Only Mad Men have Receptionists – The Future is Yodel.io
Chain smoking, sharp suits, and casual sexism.
All clichés of the TV series Mad Men, along with female receptionists caked in make-up screening calls for their bosses who are enjoying their pre-lunch whisky.
Phones may have changed significantly since then but the way we use them in offices has not caught up with changes in technology such as VoIP, bots and artificial intelligence.
There is where Yodel.io comes in. In 2015, they correctly identified multiple pain points inherent in office telephones and their lack of integration within standard office tools and sought to solve this problem.
In the Mad Men era of the 1960s, everyone employed a receptionist to answer the phone and (politely) get rid of any unwanted callers. Now, with natural language processing and a voice bot, this can all be achieved much more efficiently and cost-effectively through a cloud-based system.
How Yodel.io works
Take this example: Mike wants to know if James is still available for their meeting, but James is away from his desk and misses his call.
*phone rings, diverts automatically to Yodel.io system*
Mike: Hello, just checking that we still have our meeting today at 3 pm?
Yodel.io (in real-time, with a natural voice and having checked the calendar): Hi Mike, I have checked the diary and yes, he has got your meeting in there. He will meet you at Starbucks at 3 pm’
Mike: Great, see you then! Can you tell him I called?
Yodel.io: Of course!
*Mike hangs up*
In early 2016, Yodel.io had their team in place, their technology working and were looking to scale quickly. From the outset, they were clear that they would work across multiple international markets and were keen on a fast rate of global expansion.
Interested? Read ESAC invests 500k in Yodel.io
Scale startups from local to global
Having secured the first investment from Seedcamp in London, they then turned to the European Super Angels Club to raise a further 72% of their first round. This injection of capital allowed them to grow their Business Development and Marketing operations in Silicon Valley from which multiple new contracts and partnerships have come to fruition. They have also been a part of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Go Silicon Valley’ programme.
These include Microsoft approaching Yodel.io to fully integrate their platform into the rollout of Microsoft Teams as well as ongoing partnerships with Slack, Zapier among others.
When dealing with such blue-chip partners and in an instinctively international business environment, they needed an accountancy firm that could keep up, which is why KPMG’s services have been so valuable and have given them the confidence to expand rapidly.
CEO Mike Heininger comments:
‘ESAC helped us scale from a local European start-up to a truly global one. Their roadshows throughout Europe, end-to-end transaction support as well as their ability to introduce us to corporate partners really set them apart.’