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Bill Clark
CEO, Engageware
Age: 62
Industry experience: 20 years
Just days before the start of the pandemic, Bill Clark started a new job as CEO of the Tewksbury-based technology company TimeTrade when it was acquired by Boston-based private equity firm Clearhaven Partners. Much of Clark’s technology career, which included stints at IBM, in Silicon Valley and with J.P. Morgan, had intersected with the financial services industry. With TimeTrade experiencing a surging demand for its appointment scheduling software from banks and credit unions during the pandemic, the company saw an opportunity to develop a more comprehensive solution for mid-tier lenders to service their customers.
TimeTrade acquired New Hampshire-based SilverCloud, which provided customer experience and knowledge management software for financial institutions, and then partnered with other technology companies, including Kasisto, which offers a digital assistant for financial institutions, and Kiran Analytics, which provides workforce management software. And last month, the company took on a new name, rebranding as Engageware.
Q: Why did TimeTrade acquire SilverCloud?
A: Before we did the SilverCloud acquisition, we saw our financial services business increase during the pandemic, but we saw our retail business decline, which is not at all a surprise because stores physically shut down. Banks and credit unions shut down their branches, but they had to keep operating because they were essential services. The management team of TimeTrade and Clearhaven, our private equity owners, saw what was happening in the market, and we knew this other company, SilverCloud, was also engaged with banks and credit unions. The founder and primary owner of SilverCloud was interested in partnering and exploring other things, and in the fourth quarter of last year, we decided, “Why don’t we put the two companies together.”
What we saw was an opportunity for not just appointment scheduling, not just for digital self-service for customers, not just for making knowledge-center workers more productive, but for a comprehensive set of solutions all around how banks and credit unions deal with their customers, given the very rapid changes that were going on – some caused by the pandemic, but some underway before the pandemic. It wasn’t just the products that the two companies had. We also independently had been developing partnerships with other major players. The strategy of Engageware is not just the products that we offer but also those of our very close partners.
Q: Why did the company choose “Engageware” as its new name?
A: What we saw in the industry was there is no singular company out there that covers all of the channels of customer engagement for mid-tier banks and credit unions. There’s roughly 4,000 of them out there, and those 4,000 would love it if there was a single provider that could do all this, but there isn’t. So, if there isn’t, the next best thing is one company that says, “We’re going to champion that view with our own products, but we’re also going to link in best-in-class-related technologies, and we’re going to integrate them and we’re going to take all of that to market.” And that’s what we’re doing. Engageware speaks directly to that. It’s all about the customer engagement, regardless of the channel, regardless of the technology. We’re the customer engagement solution.
Q: How has the integration been going so far?
A: The integration was never complicated. And not surprisingly, when we put the two companies together, we had a few dozen common customers already. Part of our due diligence process was to prove our thesis that it was helpful to have all of these solutions and to have them under one roof. It’s not so much about how you buy it, but it’s how to make them work together. That’s where our distinctive competency comes from. We have almost 400 banks and credit unions as customers, so we have an enormous wealth of experience dealing with them.
Q: What will banks and credit unions achieve with your products?
A: What we find is that people may come in using the legacy SilverCloud solution to efficiently get answers to a mortgage question. But when they signal that they actually want to have a conversation with an expert, we can send them a link directly to make an appointment with a mortgage specialist. So, they are locked in there, which is great from the customer standpoint because they know they’re talking to somebody who can answer their question. And if you’re the bank or the credit union, you know that you’re using the time of your mortgage loan specialists with people who are actually serious about wanting to get a mortgage. It’s really a win-win. It’s really about how technology enables the achievement of business objectives.
Q: How might the products help credit unions and community banks compete with larger institutions?
A: The way I think about it is, if I’m running a community bank, I’m never going to be able to convince my customer or a prospective customer that my Visa card is better than Chase’s or Citi Bank’s. I might have the ability to convince them that I might be able to do a more specific or customized loan, whether it’s a car loan or a mortgage or something like that. But at the end of the day, the differentiation of mid-tier banks and credit unions is around customer service. That’s what they’ve always done.
Q: What are your long-term goals for the company?
A: We’re approaching 400 banks and credit unions [as customers]. We see about 4,000 as the true mid-market. That’s where we see a tremendous opportunity. So, we’re going to continue to enhance our products. We’re going to market very aggressively now that we’ve done the rebranding so people understand what we are – because we’re not TimeTrade and we’re not SilverCloud anymore. And we’re doing it in conjunction with our key partners. There’s going to be an awful lot out there about how we actually solve this problem – Engageware and Kasisto and Kiran and some of our other partners.
Five Unique Individuals Clark Has Worked With
- Epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant
- Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge
- Entrepreneur and tech leader Mike Daniels
- Accel cofounder Arthur Patterson
- IDC fellow Dr. Henry Morris
