AI for Contact Centers: Menlo’s Series C Investment in Observe.AI
At the end of 2020, we led Observe.AI’s Series B, backing their mission to use AI to automate previously painful, manual processes.
Since then, we’ve all witnessed a massive surge in customer expectations, and how critical customer experience is for businesses of any size. To deliver on those lofty expectations, contact centers need to harness the power of AI-powered systems of intelligence.
We’re pleased to again invest in Observe.AI’s Series C round, this time led by Softbank Vision Fund 2, to fuel their next stage of development and product innovation, which will harmonize during and post-interaction evaluation and coaching workflows.
The outcome? Stellar customer experiences, top-performing teams, and unprecedented business results.
The Market Opportunity
The contact center market is estimated at $400 billion, with $24 billion allocated to contact center technology investments. Yet, they remain in the dark when it comes to their customer conversations.
Companies continue to struggle to improve customer experience and business outcomes, all the while customer expectations surge. In fact, typical contact centers only have visibility into 3% of all interactions. Customer-facing teams have no options but to work reactively and inconsistently, and the result is an estimated $75 billion in lost revenue per year.
That’s where Observe.AI comes in, and why we’re so excited to continue this journey with them.
Why Observe.AI?
Last year, we surveyed 30 CIOs from leading companies across various industries to understand their priorities, where they’re investing in technology, and how the pandemic influenced their business in the long term.
One question we asked was: “Which emerging tech area do you believe will be most impactful in the next 2 years?”
50% of CIOs pointed to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Observe.AI joins other Menlo portfolio companies like Aisera and Abnormal in building powerful AI to dramatically advance enterprise efficiency. And we see a huge opportunity for startups that make workflows more efficient by building software to serve specific verticals and departmental needs.
The team at Observe.AI is ushering in an AI-powered era for the contact center—one that targets the CX dilemma that plagues so many organizations today.
When we wrote about the Power of AI in Customer Service, we posited that AI-powered software companies would play an influential role in revolutionizing customer service experiences. That was five years ago. Technology has evolved greatly since then, and it’s clear that it takes intelligence based on accurate data to drive real progress in customer satisfaction. By surfacing intelligence from every customer interaction, Observe.AI is poised to act as a force multiplier, boosting performance of customer-facing teams and automating repeatable processes that exceed business goals.
Observe has a clear vision of how they’ll help businesses achieve their goals with this Series C:
- Accelerate the expansion of their Intelligent Workforce Platform, which harmonizes during and post-interaction evaluation and coaching workflows. In other words, better-performing agents = happier customers.
- Investing in their R&D function to continue to improve and innovate the reliable and purpose-built AI they’ve built from the ground up, marrying the value of post-interaction analysis with real-time intelligence.
- Scale their team to continue to provide a beloved support and professional services organization to bring out the best in their customers.
We’re thrilled to re-invest in Observe.AI and be a part of this new era for contact centers—one that is AI-powered, holistic, and solves the CX paradox.
