SumoText Launches New Mobile App To Give Buyers Control Over Vendor Relationships

As customer relationship management (CRM) systems developed by such tech players as SalesForce.com, SAP and Oracle continue to populate the workplace, SumoText President and CEO Tim Miller said Wednesday that his company has created a mobile app that will give buyers and sellers more control over vendor relationships.

In Wednesday’s one anniversary edition of the Little Rock Venture Center’s 1 Million Cups, Miller announced the launch of a new startup company called Air Support, a new mobile app that allows subscribers to track requests and notices with vendors, customers, partners and employees.

During his presentation before about 50 people, Miller explained that Air Support is the first mobile Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) tool that bridges the gap between the customer and the vendor’s CRM system by moving important communications above crowded inboxes and CRM tools, web portals and “silo’ed” ticketing systems.

“While vendors created CRMs to better manage their customers, VRMs will change this equation and allow customers to take the lead in managing their vendors. This app is designed so customers can keep vendors accountable,” said Miller, who was also the first presenter at the inaugural Little Rock 1 Million Cups a year ago.

According to Miller, Air Support was recently incorporated and will be a separate entity from SumoText, one of Central Arkansas’ most successful startup ventures that has grown from 7 to 15 employees since launching in 2007 and posted revenues of more than $3 million in 2014.

Miller said jokingly that SumoText has been the classic “bootstrap” startup venture where the company has grown by taking “two steps forward, and one step back.”

“We have kind of zig-zagged to success with no venture capital,” he said.

Following the his 30-minute pitch, Miller told Talk Business & Politics that Air Support will be modeled, developed and financed differently than its predecessor parent company. He said SumoText owners will get shares in the new startup company, which will actively court new investors and seek venture capital support to grow and expand.

“This business is different because we need to get to a certain level of scale,” Miller said. “(We) will have to seek investors for this.”

Not only will Air Support be a separate entity from SumoText, Miller described a unique business plan to support the mobile app that was developed by the local company. Similar to Linkedin.com, Air Support users will be able to access the application free of charge and link others to the application through one-on-one connections.

However, once the Air Support app is shared with a fellow employee or used as part of an enterprise or workplace VRM solution, then users must pay a subscriber fee for the vendor solution tool. And like a lot of other startup and tech firms that have grown exponentially, Miller said he believes that Air Support has the potential to “go viral.”

“SumoText is a very humble company that has grown organically, but this is the biggest thing I have ever thought about doing,” said Miller. “This will change how B2B works.”

To learn more about Air Support, click here.