Interview
Tara Kelly
SPLICE Software, Canada
Tara Kelly is a woman of many talents – a serial innovator, published author and the founder of SPLICE Software.
1 | Please provide us with a brief bio of yourself.
A serial innovator, published author, and founder of SPLICE Software, Tara Kelly is passionate about technology’s potential to change lives for the better. She has consistently channeled that belief into developing technologies that enhance operations, enable better service delivery, and improve the customer experience. Kelly—an open-source activist and recognized user experience designer—served as a board member for the International Board for Voice User Interface Design, the Canadian Cloud Council, Technology Alberta and is a member and past President of the Entrepreneurs Organization. Kelly’s expertise combined with tenacity, understanding of market trends, and strong communication skills has allowed her to create dynamic solutions and successful teams; not only in her businesses, but also as a community leader on volunteer boards including Food for the Sol, EO Water Walk, and Special Olympics Ontario. Kelly shares these experiences—and her goal of creating a healthy, humane work environment—in the recently published book, Our Journey to Corporate Sanity: Transformational Stories from the Frontiers of 21st Century Leadership. Follow Tara on Facebook @SPLICESoftware, on Twitter @tktechnow, or connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/tara-kelly/
2 | What is your role in the company?
CEO and founder
3 | Please tell us more about your organization.
At SPLICE Software we create better customer experiences through better communication. With SPLICE's automated communication solutions, you can create and send personalized messages that can be tailored to any use case — through whatever channel your customers prefer. And the best part? You'll save time, money, and improve your customer's experience.
4 | Describe the industry your organization is specialized in, as well as its main characteristics.
We specialize in customer experience for Insurance, Retail, Finance, and Healthcare
5 | Congratulations! As the winner of the TITAN Women In Business Awards, what does it mean for you and your team to receive this distinction?
It is an honor to be recognized alongside so many other great leaders. Our team works hard to make a measurable difference for our clients and when our results speak for themselves as we are recognized it just feels really good, for me and for the team.
6 | How has winning an international award help promote your organization?
Being recognized on the international stage has been great for our business development team. We have seen increased traffic to our website, we have included it in our email signatures and it has been really nice to see our clients celebrate the win with us.
7 | What are the challenges of developing / marketing your winning entry(ies)?
We understand that every business has different needs. One of our biggest challenges when it comes to development is ensuring that our solutions and products are customizable and practical. When it comes to marketing, our goal is to ensure we are providing enough information while still making things easy to read and understand.
8 | As a business owner, please tell us more about your ideation process.
We get ideas from everywhere, then we work through the idea and see if it really fits with our product suite. Then we draw out the customer journey. Then we ask ourselves, “can we really support that? what is the risk? What is the benefit to our clients? Where will this be in 3 years? In years? And perhaps most important, does this align with our mission and our values?
9 | What is your own definition of a successful team / organization / business?
I like to say it’s not a business if you don’t have quality comprehensive health and life benefits for everyone on your team regardless of what country they live in. In all seriousness, success is when you take care of each other and your client, and you live your values while contributing to your community. I deeply believe we should always try to leave each other better than we found each other. Life is a journey and when we work together, we journey together - we leave a mark on one another. Hopefully, that mark holds beauty and value.
10 | What led you / your organization to become successful within the industry you are currently in?
A deep passion to actually improve the customer experience.
11 | How has the country, you are based in, helped move your industry forward?
There is tremendous support for research and development and we are very proud to be a Canadian company.
12 | What have you found to be a hindering factor, for your business, during the entire course of the pandemic, and how did you overcome that hinderance?
Being distant from our customers was hard, experiencing the pandemic differently made it necessary for us to truly up our empathy and adjust our processes for uncertainty.
13 | What are the current trends in the business industry that you are most excited about?
The growing awareness that privacy and choice are key to a good relationship. As businesses work to have stronger relationships and loyalty with their customer base they are starting to respect customers who will give and take consent when they choose. Building this knowledge into workflows is key and an important step in re-establishing trust at a time when trust is at an all-time low.
14 | What resources would you recommend to someone who is searching to improve their business prospects and organizational success?
Customer surveys and customer journey mapping. Walk a mile in their shoes! And get a mentor.
15 | Where do you see the evolution of the overall business industry in the next 5-10 years?
More partnerships, better data security, and more consumer awareness.
16 | Who inspired you in your life, and why?
Lucy Stone – She just didn't quit and she made a lasting difference. Marie Curie – She just kept following her research on radioactivity with an open mind. Angela Ahrendts – For balancing brilliant and creative work, while balancing family and work in an honest way. Oprah – For breaking barriers and lifting others
17 | What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
Stay curious, hire people smarter than you, live your values and trust your gut!
