CTOs on the Move

Founded as Communicator Asystance Systems in 1982 by four technologists in Beverly, Massachusetts, the  company’s original goal was to offer business productivity solutions to the IBM midrange market (Systems 36 and 38). These solutions consisted of financial and distribution management packages as well as an early Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product which became the basis for a Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) product by the late 1980’s. The company was well known in the call center industry by the acronym CAS and the product known as Castel. Working closely with IBM and their new AS/400 product line, CAS became IBM’s top CTI ...

Founded as Communicator Asystance Systems in 1982 by four technologists in Beverly, Massachusetts, the  company’s original goal was to offer business productivity solutions to the IBM midrange market (Systems 36 and 38). These solutions consisted of financial and distribution management packages as well as an early Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product which became the basis for a Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) product by the late 1980’s. The company was well known in the call center industry by the acronym CAS and the product known as Castel. Working closely with IBM and their new AS/400 product line, CAS became IBM’s top CTI partner by installing many integrated solutions utilizing IBM’s industry leading product known as Callpath. Partnering with IBM, CAS installed thousands of inbound and outbound seats with the NYNEX/Bell Atlantic market in New York and New England and used this great success to leverage many other sales throughout North America, Europe and the Pacific. By the late 1990’s, CAS management decided to develop an entirely new hardware and software CTI solution and began internal development of a new product based on a CISCO host programmable switch (Summa/4) as well as an all new software product which would ultimately become Castel Connects. By 2001 it became clear that the company could expand using its own cash flow so CAS went to the capital markets and brought in outside investors for the first time. In 2002, the investment was used to rebrand the company as Castel, and the product as Castel Connects. In addition, the investment enabled the company to develop new products and launch a strong marketing campaign which helped Castel emerge as a major player in the call center market. Over 50 sites were installed within 5 years in three major vertical markets – financial services (collections), telesales and telemarketing. In order to meet the increasingly demanding needs of the call center industry, Castel determined that more products such as Digital Voice Recording (DVR), Intelligent Voice Response (IVR) and Intelligent Message Delivery (IMD) would need to be developed and introduced to the market. Meeting these critical needs demanded additional resources. Castel brought in seasoned technology veterans and moved the company headquarters to Buffalo in order to ensure that Castel’s products and services would continue to lead the industry in innovation and deliver the highest level of productivity.  

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