Monday, May 9, 2005
Interview with Mike Mansbach, VP Enterprise Marketing, Citrix Online
Mike Mansbach is VP of Enterprise Marketing for Citrix Online. I spoke to Mike to catch up on where Citrix Online is nowadays, after its transition from an independent company (ExpertCity) to a division of a larger company, as well as a bit on its hiring plans and needs for staff.
BK: For those not familiar with Citrix Online, what are your product offerings and what is your company's focus?
MM: Citrix Online, based in Santa Barbara, California, is a division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS). We deliver innovative Web-based products and services that provide remote access and support for consumers and businesses with Citrix GoToMyPC(r), the easiest-to-use solution for remote, secure, and managed desktop PC access over the Web; Citrix GoToAssist(tm), the industry-leading remote support solution; and Citrix GoToMeeting(tm), the easiest, most secure and cost-effective solution for conducting online meetings.
These products integrate Citrix Online's core screen-sharing technology to provide secure real-time access and collaboration solutions for professionals on-the-go that need anytime, anywhere access, on demand. Sold and deployed as subscription-based services, these products significantly enhance business productivity but require no capital investment, are quick to deploy, easy-to-manage, enhance security, and provide a clear return-on-investment.
With our innovative "simpler-is-better" approach to desktop access and collaboration, we disrupted the market with GoToMyPC and are on our way to doing the same in the online meeting space!
Citrix GoToAssist is a Web-based service that allows businesses to remotely assist their customers or employees and conduct online sales demos. It enables shared screen, mouse and keyboard control without installing software on the users' computers.
GoToMyPC expands the possibilities of remote PC access, making it easier for consumers and corporate employees to remotely access and work on their computers from any Web browser. This easy and secure service works through firewalls and without the need for pre-installed client software.
GoToMeeting makes it easy for individuals and organizations to meet, present information and demonstrate products in secure online meetings. Its cost-effective pricing delivers unlimited meetings for one flat fee. GoToMeeting increases productivity, decreases operational costs and generates sales opportunities more than any online meeting solution available.
BK: Who are the major consumers of your online meeting services, and how do they use your products?
MM: Citrix Online services are used by professionals in businesses of all sizes and industries to optimize business productivity. More than 10,000 companies worldwide, in every industry, including healthcare, financial services and government utilize our secure, available, fast and easy services to instantly access and collaborate online. I'll give you some examples:
With GoToAssist, companies can enable their IT, help desk and customer support centers to provide instant technical support from any connected PC to any other connected PC in the world. TeleVox Software, Inc., the leader in messaging solutions for the healthcare industry, utilizes GoToAssist to enhance service and support for delivering millions of doctor-patient communications every week. Realizing that doctors and other healthcare workers needed to spend their time caring for their in-office patients rather than on lengthy technical support calls, TeleVox began using remote-access technology to provide its customers with the highest level of support.
This offers a compelling return on investment but also contributes to the bottom line. Studies show that customer loyalty can drive up to 20 percent of annual revenue and that the quality of technical support is the largest factor in determining customer loyalty. GoToAssist enables organizations to significantly improve incident-handling capacity, improve customer-service levels and provide a highly positive experience for both end users and support staff - all at an affordable price.
With GoToMeeting, individuals and corporate organizations can save time and money with the easiest-to-use online meeting solution. For one flat fee, users can meet for as long as they want and as often as they want. This disruptive solution is changing the way professionals meet and web conference to deliver presentations, review documents or images and provide training on demand.
With GoToMyPC, lawyers, bankers, healthcare providers are just a few of the professionals we serve with the fastest, most secure solution for remote desktop access.
All our solutions provide built-in state-of-the-art security features, proprietary compression technology and 128-bit AES encryption to ensure complete end-to-end security that meets compliance with the Healthcare Insurance and Portability Act (HIPAA) and the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLB) for financial services.
BK: What is new at Citrix Online?
MM: We are taking a leading position in the emerging Web collaboration service market (estimated to be a $2.9 billion market opportunity by 2009 according to Frost & Sullivan) with GoToMeeting. Launched last August, GoToMeeting is our fastest growing service to date, and we are revolutionizing the way professionals are able to instantly meet anytime with high-performance visual communication. Why? Before we built GoToMeeting, we asked users what they wanted. We asked professionals that never used online meeting services what they would use and why. We learned that the new generation of buyers, both new to meetings and those that are switching from other brands, expect online meetings to be simpler and better. So based on extensive usability testing, we built the simplest, most cost-effective solution to securely share presentations, powerpoints and any applications on the desktop in seconds with no prior training or expertise. The result? GoToMeeting has won more than 3,000 business customers since its general-availability. Many in this large and rapidly growing customer base are small-to medium-sized businesses, and the majority have switched from the current marketshare leaders, including WebEx.
BK: How has the transition from an independent company (ExpertCity) to becoming a part of Citrix been?
MM: The acquisition, just a little over 13 months ago, was extremely positive. Our business is thriving. We've are increasing the division's visibility worldwide and articulating the strategic value of our solutions within the framework of Citrix access infrastructure. We are leveraging the large Citrix channel program and continue to grow our software-as-a-service model to deliver award-winning products worldwide. Our culture and values are aligned--we value excellence, commitment, entrepreneurship and leadership. Did I mention, we are both located near the beach? Seriously, we are growing and hiring locally in Santa Barbara, along with new offices across the US, Germany, France, the UK and Australia. We are passionate about making our Web-based remote-access, support and collaboration technologies as easy to use and as ubiquitous as email. And we're committed to building an enduring organization of outstanding people to execute this vision.
It's great to be here at Citrix Online, and thanks for the opportunity to tell our story.
BK: Thanks!