Company history

You know us as Talksome now, but that is just the new name of an experienced company. We started off as IPerity way back in 2009, and have been a trusted and reliable partner for our customers all these years, working together to deliver the best communication experience to the users.

How did it all start?

Back in 2008, it all started with the intention of starting the organization, the first meeting between the founders took place, and the idea was put on paper. The organization arose following the collaboration between Jeroen Naeff, founder of TalkTo, specialized in innovative ways to help contact centre companies to connect with their customers and Florian Overkamp from SpeakUp, a well-known telecom service provider. The goal was to merge their areas of expertise and offer a product that should be of great value in both markets. In the next years competent people joined the project, and this is how our Compass platform came to life.

To serve various markets in The Netherlands and Belgium, we’ve partnered with multiple experts , each with their own specialty and operational area. Our goal is to become a global player that integrates voice solutions into existing market-specific applications.

Where are we now?

We have been growing since 2008, having today a team of more than a dozen people passionate about what they do, working every day to develop and improve our products and the quality of the service provided. “Compass has expanded considerably in recent years and the platform has grown into much more than a telephone exchange in the cloud”, says Naeff, who is the creative brain behind Talksome.

Our product can be easily adapted, which is why it can serve various markets, and this is proven by our partners coming from a wide range of fields, from IT companies to healthcare organizations. For the less developery of us out there, or the ones who prefer to get started quickly, Compass comes with a user-friendly GUI that can be used right out of the box.

Even though that required many hours of hard work, we can proudly say that we have succeeded in achieving our milestones during all these years, multiplying the number of users we had in 2015, and reaching millions of weekly calls made using our Compass platform.

Where are we heading?

We have big plans for the future, and we look forward with confidence; we are working every day to develop the Compass platform by adding new features and adapting it to market requirements, constantly looking to improve it and make the communication experience as pleasant and as smooth as possible.


A case for online privacy

How would it make you feel if one day all the curtains and (toilet) doors were to disappear? If all of your emails and bank records were publicly displayed for everyone to see? Having all data at our fingertips is great, but it has a flip side. It has also never been easier to violate someone’s privacy.

How would it make you feel if one day all the curtains and (toilet) doors were to disappear? If all of your emails and bank records were publicly displayed for everyone to see? Having all data at our fingertips is great, but it has a flip side. It has also never been easier to violate someone’s privacy.

Privacy has been considered a basic human right since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. For a long time it was treated as an afterthought by most. With several recent scandals concerning data leaks, this has changed. The European Union’s GDPR law of 2016 has made privacy impossible to ignore for companies that handle sensitive data.

The common rhetoric of “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear” tries to convince us that privacy is merely something for criminals to hide behind. It implies that the ordinary, upstanding citizens – such as ourselves – have no rights to complain about privacy violations. But how would it make you feel if one day all the curtains and (toilet) doors were to disappear? If all of your emails and bank records were publicly displayed for everyone to see? How would you feel if you were to learn somebody planted a microphone in your house or a GPS tracker in your car? Naked and exposed. Violated.

What does privacy really mean? Simply put, privacy is the right to decide for oneself which information will be shared with whom. This is so very important, because without this guarantee we could never be ourselves.

When we know we’re being eavesdropped on, we behave differently. This is the so called “Chilling effect”. The same happens when we think our digital data may not be safe.

How is our privacy violated?

The invention of the internet made the world a hyperconnected place. It has never been easier to access knowledge or get in touch with people all over the world. Having all this data at our fingertips is great, but it has a flip side. It has also never been easier to violate someone’s privacy.

Online advertisements, analytics software, omnipresent social networks: they track our each and every online move, combine this data and sell it to the highest bidder. Sometimes it’s merely used to sell people this new flatscreen TV that they don’t really need. Other times, however, the motives are not as innocent:

  • Our data could be used to sway opinions in an effort to influence an election outcome.
  • Our data could be used to publicly shame.
  • Our data could used to get us fired from our jobs.
  • Our data could be used for identity theft and cause us a lot of trouble while criminals use it to hide behind.

All of this is could happen, but without most of us being aware of it. Sure, we agreed to some app’s terms and conditions, or clicked the big green button in some popup that mentioned privacy and cookies. But are we ever explicitly asked for permission to have our data used in ways that we could never predict?

What can we do to protect our privacy?

Unfortunately there’s not one universal solution to protect our privacy. Legislation like the GDPR helps, but in its current form is far from sufficient. Technological solutions like ad blockers help, but they can’t protect us from everything. Therefore it’s important for us to think about what products and services we use and what privacy policies those services and products have. Let’s all stay aware of what may impact our privacy and think before we use something.

What can companies do to protect the privacy of customers?

While it is important for consumers to pay attention to how their data is used by products and services, companies have their own responsibility in protecting their customers’ privacy.

The GDPR law has already provided some guidelines. However, there is no harm in going further than what is required by this law. When it comes to privacy, companies need to let people know they are collecting data and for what purpose and give people the ability to opt-in or opt-out. Furthermore, companies should be mindful of the data they ask of their clients and only ask for data that they really need.

Other things that are important for companies to think about are:

  • How/where will data be stored?
  • How is the data protected?
  • How will clients be notified should any data security be compromised?

In conclusion about privacy

Privacy is something that affects everyone. From people who use services, to the companies that provide the services. Companies need to be aware of their responsibility in protecting the privacy of their clients as best as they can and take what actions they can.

To ensure everyone’s privacy, we must work together.

There are tools that can help us protect our privacy, but they don’t replace this critical thinking.

So, read terms and conditions, stay away from awesome free tools as there is always a catch, and most importantly, don’t give your name and address to every company that asks for it on the internet, same as you wouldn’t to every person in the street.


Jobs

At Talksome, we combine our technical knowledge with a human approach. For us, that means we put human needs at the centre of our work. Because at its core, communication is as human as it gets.

Team, not just a company. We all care a lot about what we do but we also care about each other.

Dynamic & flexible environment. Creative team means we don’t have time for long and convoluted procedures.

Independent work. Everyone has their strengths and they are best put to use with freedom to develop and execute ideas.

We take care of our team and its members. We provide benefits package that supports professional development as well as personal wellbeing.

Possibility of working from anywhere

Flexible working hours

Team-building trips and activities.

NS business card so that your commute is taken care of

Laptop so you don’t have to worry about a device

Education budget that helps you grow in areas you deem important

Annual IT budget to help you set up your (home) office to fit your needs

Unlimited leave days so that you can stop counting your vacation days and take care of your mental health

Open positions

Apply for an open position. Or, if you're convinced you'd be a perfect match for us, send us an open solicitation.

Back-end developer

Full-time

January 1, 2024

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Contact

+31 88 555 2111

Call us

hello@talksome.com

Send email

HSD, W. van Pruisenweg 104
The Hague

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About us

We’re Talksome, a technical company specialised in digital voice communication. We develop cloud-based telephony solutions for businesses that are passionate about making communication seamless for our end users. However, delivering a great technical product is not our end game; it’s just a start. Because we’re not a supplier, we are more than that — we are a partner. A technical partner that is working together with our customers to deliver the best possible experience to the users.

Bold but sensible. Technical expertise is the start of everything. We are a knowledgeable partner with a lot of technical knowhow. We’re confident and we have our own take on things, but we never lose sight of the needs of others and always take them into account.

Flexible but reliable. Where others see problems, we see opportunities. We just love looking for them – that’s where we shine. But, everything we do, we do with our users in mind. We’ve got the ability to quickly adjust to new conditions and provide the best solution for customer needs.

Digital but human. We bring fun and energy everywhere we go. Because we’re passionate about what we do, we don’t do boring or average. We have a spark. And we like to show our personalities (and our work) to the world in a lively, cheerful way.

Our team

We’re a group of developers and tech enthousiasts that’s crazy about their jobs.

Join the team