Callista reaches Hong Kong deal

By ADAM GIFFORD

Auckland-based call management software developer Callista Group has signed a reciprocal distribution agreement with Hong Kong company Interpacific Data Management or Interpac.

The deal means Interpac will sell Callista systems in Southeast Asia and North Asia and offer dealer and customer support from its three offices in Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore.

Callista will be able to sell Interpac's internet service provider and telco billing systems and its high-end Teltrac-GIII multisite call-management systems.

Callista is a 13-year-old company with a staff of seven.

Managing director Roger Ansin said the deal solved a number of problems for both companies.

"We haven't been working in Southeast Asia for long, and the problem is having enough people on the ground.

"Interpac is in the same business, and while there are some product overlaps, we are mostly complementary."

Callista's PC-based Calyx MIS call centre management system taps into a company's PABX and extracts data needed for billing and reporting. It costs from $4500 to $9000, and is designed for small and medium-sized businesses.

It is also used in many call centres which use Siemens Hicom exchanges. Interpac has software designed for call centres which use Nortel systems.

Mr Ansin said that while Callista software was very good for single sites, it could not handle multiple sites. That was where having access to Interpac software would be valuable.

"Interpac has no call-centre solutions for Siemens Hicom sites and no hospitality solutions. Its dealers have been asking for both, and when it saw Callista's products, it saw the answer there," he said.

One of the first benefits is that Interpac will support Callista's latest customers in China, German airline Lufthansa and freight company DHL, which are installing Calyx into their Beijing call centres.

Mr Ansin said China was a vast market for the software because of rapid growth in small to medium-sized call centres looking for inexpensive but high-performance systems.