Interview With Chaive Tsai – Co-founder and CEO of Cisdem by Shauli Zacks

Shauli Zacks

Published on: January 26, 2025
Content Editor

In a recent interview with SafetyDetectives, Chaive Tsai, co-founder and CEO of Cisdem, shared valuable insights into the company’s journey, mission, and the philosophy behind their innovative software solutions. Since its inception in 2014, Cisdem has been at the forefront of creating powerful yet user-friendly tools that simplify workflows and boost productivity. Chaive, alongside a team of seasoned developers, has built a reputation for delivering software that balances functionality with simplicity—addressing the pain points often overlooked by traditional solutions. With a commitment to user-centric development, robust data security, and exceptional customer support, Cisdem continues to innovate and lead in the productivity and utility software space.

Can you share a bit about your role at Cisdem and the vision behind the company?

I’m Chaive Tsai, CEO and co-founder of Cisdem.

My background in technology has always been driven by a desire to solve real-world problems. Prior to founding Cisdem, I worked with several leading tech companies, building expertise in customer acquisition, sales, and communications. During this time, I noticed a consistent pattern: the tools people needed for everyday work were either unnecessarily complex, unclear in their functionality, or simply didn’t exist.

The turning point came in 2014 when I co-founded Cisdem alongside four veteran developers who brought decades of combined expertise in Multimedia, Utility, PDF, and Data Recovery solutions. We shared a common mission: to harness technology in ways that would simplify work processes, boost productivity, and deliver tangible value to our users. Since our founding, we’ve experienced remarkable growth, expanding our reach to serve users across the globe.

As CEO, I focus on three key areas: shaping our company’s vision, steering strategic growth initiatives, and spearheading our marketing and commercial development. This involves staying ahead of industry trends, optimizing departmental efficiency, and ensuring our team consistently delivers superior solutions to our users.

Our vision remains unchanged from day one: to create intuitive, powerful tools that streamline workflows and enhance daily life. Every product we develop is measured against this foundational principle, ensuring we stay true to our commitment to simplicity and effectiveness.

What differentiates Cisdem Apps from other software companies in the productivity and utility space?

What truly sets Cisdem apart in the productivity and utility space can be attributed to three core differentiators:

First, we’ve mastered the delicate balance between simplicity and power in our software solutions. While many competitors offer either basic tools that lack functionality or complex solutions that overwhelm users, we’ve focused on creating intuitive interfaces that don’t compromise on capabilities. Our products are designed to be immediately accessible to newcomers while offering the robust features that professional users demand.

Second, our approach to product development and updates is distinctly agile and user-driven. Unlike many software companies that release updates every six months, we maintain a rapid development cycle that responds to user needs and market changes in real-time. Each update we roll out introduces meaningful improvements based on direct user feedback, whether it’s performance optimizations, new features, or workflow enhancements. This responsive development approach ensures our software stays current with user needs and technological advances.

Third, we’ve built our reputation on exceptional customer support. We maintain a dedicated support team of real human experts – not AI chatbots – who typically respond within 24 hours to help resolve any issues. Our support team doesn’t just troubleshoot; they take the time to understand each user’s specific needs and use cases. This personalized approach has helped us build strong, lasting relationships with our users, from individual professionals to large enterprises.

What makes these differentiators particularly effective is how they work together. Our user-centric development process informs our product design, which in turn makes our customer support more effective. This integrated approach has allowed us to create tools that not only solve immediate problems but actually enhance our users’ daily workflows and productivity.

Additionally, Cisdem is proud of its prestigious certifications and accolades, reflecting its dedication to quality and innovation:

• Recognized as a High-Tech Enterprise(since Dec 2017).
• Awarded the title of Technology-Advanced Service Enterprise in Changsha(since Mar 2015).
• Achieved CMMI Level 3 International Certification for software maturity(since Dec 2014).
• Certified in Information Security Management Systems (ISO27001) (since May 2014).
• Certified in Information Technology Service Management Systems (ISO20000) (since Sept 2015).
• Certified in Quality Management Systems (ISO9001) (since Dec 2018).

Looking ahead, we’re continuing to invest in innovation while maintaining our core commitment to user experience and support excellence. We believe this combination of technical expertise, user-focused development, and superior support will continue to distinguish Cisdem in an increasingly competitive market.

Cisdem Apps seem designed to simplify complex tasks. How do you identify and prioritize user pain points when developing or enhancing your software?

At Cisdem, our approach to identifying and prioritizing user pain points is both systematic and dynamic, driven by multiple channels of user feedback and real-world usage data. Let me illustrate this with a concrete example of how we developed our AppCrypt software.

We initially identified a core need among users to improve their focus by blocking distracting applications. However, rather than considering the product complete at that stage, we maintained active communication channels with our users and continuously evolved the product based on their feedback and changing needs.

When users requested website blocking capabilities, we not only added this feature but enhanced it iteratively based on specific use cases. This led to several targeted improvements:

• Adding support for importing and exporting blocked websites via txt files
• Implementing keyword-based website blocking
• Developing an App Allowlist function
• Creating a one-click solution to block 500,000 adult websites

Beyond individual feature requests, we also recognized the importance of accessibility across different platforms. This led us to expand AppCrypt’s availability to Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, ensuring users could maintain consistent productivity across all their devices.

This example reflects our broader development philosophy at Cisdem. We maintain a rapid development cycle that allows us to quickly respond to user needs, but we do so thoughtfully and systematically. Each feature addition or enhancement goes through several stages:

1. Initial user feedback collection and pain point identification
2. Beta testing with real users to refine functionality
3. Iterative improvements based on usage data and additional feedback
4. Platform expansion to serve broader user needs

What makes this approach particularly effective is our commitment to maintaining an ongoing dialogue with our users. Rather than making assumptions about what users need, we let their actual experiences and feedback guide our development priorities. This ensures that our software solutions remain relevant, practical, and truly beneficial to our users’ daily workflows.

With data security being a top concern for many users, how does Cisdem ensure user data remains protected when using your products?

At Cisdem, we understand that data security isn’t just a feature – it’s a fundamental requirement for our users. We’ve implemented a multi-layered approach to ensuring user data protection across all our products: First and foremost, we follow a “local-first” architecture principle. This means our applications primarily operate on the user’s local device, ensuring that sensitive data never leaves their system without explicit consent. All data processing and storage occur locally on the user’s computer or device, giving them complete control over their information.

Our security framework is built on several key pillars:

1. Local Data Processing and Storage

• All files and data remain on the user’s device or their chosen storage location
• No automatic cloud uploads or external data transmission
• Users maintain full control over where their data is stored

2. Transparent Security Practices

• No personal information is required for basic product operation
• Clear documentation of our security measures and data handling practices
• Regular security updates to address emerging threats
• Detailed user controls for data management
• Strict adherence to industry best practices for software development

By implementing these comprehensive security measures, we ensure that our users can focus on their work while having complete confidence in the safety of their data. This commitment to security isn’t just about protection – it’s about providing peace of mind to our users while they use our tools to enhance their productivity.

The tech landscape is rapidly evolving. How do you see tools like those offered by Cisdem fitting into broader trends in productivity and security over the next few years?

The rapidly evolving tech landscape presents new opportunities and challenges. At Cisdem, we focus on solving real user problems by delivering practical, secure, and user-friendly solutions.

We recognize that automation and AI are transforming how people work. However, our approach isn’t to simply add AI features because they’re trendy. Instead, we’re focusing on thoughtful integration that enhances rather than replaces human capabilities.

By simplifying complex tasks, maintaining robust privacy measures, and responding to emerging needs, we remain a trusted partner in our users’ digital journey. Our user-first philosophy ensures our tools not only meet current demands but also anticipate future challenges.

Looking ahead, we’re particularly excited about:

• Developing more cross-platform solutions that provide seamless experiences across devices
• Enhancing our tools with AI function but at the same time respects user privacy
• Creating more integrated workflows that connect different productivity tools while maintaining security
• Expanding our security features to address emerging digital threats

What can users expect from Cisdem in the near future, whether in terms of new product releases, updates, or innovations?

In the near future, Cisdem users can look forward to exciting innovations and updates. We are focusing on developing cross-platform solutions for seamless experiences across devices, ensuring our tools are accessible wherever you work. Additionally, we’re integrating AI into our products to enhance functionality and deliver smarter, more efficient features that simplify complex tasks.

Listening to user feedback remains central to our approach. We’re working on updates and new features that directly address user needs while maintaining our commitment to privacy, security, and ease of use. Stay tuned as we continue to expand our offerings and deliver solutions that empower users in their digital journeys.