
(Photo credit: Arssenev.)
Hearsay Systems (San Francisco) a provider of marketing and communication tools to the insurance and financial services industries has acquired the technology and intellectual capital of assets of Mast Mobile Inc. (New York), Hearsay announced at the SIFMA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Hearsay says that it will apply Mast’s technology to advance its Hearsay Messages text-based client outreach solution for financial advisors and insurance agents. Hearsay characterizes the deal—the terms of which were not disclosed—as accelerating the company’s investments in deeper CRM integration and advanced voice capabilities for Hearsay Messages, enabling advisors to unlock new levels of productivity and opportunities to engage with clients.
“Financial services firms are faced with balancing their regulatory responsibilities with today’s bring-your-own-device reality,” comments Gaurav Agarwal, VP, Product, Hearsay. “Advisors want to use their own mobile phones for business, but still keep their personal and business activities separate.”
Building for the Way Sales Reps Work
“Mast Mobile has had a fantastic record of developing successful enterprise communication solutions in the mobile space,” Agarwal continues. “They’ve been innovative in building for the way sales reps actually work, and the way they use their mobile phones for business every day. We’re excited to leverage this user-specific technology to help advisors compliantly test and call their clients, and build more personal relationships with Hearsay.”
Hearsay messages is designed to let advisors send and receive text messages from clients on any device, including their mobile phones, while remaining compliant with company policies and industry regulations. As part of Hearsay’s Advisor Cloud, activity data from Hearsay Messages can be synched to corporate CRM systems and digital marketing programs. By connecting data to every touch point in the client journey, Hearsay Messages helps create what the vendor calls a seamless consumer brand experience across digital channels, from text and voice to social media, one-to-one email, and advisor website activity.
“We’ve been following Hearsay closely for several years and seen the tremendous impact they’ve had in transforming the financial services industry,” comments David Messenger, founder and CEO of Mast, who will serve in an advisory capacity post-merger, according to Hearsay’s announcement on the deal. “We couldn’t’ have found a better fit for our technology, and I’m excited to see how the outcome will further improve advisor productivity and provide an exceptional mobile experience for both advisors and their clients.”
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