When a bank, utility or collection agency called to remind someone about a payment, the call often came from SoundBite. Its hosted system placed reminder calls, payment notices and alerts by voice, text and email. Clients needed no equipment of their own, because SoundBite sold the service over the internet. It filed to go public in 2007, when hosted software was still a new way to sell.

Collections First

SoundBite started in 2000 with a bet that outbound customer contact could move from call center hardware to a hosted service. Its first big market was collections. There, reaching more people at the right time had a direct value. It later added more channels and pitched friendlier uses, such as appointment reminders and fraud alerts. Clients paid by usage, so revenue rose with each campaign they ran.

Into Genesys

SoundBite priced its IPO at $8 a share in November 2007, weeks before the financial crisis began to bite. Its stock stayed low for most of its life as a public company. In 2013 Genesys, the contact center software maker, bought SoundBite for about $100 million. Genesys folded SoundBite's outbound tools into its larger platform. Clients could then handle calls in both directions in one place.

Cover: Toning the Bell, Walter Shirlaw. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a bell being rung (a call to customers).