As reported on TechCrunch.
by INGRID LUNDEN
Evernote, the popular personal information and productivity app, is taking another step today in building out its premium service offerings: its enterprise app, Evernote Business, which formally launched in seven markets inDecember 2012, has now been switched on throughout the European Union, Norway and Iceland, with Australia and New Zealand coming online next week. In keeping with the company’s growth, it has also now appointed its very first chief operating officer, Ken Gullicksen, who will head up Evernote Business, on top of other roles.
From today, the full list of countries that will be supported by Evernote for its Business services are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the U.S. Australia and New Zealand get turned on February 12, bringing the total number of countries to 26 and aiming for 50 by the middle of this year, with the next targets territories in Latin America and Asia.
It also follows on from Evernote releasing a major update on another one of its apps, Evernote Hello, last week.
Expanding Evernote Business into new markets is the company’s way of tapping into its existing user base to build up revenues: some 70% of the company’s 50 million current subscribers are outside the U.S., and Evernote says that two-thirds of them are already, less formally, using their free apps to increase work productivity.
The idea is to look to them first as a natural audience for the paid, premium product, which is charged starting on a $10 per user, per month basis, and gives them a number of features on top of those that are included in the free product.
These extras include access to a Business Library, an information repository that can be controlled by an administrator; Business Notebooks, which are distinct from personal notebooks and can be shared with co-workers or posted to a group’s Business Library; expanded sharing capabilities; an automatic Related Notes feature with semantic search capabilities; administrator privileges; and increased upload allowances of up to 2GB each month for personal notebooks, and 2GB more for Business Notebooks.
CEO Phil Libin has in the past described the development of Evernote Business as a product designed for companies like Evernote itself — up to 300 people — and fulfilling functions for information management that both its existing customers and own employees were demanding.
This is a strategy that Evernote Business will continue under Gullicksen: “We learn from our business customers every day and continue to enhance the product to meet their needs,” he noted.
With Evernote Business’ international expansion also comes platform expansion: most of the premium app had already been available for Mac, iOS, Android and Windows Desktop; from today, Evernote’s also extending Related Notes to work on the Mac client, as well as Evernote Clearly for Chrome and Firefox and Evernote Web Clipper for Chrome.
Since formally launching Evernote Business in December, the company says that 2,000 businesses — primarily small and medium enterprises, or groups within larger companies — have signed up to use the service, with 40% of them coming from outside the U.S.
A company spokesperson declined to comment on how many individuals that translates to paying for the product. But part of the idea of appointing Gullicksen as COO is that now he will be the main person overseeing how that product develops and gets commercially deployed as it widens its international reach.
Gullicksen is an internal appointment, and he had already played an important role in how Evernote has developed. As VP of corporate development, he has led on Evernote’s five acquisitions and its launch of its service in China, Yinxiang Biji. And before taking that role, he was a general partner at Morgenthaler Ventures, where he led on Evernote’s first venture round and was a part of its board of directors. (Evernote has raised a whopping $251 million since 2006.)
In addition to Evernote Business, he will also oversee investor relations and corporate development, the company says.
“As COO, Ken will be instrumental in continuing to foster strategic initiatives, building on the momentum we’re seeing with Evernote Business and developing efficient services to support our entire global operation,” CEO Phil Libin noted in a statement.