Instant Access, ProcedureFlow, TalkAlly, Injixo and ScreenMeet.

For Talkdesk, one of the main reasons the company was able to launch the App Store was the scale that it’s achieved over the last few years. It took four years for the company to reach the milestone of 10 million calls placed on the platform. Since then, it’s grown 10x, having recently celebrated its 100 millionth call.

It’s also growing quickly as an organization. The company now employs nearly 300 people, and has plans to add another 150 to 200 employees over the next year. To support that growth, the company has plans to open another office in Portugal, from where founder Paiva originates.

Talkdesk has raised about $25 million since being founded in 2011, with investors that include DFJ, Salesforce Ventures, Storm Ventures and 500 Startups.