Quark is a leading developer of tools and technologies for media-independent publishing. Quark has been providing software for professional publishing since its flagship product QuarkXPress changed the course of traditional publishing. Quark software is used in every segment of the publishing by many more than 2 million people around the globe, and supports 25 languages. Folio magazine recently reported that QuarkXPress is used by 89.9 percent of magazine publishers. (Folio, October 2000) Today, Quark is developing the next generation of tools to let publishers create and manage content flexibly so it can be delivered anywhere at low cost. Founded in 1981, Denver-based Quark Inc. is privately held.

WhatTheyThink wanted to go deep into Quark and find out how the company operates. Glen Turpin is the Communications Manager for Quark. Below, Glen discusses Quark’s leadership position, software piracy and lessons learned from the launch of QuarkXPress 4.0.

With the economy slowing down, has Quark had to cut back in any way?

Quark is a healthy company. We have open job requisitions in all our offices, and are always looking for talented staff.

What are you doing to ensure that Quark continues it's leadership position in the new economy?

Our vision and our products continue to ensure our leadership position in the market. Quark's vision is all about media-independent publishing, the practice of creating and managing content flexibly so it can be delivered anywhere at low cost. Quark's media-independent publishing tools free publishers from the cost restrictions of the multiple-channel publishing environment by separating content from its delivery format. Content can be deployed in a variety of media formats, with a layout appropriate to each delivery medium.

Content management appears to be the biggest challenge for most designers, publishers and document creators. How does Quark plan to help in those areas?

Content management is a crucial competency for publishing in a multiple media environment. As the number of delivery options increases, the need to manage information assets increases exponentially. Quark recognized this fact several years ago, and developed Quark Digital Media System, which was introduced last year.

Give our subscribers a better understanding of QuarkDMS.

QuarkDMS is a solution for managing all of the media created for publishing online or in print. It is a mature, comprehensive, enterprise-level asset management system that fulfills the promise of asset management by integrating powerful tools to support the sharing and re-use of content with the publishing applications you know and use. It's essentially a database of media assets that integrates with the applications you use for publishing, including Photoshop, Word, Dreamweaver, or QuarkXPress. QuarkDMS has a rich feature set that goes beyond mere file cataloging to assist in re-use of media. It's built to support hundreds of concurrent users across a global organization, and it can be tailored to meet your business needs or extended to integrate with other business systems like e-commerce.

Content has to be flexible for multiple delivery options like wireless. Comment on the process of formatting for different mediums.

One of the greatest costs associated with multiple-media delivery is stripping formatting from and adding formatting to content for each delivery medium. The logical approach is to dramatically streamline that process, and XML is one technology that is ideally suited to that purpose.

Avenue.quark is XTensions software that turns QuarkXPress text into XML. By tagging QuarkXPress text in industry-standard XML format, avenue.quark lets users maximize the value of their editorial assets by facilitating its re-use in multiple media, such as eBooks, databases, and on the Web. Avenue.quark automatically tags QuarkXPress content as XML based on its formatting. And it helps publishers maintain editorial control by dynamically linking the XML content to the QuarkXPress document. Avenue.quark will be bundled with QuarkXPress 5.0.

Quark is a strong brand. New products and upgrades almost demand consideration from prospective clients. We all see the press releases, trade show exhibits and media ad placements, but what are some of the ways you generate grass roots support and awareness for your products on the ground?

You've seen ad placements from Quark? How did that happen? Seriously, we don't advertise much because grass roots support is more powerful. We generate support from the design and publishing community by having robust software that helps people make money. Millions of people use QuarkXPress every day because it's the best, most reliable software available for page layout. It's as simple as that.

Spending hundreds of million of dollars on advertising might increase our brand awareness in the small segment of that market that does not use Quark software, but that wouldn't deliver anything of real value to our customers. We like to spend our money in development, where our customers can ultimately reap the rewards.

A whole marketplace of companies take widely used software products and customize them to industry specific areas. Each product creation provides "opportunities" for companies trying to compete on some level with Quark. Does Quark welcome further customization by other companies?

We strongly support these types of companies. Quark pioneered that business model in 1989 when it developed XTensions technology with the understanding that it was impossible for a single tool to fulfill all the demands of every publishing workflow. XTensions software can be developed to meet the general needs of hundreds of companies or the more specialized needs of a single organization. It's been an extremely successful philosophy for Quark and its customers. There are now more than 500 commercially available XTensions that augment the capabilities of QuarkXPress, delivering vital niche solutions to Quark customers.

Explain Quark's position on software piracy.

Software is intellectual property that is protected by copyright law. Piracy is an act of theft that harms everyone from the developer to the distributor to the consumer. When someone creates an illegal copy of a software product, they not only put themselves and their company at risk, they also steal the resources used to develop new and better software. This adversely affects the industry that is fueling the growth of the global economy, which ultimately harms everyone. Global software piracy creates billions of dollars of lost revenue every year, which in turn means lost wages for those involved in the development, sale, and distribution of software. The United States has the highest dollar losses due to software piracy.

We hate to ask a question you have never heard - What is the current progress of QuarkXPress 5.0?

We're about to begin testing QuarkXPress 5.0 with our ServicePlus and QuarkAlliance customers. When that testing cycle is complete, we will begin beta testing. We haven't announced a release date because we don't want to make any promises that we might not be able to keep. QuarkXPress 5.0 will be the most tested version ever. When it ships, we want our customers to be able to implement it in their workflows with confidence.

Some have written that software companies miss release dates to generate news and hype. Obviously it is a difficult event to predict. Tell us what really happens behind the scene when discussing whether to reveal your own prediction of your product release. Also why do software companies predict release dates?

Software companies predict release dates because their customers and the trade press pressure them to do so. Customers want to know so they can budget and plan for growth. The trade press wants to know because it's news. Quark generally does not predict release dates. We introduce new software and announce upcoming features, but we try not to make any promises we can't keep.

QuarkXPress 5.0 appears to be a very bold product with numerous features. Realistically, what should users expect?

Media independence arrives with QuarkXPress 5.0. With version 5, QuarkXPress users will be able to design for both print and Web. Since avenue.quark will be bundled with QuarkXPress 5.0, all users will be able to import and export XML content. We're also adding support for tables and layers, two big features that are frequently requested by our user base.

Specifically, what will happen for Mac users with 5.0?

Mac OS users will be able to run QuarkXPress 5.0 in Mac OS 8.6, Mac OS 9.x, and the Mac OS X Classic Mode. Quark stands strongly behind Mac OS X and Quark will support Mac OS X. We are hard at work Carbonizing QuarkXPress. The version of QuarkXPress immediately after 5.0 -- version 5.X, if you will -- will be a Carbon native application. Our commitment to Mac OS X is firm.

Many have said Quark 4.0 was released too soon and should have been tested more. Now, you appear to be very cautious with 5.0. What lessons did you learn and describe customer service efforts in place that were not there when 4.0 was released?

We learned a lesson about trust. Every day, our customers trust that Quark software will help them run their business. When QuarkXPress 5.0 ships, we want our customers to trust that they will be able to implement it in their workflows with confidence. And we are making every effort to earn and keep that trust.

In the past two years, we've completely overhauled our service and support programs to better serve our customers. On the non-technical side, one of the first improvements is our state-of-the-art customer service and distribution center, which opened its doors about three years ago. We monitor call volumes, average speed of answer, and wait time very closely. If the queue becomes excessive, the team leads start answering calls and fulfilling orders. If that doesn't alleviate the problem, then the supervisors help as well. Call volume and abandon rates are monitored throughout the course of each day, and we're very proud of the fact that our average speed of answer for customer service calls is under 30 seconds.

When customer call our service center, they hear a Quark news feed rather than music while they wait for a live agent. We understand that our customers' time is valuable, so we try to make their brief wait educational and informative.

We also reexamined our business policies and made changes that allow our customer service representatives a greater degree of flexibility so they can work with customer to fix problems in real time. Last year, we initiated a single call resolution program to keep our transfer rate low and allow customers to communicate with one agent. It has been a tremendous success. In support of that goal, we've reorganized, upgraded our phone system, and cross-trained our staff so we can respond to customers with more efficient and personal service.

Within the last six months, we've added a customer feedback option to our 800 service number. Customers can call in and leave a message regarding service received by our customer service agents. Those who provide feedback receive follow-up calls the next day. Anyone who sends an e-mail to customer service ([email protected]) immediately receives an automated reply with answers to the most frequently asked questions. We make every effort to reply to e-mail within 24 hours.

To support all these initiatives, we've made staff training and quality control priorities. It's very important that we give our service agents the tools and skills they need to offer our customers the best level of service possible.

We've also made improvements in our technical service group. As with customer service, we've added an automated response to our two technical support e-mail accounts ([email protected] and [email protected]) so customers receive answers to many frequently asked questions within minutes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of course, a trained support technician responds to all e-mail inquiries as well. E-mail support is absolutely free of charge.

There are many ways to receive free support on the Quark Web site (www.quark.com) as well. We recently redesigned and reorganized the site to make it easier to navigate. The Tech Support section of the Quark Web site has many technical resources that customers can use to help themselves. All technical resources are searchable, so it's easy to find help using a keyword search. The technical resources are constantly updated so the information is always current and complete.

The QuarkEd training materials are also available free of charge on our Web site. There are detailed tutorials for QuarkXPress and avenue.quark online, free of charge.

In response to customer requests, we've expanded and improved our support plan offerings to include both incident and unlimited support plans. One of the most important changes was to begin the complimentary support period on the first call to technical support rather than at registration.

We're very proud of our technical support group. We provide the publishing industry with some of most highly trained and experienced technicians in the business. Service technicians are constantly on the alert to address problems quickly and thoroughly. We have technicians with both Mac OS and Windows knowledge. Many have expertise in both environments. We route our customers to the queue that can best serve their need. With technical support call wait times averaging only 2 minutes, our customers are assured timely and accurate help when they need it most.

Finally, we've been sending representatives on a world tour. We do large presentations to show customers how to get the most out of our software and see our new product offerings. We also have small meetings with publishing executives to understand how we can help them meet their long-term strategic goals.

Glen - Great job! We appreciate your candid answers and excellent details. Thank you very much!