Tech unicorn Intercom overhauls platform with two new products

Irish tech unicorn Intercom has completed a major revamp of its software platform with the launch of two new products and an overhaul of its popular inbox solution.

While the company typically ships more than 150 product changes a year for clients, chief product officer Paul Adams said the introduction of Surveys and Switch, along with a rebuild of Intercom Inbox, represents one of the biggest projects the company has undertaken in recent years.

Much of the development work on the solutions has been done in Dublin, where the company has its R&D headquarters.

Intercom, which refers to its platform as “the engagement OS” on Wednesday announced Surveys, a new tool that equips businesses to capture and act on real-time customer feedback directly within their product. It also revealed Switch, a product for support teams that allows customers to transition from phone support hold queues to messaging support instead.

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Mr Adams told The Irish Times that Inbox, which is the most used Intercom solution, has been completely “rebuilt and reimagined” to make is the fastest and most effective support tool available. It now includes features such as keyboard-first shortcuts, four native languages, dark mode and quick actions.

“We think that successful internet businesses in the future will compete and win on the strength of their customer relationships. All the changes we’re introducing help them to do more to engage customers, listen to them and keep them happy,” he said.

Intercom, which announced 150 new jobs at its Irish operations in December, was founded in Dublin in 2011 by Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, Ciarán Lee and David Barrett. Now led by Karen Peacock, the company will employ 1,000 people globally by the end of this year, with about 400 staff in Ireland.

Intercom has developed a software platform that brings messaging products for sales, marketing and customer support together. Its tools enable companies to communicate easily with customers through their own websites and apps, on social media and by email.

Clients

More than 25,000 organisations are clients of Intercom and over 600 million end users actively use its solutions each month, sending some 500 million messages.

The company claims more than a billion end-users and counts the likes of Facebook and Amazon as customers.

Intercom, which has raised about $240 million (€281 million) over six rounds from backers that include Kleiner Perkins and Bessemer Venture Partners, achieved so-called unicorn status in 2018 when its valuation topped $1 billion.

With expectations that it will go public shortly, the company recently surpassed $200 million in annual recurring revenues.