The company was founded in 1997 by Greg Gianforte in Bozeman, Montana. Additional offices were opened in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois, Washington, DC, Colorado, Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia. The company employed over 1000 people in 2011. RightNow's business model was software as a service using cloud computing. Gianforte started the company in 1997 without external capital and created a software product that was initially focused on customer service with an integrated knowledge base. As the company grew, it added marketing and sales functionality, voice automation, customer feedback management, analytics and a social platform to its product, creating a full customer experience suite. In 2004, RightNow Technologies raised $44.1M million in a successful IPO on the Nasdaq exchange. In 2006, RightNow Technologies acquired SFA company Salesnet. In 2009, RightNow Technologies acquired social networking company HiveLive. In 2011, the company acquired Q-go for $34 million. Q-go was founded in 1999. It specialized in semantic search service, based on natural language processing technology, providing relevant answers to queries on a company’s Internet website or corporate intranet, formulated in natural sentences or keyword input alike. It integrated automatic statistical reporting of user query behavior for businesses that want to monitor what kinds of questions their customers are asking so they can adjust content to provide the appropriate information for customers and to reduce the load on traditional customerservice ports of call, such as call centers and answers by email. The technology has been implemented and deployed in a range of industries, including banking, insurance, pension, telecommunications and logistics, as well as several government agencies. In October 2011, Oracle Corporation announced its intention to acquire RightNow for $1.5 billion, a deal which was completed in January 2012. The main product offered by RightNow Technologies was RightNow CX, a customer experience suite. RightNow CX was divided into RightNow Web Experience, RightNow Social Experience, RightNow Contact Center Experience, and RightNow Engage.
