LivePerson Announces Integration with Kasamba is Complete

Kasamba’s 30,000 Experts Will Extend Their Reach Through LivePerson

LivePerson, a New York-based company that provides live chat solutions for over 6,000 businesses worldwide, is one step closer to achieving the long-stated vision of its CEO, Robert LoCascio: To make trusted, expert advice available to all people online, regardless of the topic, regardless of the time or day.

In October 2007 LivePerson announced its decision to acquire Kasamba and its network of 30,000 experts.  The company’s original intention was to merge the platforms of the two companies into an online destination where people who need expert advice can find it easily.

But now it seems as though their mission has grown.

According to LivePerson, companies aren’t the only experts in their products.  Brand enthusiasts are often gurus in their own right (think Apple).  Now LivePerson wants to help its business customers leverage their brand enthusiasts in order to provide expert level support directly from their own site.

Here’s how it works: Company A invites its known brand enthusiasts to join the LivePerson expert community.  LivePerson provides the enthusiasts with all of the tools they need to chat with online visitors, and will collect the money on behalf of the experts.  Company A is free to post the experts’ profile page in strategic places on its site – say its customer support page or discussion forums it hosts.

Think about it: Everyone wins.  Certainly Company A wins in that suddenly it is able to provide expert-level user advice, without having to hire a single additional headcount.  And their customers have a new motivation to return to the site (did somebody say sticky?).

The experts, who collect money dispensing advice, also win.  To begin, there’s the income.  Second, the experts don’t need to bother collecting fees from their chatters … LivePerson does that before the chat even starts. 

Currently, LivePerson has 30,000 plus experts in its network.  That’s small potatoes to Mr. LoCascio.  He’d like to see that number doubled, or even tripled.  Need to know what to pay for your estimated taxes this quarter?  Need to help your son with his calculus homework?  Or how to resolve a bug in a Java program?  LivePerson’s goal is to get you the answer right now.

A New Web Home for Kasamba

Now that the integration is complete, the worldwide community of people seeking answers has one place to go to get them: www.liveperson.com.  LivePerson has retired the Kasamba domain, and is redirecting all visitors to the new URL.

Unless, of course, you happen to notice that your favorite blogger has posted a widget inviting you to hire him for personal, one-on-one advice.  In that case, LivePerson is extending its expert community to a favored online destination.