"When you enter the corporate offices of Exstream Software on Harrodsburg Road, you are greeted by two large drawings neatly framed in black. At first glance, they seem out of place. The hand-drawn scrawls of connecting boxes, numbers and words certainly don't look high-tech. The hurried-looking handwriting indicating the relationships between the scribbles doesn't resemble any kind of spreadsheet for a software idea. Instead, they resemble two tablecloths someone scribbled on during an extended business lunch.
Yet, these two drawings hang in their prominent position for a reason: they were the impetus behind what is now one of the world's fastest-growing software companies.
"That is pretty much the Dialogue software as we created it," said President and CEO Davis Marksbury. "A lot has changed since then."
In 1998, Marksbury and business partner Dan Kloiber came up with the "big picture" of an idea that would change the way companies communicate with their customers. Their solution is recognized today as the leading software for producing personalized documents.
Exstream quickly became noted for providing "leap frog" technology that would give companies a multi-channel strategy for communicating with customers. While their competition was developing solutions for Internet-only transactions, Exstream included printed and mailed communications as well.
As a result of this approach, plus a strong emphasis on customer service, the company grew quickly. Today, they provide services for customers in over 20 countries around the globe. Inc. Magazine, Deloitte Technology and Software magazine have all noted Exstream Software as one of the fastest growing technology companies in the world.
Now the company has drawn a new picture for its future. In April, Exstream Software introduced Dialogue Live.
"It is a big move for us as far as broadening our market," Marksbury said. "Don't be surprised if someday you get on a bank, insurance company or other types of Web sites (and) you will be interacting with Dialogue Live."
Use of this new product includes extending the original Dialogue software for use by employees in the field such as sales representatives, agents, brokers and other personnel. The new introduction was a year and a half in development, according to Marksbury.
Marksbury defines the original Dialogue as a product that supplies a company with an infrastructure with which they can build and deploy document applications. What they are looking for is a way to communicate with each of their customers and to build a relationship, he said.
"These are high-volume applications," he explained. "For instance, you get a statement from Merrill Lynch, most phone companies, mailings from GEICO or AFLAC — those are all from Dialogue."
Dialogue Live differs from its sister software in that it is not about centralized IT types of operation but rather about giving personalized documents to everybody. Exstream Software, for example, is currently using Dialogue Live in sales. With 70 different modules, the sophisticated software allows for a live interactive document that can be changed at will.
The new software introduction puts Exstream in a different market position, Marksbury noted.
"Dialogue Live could be as pervasive as every laptop in the world someday," he said. "We have to think about how to do that."
Unlike other industries, the software market is really a global market, Marksbury noted.
"If you're not number one or number two, then basically, you don't have a chance," he said. "Right now, we're number one."
Staying number one means continuing the privately held company's phenomenal growth, currently averaging 40 percent per year. That type of growth also has space requirements: having outgrown its current headquarters, the company is in the process of constructing a new building at Coldstream. The building will be completed by fall.
Marksbury concedes that part of the company's success is fostering an entrepreneurial environment. While running a technology company may not require a different leadership style, it is certainly a more consensus environment, he said.
"I try to create an environment so that everyone in this company feels comfortable sharing ideas," he said. "We foster the best of the best."
Part of that is supported by the development of strong relationships with colleges and universities in Kentucky. Exstream, Marksbury said, prefers to hire within the state.
In particular, the company has a strong relationship with the University of Kentucky, where Marksbury graduated magna cum laude.
"Obviously our interests and UK's interests are the same," he said. "We both want to develop a strong workforce that is involved in technology. Our goals are aligned to have a well-educated workforce and employment opportunities to keep them here."
Exstream is looking for only the top three or four percent of graduates to fill key positions, he said. If the state does not have the number of graduates in this group to support the demand of the company's rapid growth, they look on a national or international basis.
Marksbury is passionate about future opportunities for growth — and change — at Exstream.
"If you look at the global economy, about 60 percent of it is in the United States," he said. "As we look at our market, it is split approximately the same way."
While the company has a strong focus in North America, there are enormous possibilities for growth around the globe. As developing markets such as Russia and Brazil continue phenomenal growth, Exstream intends to be in those markets.
"As we think about the market for what we do, there are about 5,000 to 6,000 top-tier enterprises out there. Today we have about 400 customers," he said. "The opportunities for us to expand are huge."
The introduction of Dialogue Live has put the company in a new position as well, he said.
"What we do know is that the future will be about building channels," Marksbury said. "We are in a market that is converging and a world that is all about communicating. You never know what might happen."
And whether or not it is drawn in pen and paper and later framed for posterity, Marksbury said, he is certain of one thing: Exstream intends to be the best.