Qiscus
Overview
Qiscus is a real-time communication (RTC) technology expert in Southeast Asia. It is a business-to-business (B2B) technology company that provides a chat and call solutions for businesses. The company was founded in Singapore in 2013 and soon after established itself in Indonesia in 2014.
History
2011- A team of IT professionals and educators created Phi Decks, a technology to enhance classroom learning through interactive chat technology. However, the team experienced challenges in collaboration between teams which straddled across three different cities in Singapore and Indonesia. They had utilized WhatsApp, emails, Skype and many other online communication platforms but it was still difficult to work remotely across countries. The co-founders imagined that when the team gets bigger, it will only get messier.
2013- A robust demand from others made the co-founders considered to develop Qiscus as a chat app on its own. Initially, Qiscus was developed as an additional feature in a Phi Decks product for users to communicate internally. The Phi Decks project was discontinued, but as a substitute, Qiscus was developed as a full enterprise messaging solution. This app helped to connect between individuals, teams or within large corporations through smartphones and web. This saves time and, of course, reduced the constraint of distance to allow better productivity.
2014- Qiscus officially enters Indonesia and launched its first commercial version, which was similar to a Slack-type product. Back then, the Qiscus team realized that their technology was able to go beyond connecting people; they were also able to help businesses adopt a mobile business model. Customers could access services right from their mobile phones without having to travel, and all done via chat.
2015- Qiscus launched publicly on April 21, 2015. Through Qiscus, clients from various business sectors, from healthcare to education, legal to consultant, and especially those which provide online consultations, optimised their business.
2017- In early 2017, Qiscus revamped and rebranded itself to become a Business to Business (B2B) enterprise which:
1) helps businesses to reach out to more customers via chat, voice and video calls,
2) changes the lives of customers by bringing the services to their mobile phones
3) helps developers to leverage on Qiscus’ technology to help their customers expand their businesses. Qiscus also changed its business model from a multi-platform instant messaging service provider into a chat and call Software Development Kit (SDK) package provider.
On October 15, Qiscus also launched its new web SDK documentation version 2.5.9 and new web SDK Documentation UI. Then on October 31, 2017, Qiscus launched a new IOS and Android documentation UI. In this year, Qiscus provided three derived services as well relating to customer engagement, workflow management, team communication, as well as remote consultation. All was done by collaborating with Kata.ai and another AI machine provider in order to help Qiscus’ clients in using chatbot technology.
Product
1. Qiscus Chat SDK
Qiscus’ Chat SDK is a tool for developers to create or ‘embed’ a chat feature in any web or mobile applications. While the process to create chat systems with the complete ‘WhatsApp-like’ features is usually expensive, complex, and takes considerable effort, Qiscus makes the process more simple and cost-efficient. Companies no longer need to deal with the complexity of RTC infrastructure that is required to support a reliable chat system. In addition, companies are able to avoid the hassle and complexity of building a chat user Interface (UI) from scratch. Similar to how developers use Google Maps SDK to create a map functionality in their applications, developers can use Qiscus Chat SDK to create an in-app chat functionality. Qiscus Chat SDK makes it really easy for developers to achieve this goal by providing full end-to-end solutions/technical resources - from the back-end to front-end User Interfaces (UIs). Nevertheless, clients can still customise all the UI according to their preferences and needs and even integrate the chat with other systems.
To fulfill a client’s needs, Qiscus provides a Chat SDK which is compatible with iOS, Android, web and server API systems. However, clients can also customize the User Interface (UI), rest API and webbook on their own. If a client’s technical team requires technical support and/or needs to explore unique ways of implementing Chat (and Call) for its business, Qiscus has a local-based Solution Architect (SA) team which is ready to be of assistance and no additional fees.
Developers can try the sample application (with or without the sample dashboard) on Qiscus website in its documentations. The features of the application include, but not limited to:
· Private & group chat
· Typing indicator
· Delivery indicator
· Image and file attachment
· Online presence
· Read receipt
· Reply message
· Pending messages
· Emoji support
Developers can also access more advanced and customisable features such as :
· Server-side integration with Server API and Webbook
· Customize your user interface
· Embed bot engines into your app
· Enable Push notifications
· Export and import messages from your app
2. End-to-End Package
End-to-End Package is a solution for businesses who need a Chat App but have no technical resources or developers. The packages refer to white-labelled applications that are already available for clients. So that clients can choose any of those and get it ready for a very short of time for going to market faster. There are two packages that are available for clients, such that:
- QISME - Qiscus Member Engagement
- QOC - Qiscus Online Consultation
2.1 Qiscus Member Engagement (QISME)
QISME is one of End-to-End Solution Package which enable clients to have their own WhatsApp-like application for their company or organization. This product is aimed to help companies establishing member engagement through chat conversation in a very short of time.
Contact management includes the way how user adds or remove their contact and make a contact as favourites. User can be made an official account which later can be converted into bot account. The differences between official account and ordinary member are official account always marked as a contact to every user on system while ordinary member must be added by another user if they want to connect. However, Qisme has a feature to choose whether all user should be automatically connected as a contact or not.
Conversation management is one of main feature that Qisme Engine has. Qisme will record which chat room that pinned by user, manage admin for a group chat, and make a broadcast to one on one chat room. To engage user to be more active in our system, Qisme has a timeline management that records post, comment, and user reaction of that post. Also, Qisme has announcement management to inform user when they first open the applications. To make client get an insight of their users, Qisme has an admin dashboard that shows numbers of registered user and created chat room which monthly grouped.
2.2 Qiscus Online Consultation
It is our specialized product which helps enterprises create applications that bridge the online consultation process. What makes the product special through the use of QOC is that it provides payment facilities which ease the payment process, which works two ways: one for the user and the other for the online facilitator.
3. Omnichannel Chat Solution
The Omnichannel Chat Solution is a SAAS provider that can answer all merchants needs. As an accelerator package, it will be integration way to connect a customer to a merchant via FB, line, and Qiscus widget directly. So that, their communication needs become easier than before.
Qiscus' Value Preposition
Qiscus’ provides hassle-free solutions (SDK and E2E packages) designed for clients with or without the technical prowess to own a chat application and/or build a chat feature within their own web and mobile applications. All Qiscus’ products and services are anchored with the following valuable propositions:
- White-labelled solutions - which means Qiscus’ solutions are customizable to the brand of clients. Not only that, all data that flows through a client’s application is wholly owned by the client and not anyone else.
- Highly flexible - Both Qiscus Chat SDK and the E2E packages are can be implemented on multiple platforms and customisable to fulfill the client’s various needs.
- Extendable - Like a Lego piece or jigsaw puzzle being pieced together, clients are able to integrate Qiscus’ chat with other systems and software engines to create seamless processes facilitated via chat.
- Localized - Qiscus understands the local market intimately and provides local-based Solution Architects who provide clients not just with technical support, but with R&D work to help innovate new ways of implementing chat, specific to clients’ needs. Qiscus also provides on-premise solutions (i.e. deployed to local servers).
Team
Qiscus was founded by Delta Purna Widyangga (CEO), Muhammad Md Rahim (COO) and Evan Purnama (CTO). Previously, they studied at Nanyang Technological University together. Now, Qiscus has expanded its team to a 40-person team three different cities.
Client Market
Qiscus is targeting in South-East Asia (SEA) market. The service is presented in Real Time Communications (RTC) to improve interaction and efficiency.