Telstra Ventures invests in business support platform provider Boomtown

Telstra today announced it had made a strategic ventures investment in Boomtown, a United States-based company that provides support software and technical services to technology providers and small and medium-sized businesses. Following this investment, Telstra will look to utilise Boomtown’s technology and services in Australia for its own customer base.

Business owners can use the Boomtown Connect app to communicate through a live chat or video session to get on-the-spot IT support and personalised technology training. The app, which was designed in collaboration with Apple, is simple, intuitive and has been proven to reduce support times by over 50 percent compared to traditional phone-based interactions

Managing Director Telstra Ventures, Mark Sherman, said the investment was an opportunity to use proven technology and the growing popularity of digital marketplaces to make life easier for Telstra’s millions of business customers, particularly for payments and networking related issues.

“Boomtown is enjoying great success in the United States with the growing popularity of their social support platform, which allows technology and service providers to easily collaborate and solve technology problems for their small business customers in real time. Looking around in this rapidly changing market they stood out as having a simple service that their customers love,” said Mr Sherman.

In addition to remote support provided through the Connect app, Boomtown also has a network of over 600 certified technicians that can provide in-store support to customers across the United States and undertake technology installations.

“We are trialling Boomtown’s technology in the small business market in Australia. Telstra Platinum Technical Support is already one of our most popular consumer customer service offerings and Boomtown could potentially take that to the next level for our business customers,” said Mr Sherman.

Alfred “Chip” Kahn IV, Founder and CEO of Boomtown, welcomed the investment from Telstra as part of its latest funding round.
“We are looking at expanding the geographical footprint of our platform, and with its strong customer base both in Australia and Asia, Telstra’s investment plays a significant part in that endeavour,” said Mr Kahn.

“As SMBs increasingly rely on complex and integrated technologies to operate and grow, the traditional fragmented support market is unable to deliver the seamless support experience that business owners need. We expressly designed our platform to solve this problem and we’re excited to partner with Telstra to help small businesses in Australia take full advantage of today’s powerful technologies.”