Software firm picks up former Interactive sales leader

Zionsville-based Clear Software, which plans to hire nearly 200 people over the next three years, believes it's off to a good start after scooping up a former sales leader from Interactive Intelligence.

Clear Software CEO Jon Gilman said his firm recently hired Tad Alper, a 10-year veteran at Interactive who was most recently vice president of PureCloud sales. He started Dec. 7 as vice president of sales at Clear, a four-year-old company with about a dozen employees, 25 Fortune 500 customers, and global expansion plans underway.

"We've landed a couple customers in Europe; we've got a couple in South America," said Gilman, "And we really needed someone to run our sales organization that had experience with global customers and with very large enterprise deals."

He later added: "He's someone that we probably needed six months ago."

Clear Software specializes in making existing software products more user-friendly. It takes enterprise software applications used at large organizations, such as SAP and Salesforce, and enhances the user experience through its web-based platform.

Gilman said he was introduced to Alper, the top salesman at Interactive, through an investor in Clear Software.

Alper's addition follows the Dec. 1 close of Interactive Intelligence's $1.4 billion sale to Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. Such acquisitions typically spur employees to chart new paths, and Alper might be among the first from Interactive to do so.

"With the acquisition, there's going to be a lot of overlap and redundancy at the C-suite and VP level," Gilman said. "So I think some folks have already been looking around."

Clear plans to employ 193 people by 2019 under a state tax incentive deal the company announced earlier this week. In exchange, it will receive up to $2.5 million in conditional tax credits and as much as $100,000 in training grants if it meets the hiring goals.

The company is also moving from its office at coworking space Z-Works to about 2,500 square feet of space at 10 S. Main St. in Zionsville next week.