Conversation Intelligence Leader Balto Secures $10 Million Series A Funding
Company Delivers Real-Time Call Guidance to Contact Center Agents, Drives Double-Digit Improvements in Conversion Rates and Customer Service
Balto, the leader in real-time guidance for contact centers powered by AI, today announced that it closed a $10 million Series A round of funding, led by Sierra Ventures and joined by Jump Capital, OCA Ventures, Cultivation Capital and others. The funding will enable Balto to fundamentally shift the way contact centers do business, extending the reach of its real-time call guidance solution through a dramatic increase in product functionality and tripling its go-to-market team.
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“Balto is bringing the most aggressive real-time call guidance solution to market at a time when sales and customer experience agents and managers are working remote and need even greater support,” said Marc Bernstein, Balto’s CEO and founder. “Unlike other conversation intelligence solutions available today that provide only post-call analytics, Balto uses AI to guide customer conversations on-the-fly, helping agents say the right thing, at the right time. As a result, call centers see a substantial increase in conversion rates, more quickly ramp new agents, and improve customer experiences.”
Real-time Guidance Helps Agents Lead Better Conversations
The post-call speech analytics tools used by many contact centers fail to address agents’ biggest pain point: simply forgetting the right thing to say to a customer in the moment. Because post-call analytics are not equipped to deliver real-time insights and prompt action until after the call has ended, post-call solutions are unable to help the agent redirect the conversation during the call when they can be more effective.
Balto bridges the gap between post-call data analytics and action with its real-time guidance solution that offers both scalable, in-the-moment coaching for agents and a holistic view that helps managers understand which tactics work and which do not. Balto’s Real-Time Coaching for agents listens to both sides of a conversation and visually prompts them to say the right thing at the right time, enabling agents to execute on best practices at scale. And with Balto’s Real-Time Management functionality, contact center managers can get instant insights into agent performance, win rates and trends, which enables them to update messaging and highlight important points immediately, so all agents can easily adapt to changes.
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“Fueled by demand for enterprise applications like CRM, ERP and business intelligence, and the skyrocketing growth of recordings as businesses have gone virtual, conversational intelligence is poised to become a multibillion market in the next few years. Balto is well positioned in this burgeoning market, offering something that other solutions don’t have: the ability to deliver the insights representatives need to execute key actions in real time,” said Tim Guleri, managing partner at Sierra Ventures, who also will join the Balto Board of Directors.
Companies, such as eHealth, Empire Today and National General Insurance, using Balto are already seeing real results, including:
- Up to a 35% increase in conversion rates
- Improving average handle time by 90 seconds
- Speeding ramp time by getting agents up to full production 75% faster
- Understanding what’s happening on 100% of calls
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