Entellium
{{Infobox company
|name=Entellium
|logo=Entellium logo.png
|type=Private (defunct)
|foundation=Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2000
|location=Seattle, Washington
|key_people=Paul Johnston
|industry=On-demand software
|products=Rave, eSalesForce, eCustomerCenter
|revenue=
|operating_income=
|net_income=
|num_employees=
|parent=
|subsid=
|homepage={{URL|http://www.entellium.com/}}
|footnotes=}}
Entellium was a U.S. software company that developed on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) software for small and midsize businesses. It was sold to Intuit in bankruptcy court, but as of October 2009, Intuit was reportedly not using the software.Cook J. (2009). [http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/10/entellium_one_year_later.html Entellium: One year later]. TechFlash.
Company description
Entellium was founded in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in May 2000 by Paul Johnston, a former Apple sales executive. The company moved its headquarters to Seattle, Washington, in 2003{{cite web|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/venture/funding.asp?company=entellium|title=Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Venture Capital Notebook|publisher=}} but maintained a research and development office in Kuala Lumpur.
Wire fraud scandal
On October 7, 2008, Paul Thomas Johnston, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Seattle-based Entellium Corp., and Parrish L. Jones, the former chief financial officer (CFO),{{cite web|url=http://www.seattletimes.com/business/former-entellium-cfo-pleads-guilty-in-fraud/|title=Former Entellium CFO pleads guilty in fraud|date=18 December 2008|publisher=}} were arrested and charged with wire fraud for lying to investors in U.S. District Court in Seattle.{{cite web|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/10/06/daily19.html?surround=lfn&brthrs=1|title=Ex-Entellium execs charged with wire fraud for lying to investors|work=Puget Sound Business Journal|accessdate=23 August 2015}}
According to the FBI, the two software executives “devised a scheme to defraud investors in the company by representing that company revenues far exceeded the actual figures.”
The government alleges that actual 2006 revenues were $582,789 but the pair inflated the revenues to nearly $4 million; actual 2007 revenues were $1.4 million inflated to $6.2 million; and actual 2008 revenues were $1.7 million inflated to $5.2 million.
The false revenue numbers, according to the government, were used by the pair to attract millions of dollars in private investment, including $19 million from Ignition Partners, of Bellevue. Two Ignition partners told government investigators that they never would have made such an investment had they known the actual revenue figures.
Forty Entellium staff were laid off after the arrests.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100802142.html|title=40 laid off at software company as execs arrested|newspaper=The Washington Post |publisher=}}{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
Bankruptcy
On December 2, 2008, Entellium filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, paving the way for some assets to be sold to financial software maker Intuit.{{cite web|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008460368_webentell.html|title=Entellium files for bankruptcy protection|date=2 December 2008|work=The Seattle Times|accessdate=23 August 2015}}
Products
Entellium's products include two customer relationship management applications and an issue tracking system:
- Rave, a smart client CRM application built on the Windows Presentation Foundation{{cite web|title=Entellium Builds a CRM Suite to Rave About|url=http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/CRM-Featured-News/Entellium-Builds-a-CRM-Suite-to-Rave-About--49956.aspx|publisher=DestinationCRM.com|accessdate=11 June 2015}}
- eSalesForce, a web-based CRM application built on the ASP.NET Framework
- eCustomerCenter, a web-based issue tracking system
Gamer-influenced design
In building its Rave product, Entellium used gamer-influenced design (GID),{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/business/yourmoney/20proto.html|title=Why Work Is Looking More Like a Video Game|first=Michael|last=Fitzgerald|work=The New York Times |date=20 May 2007|publisher=|via=NYTimes.com}}{{cite web|url=http://pcworld.about.com/od/webservices/Rave-A-Gamer-s-Look-at-Custom.htm|title=About.com: Rave - A Gamer's Look at CRM|publisher=|access-date=2008-02-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903174445/http://pcworld.about.com/od/webservices/Rave-A-Gamer-s-Look-at-Custom.htm|archive-date=2009-09-03|url-status=dead}} a concept that incorporates video-game features into business software. Rave includes the following GID features:
- Star rankings associated with prospects and opportunities
- Animated effects
- Contextual activity sets
- Contact database
- Custom user profiles
- User performance ranking
Notes
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External links
- {{Official website|http://www.entellium.com}}
Category:2000 establishments in Malaysia
Category:Customer relationship management software companies
Category:Customer relationship management software
Category:Defunct online companies of the United States
Category:Fraud in the United States
Category:Software companies based in Seattle
Category:Defunct software companies of the United States