RightNow Labs occupies a unique niche at RightNow Technologies. While most of the software development team is tasked with meeting customer requests and adding competitive features, the mission of RightNow Labs is to identify new ideas and forefront techniques that keep our solution differentiated as the leader in the field.
In addition, the group is responsible for converting these research concepts into production software, and maintaining that software. Thus, they are not only pursuing the research aspects of their project, but also making sure the final version is computationally efficient and scalable, integrates well with the rest of the software, and, where appropriate, is accessible through a polished user interface.
RightNow Labs does more than just analyze other techniques and convert them into products. They synthesize new approaches and publish the results in academic, peer-reviewed conferences, journals, and books. Patenting novel approaches is also a key component of the corporate approach. This dual focus helps RightNow Technologies succeed not just in the business domain, but also in the academic domain, providing customers with true innovations, not just knock-offs of other products.
One way the group stays on top of emerging research trends is by sponsoring the region's premier weekly artificial intelligence colloquium. This colloquium covers a broad range of topics and is attended by employees of RightNow Technologies, faculty, researchers, and students from Montana State University, Montana Tech, the University of Montana, other local researchers, and occasionally people from outside our region, including the NSF, NASA, and others. The colloquium has been held at both the corporate headquarters of RightNow Technologies and at the nearby Department of Computer Science at MSU.
The combination of a research focus with the production of quality consumer software during a standard product release schedule is challenging. However, despite their small size, they received an award for an Innovative Application in Artificial Intelligence in 2002 from the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. They continue to build momentum and have many new ideas that will be appearing in the future RightNow Technologies solutions.
