St. Louis technology startup Textel, which has developed texting software for contact centers, has expanded its C-suite with a new hire.
Textel appointed Hans Heltzel to the newly created role of chief experience officer. Heltzel previously was senior vice president of worldwide professional services at Daly City, California-based Genesys, which provides technology for contact centers. Prior to that, he spent 15 years in various roles at Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., a publicly traded firm that was acquired in 2016 by Genesys.
In his new role with Textel, Heltzel will manage the startup’s customer implementations, professional services and customer support. Founded in 2014, Textel developed and manages a cloud-based texting platform used by contact centers. The 35-person startup says its technology is used by more than 1,000 customers in North America.
Heltzel said he was drawn to Textel because of its focus on texting messaging, an area he says needs more innovation as contact centers adopt new technologies.
“I think the text area has been underserved and Textel is really filling in a lot of gaps that are needed by the customer base,” he said.
In the new role with Textel, Heltzel said his top priority will be ensuring that the startup’s customers receive top-notch, end-to-end services and support from the company as they deploy its technology.
“When I look at my role, a lot of the key (focus) is to make sure all these different areas are tied together very seamlessly, so that all the hand offs from different teams and different people is very seamless to the customer and they’re not feeling like they are dealing with different company everything they move through their lifecycle from pre-sales to implementation to on-point support. It needs to be a very smooth transition all the way through,” he said.
Heltzel said success in his new role will involve helping Textel retain its existing base, which he said can lead to adding new customers.
“We just get that good reputation in the marketspace and it helps with the growth of new prospects as well,” he said.
Textel, led by founder and CEO James Diel, in October announced it had closed on a $4 million Series A funding round led by St. Louis venture investor Cultivation Capital.
