Christopher Hickey, Quark Software Inc. CEO: ‘Our Vision is to Leverage Automation to Transform the Entire Life cycle of Business-Critical Content to Make the World’s Most Innovative Organizations More Efficient, More Effective, and More Competitive’

“We are proud of our focus on our customer excellence – a core value that has been instilled in each and every Quark employee.”

Content automation is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on removing the need for human intervention in the content lifecycle. The goals of content automation are to program, or automate, any process involved with content marketing that may be redundant, time-consuming or costly. Automation can be applied to any phase of the content marketing strategy, including planning, creation, publishing, and monitoring.

In light of the foregoing, we’re delighted to present Quark Software Inc.

Quark develops a content automation platform that helps large organizations streamline the creation, management, publishing, and delivery of business-critical content. The world’s most recognized brands are modernizing their content strategies and processes with Quark solutions. The firm has made an indelible mark on the processes for creating high-fidelity, engaging, and omnichannel content.

Quark was established in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

In conversation with Christopher Hickey, Quark Software Inc. CEO

Q. What is the reason behind the genesis of Quark Software Inc.? How did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

Quark Software Inc. was founded with the mission to reinvent how content creators and creative professionals bring their visions to life. Over the past 30+ years, our solutions have made an indelible mark on the processes for creating high-fidelity, engaging and omnichannel content. Today, with the leading content automation platform, Quark infuses automation into every stage of the creation, management, publishing, and delivery of today’s most important content.

Q. A well-defined mission and vision is the secret behind the success of many firms.’ What is your company’s M&V statement?

Quark infuses automation into every stage of the creation, management, publishing, and delivery of today’s most important content. Our vision is to leverage automation to transform the entire lifecycle of business-critical content to make the world’s most innovative organizations more efficient, more effective, and more competitive.

Q. Any company, big or small, must have a sense of authenticity and originality to succeed, is your company a leader or a follower?

Quark is absolutely a leader in the market. We were the first to launch state-of-the-art page layout software that exploded in the market and we now offer leading content automation and sales enablement platforms that empower global organizations.

From standard operating procedures, investment research reports, and fund fact sheets, to product data sheets, legislation, and more — Quark solutions work together seamlessly to address challenges at every stage of the content lifecycle.

Q. What kind of responses have you received from your consumers over the years? How have they motivated you to shape your offerings/grow the company?

We’ve received both positive and critical feedback from our customers over the years and I am thankful for both. I always love to hear the positive feedback; it charges up the company and gives us reassurance that we are serving our customers to the best of our ability. However, I also greatly appreciate the critical feedback we have received too because, without it, we wouldn’t continue to grow and evolve -- which is the key to success.

Q. Fostering a culture of feedback is crucial to the success of every organization. How is this true with your company?

An open feedback loop is critical to our success. As a leader, I believe in transparency and I expect my entire management team to extend that same transparency to their teams. Leaders are only as successful as the teams that they build and to build a good team, you have to share the goals, expectations, and progress from the top down.

Q. Customer service varies, but companies can still be successful. How do you maintain your customers’ trust and loyalty?

There is nothing more important to Quark than earning the trust and respect of our dedicated customers. We’ve rolled out several new initiatives to specifically focus on delivering a high-quality product and customer service. In fact, we recently launched the 2019 version of QuarkXPress and achieved an NPS score of 53 – well above the market average! When surveyed, nearly nine out of 10 customers said they would recommend QuarkXPress to a friend. We are proud of our focus on our customer excellence – a core value that has been instilled in each and every Quark employee.

Q. What are the factors that make your company stand out from the competition?

The Quark brand is unique in the sense that it has a reputable presence in the industry; however, we have had to reinvent ourselves over the years and transform our offerings to remain competitive and relevant in the market. We continue to innovate and integrate customer feedback into our product roadmap.

Q. Do you have any new products ready to be launched?

We are launching an entirely new solution, our Content Enablement Platform, in Q1 of 2020. This new product will be the only fully integrated SaaS platform developed to create, automate, publish, distribute and predict content. It will enable complete cross-departmental collaboration on content across marketing, sales, product, human resources, legal teams, and more.

Meet the Leader Behind Quark Software’s Rise

Christopher Hickey is the Chief Executive Officer of Quark Software Inc. He is a senior executive with unparalleled accomplishments in managing both domestic and global tech-centric corporations ranging from startups to multi-billion-dollar enterprises. Mr. Hickey joined Quark Software in January 2019 with the goal of moving the enterprise software solution to one fully integrated, SaaS platform to manage the entire content lifecycle while growing revenue by 20 percent across both the B2B and B2C business units.

Prior to Quark Software Inc., Mr. Hickey was the CEO of Ring Lead where he fully transitioned the company to an AI and a 100 percent SaaS data Management Company. He was the recipient of an award for superior achievement at the 2018 Long Island Summit Awards honoring area tech stars.

Mr. Hickey holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology with a concentration in Marketing from Central Connecticut State University.

“We are proud of our focus on customer excellence – a core value that has been instilled in each and every Quark employee.”