Charles Schwab, BT and BellSouth used Genesys software to decide which agent picked up each call. It linked a company's phone switches to its computers, so a call could be routed by who the caller was and what they needed. Gregory Shenkman and Alec Miloslavsky started the company in San Francisco in 1990. By its IPO it had licensed its products to more than 125 companies worldwide.

Phones Meet Computers

Gregory Shenkman and Alec Miloslavsky founded Genesys in October 1990. At first it earned money from one-off consulting jobs. In 1991 it shipped its platform software, which let a company's computers see and steer its phone calls. The industry called this computer telephony integration. Genesys aimed first at formal call centers in phone companies, banks and tech firms. It turned its first profitable quarters in late 1996 and early 1997.

Into Alcatel's Network

Genesys priced 2.5 million shares at $18 in June 1997 and listed on Nasdaq as GCTI. Shenkman was chief executive and Miloslavsky was chief technical officer. Call centers grew fast through the late 1990s, and so did Genesys. In late 1999 French telecom giant Alcatel agreed to buy the company, and the deal closed in early 2000. The business still operates today under the Genesys name.

Cover: The First Day, plate 2, from Creation of the World, Jan Harmensz. Muller. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for the first day of creation (Genesis).