Yes, you can, says startup NeoSound Intelligence. Their speech analytics solution for call centres interprets sentiments – and even moments of silence
As technology progresses, text-based online messaging is becoming more and more important. Still, phone calls are one of the most used forms of communication and will remain relevant – especially when it comes to customer service. Call centre managers are aware that their conversations deliver invaluable insights into customer satisfaction. If only they were able to extract all these useful informations from the data stored in recorded calls…”, says Denis Ardabatsky, CEO and co-founder of NeoSound Intelligence. The Amsterdam-based startup – participant of Insurtech Hub Munich’s 2020 Innovation Programme – offers a technology that fully automates the necessary monitoring processes. As a result, call centre companies are able to optimise the quality of their customer communications, decrease costs and boost sales.
It all started out of pure love of music
“The difference to other voice recognition software is: we don’t just analyse what customers are saying but also howthey are saying it. NeoSound translates the human voice into relevant data: emotions, sentiments or moments of silence.” Denis explains: “This is done using technology such as an API service, where one system can communicate with another. Call centers can easily integrate the technology into their own software”.
Andrei Matusevich – CTO of NeoSound and, like Denis a passionate mathematician, Computer Scientist – has developed the unique algorithm, combining speech-to-text semantic analytics and the acoustic analysis of intonation. He and Denis have known each other and worked together for more than 15 years – ever since studying at the University in Minsk, Belarus. “It all started with our pure love of music,” recounts Denis. “Our initial idea was to create an app that enables you to compose music by singing it to the microphone of your device. Comparable to Shazam, with the difference that the sound files our app should process need to be created from scratch. That project was more for fun.”
From Vilnius over Amsterdam to Munich
It became more serious with Denis’ first startup, a custom software development company called Ultima Idea. He overcame his phobia of talking in front of a larger crowd and pitched for the first time at an Investor Day Conference in Vilnius. Winning the first prize there and realising the potential of the technology, Denis took action and founded company number two, NeoSound. Denis and Andrei participated in accelerators in Riga, Amsterdam and now Munich. “Through our first customer, a large Latvian telecom company, we recognised the potential value for call centre companies”, explains Denis. “With 80 percent of all the call centres in Germany serving the insurance and financial sector, it was a logical move for NeoSound to apply for InsurTech Hub Munich’s Innovation Programme. The ITHM team helps to get in contact with decision makers and we’re having a lot of promising talks about several projects.”
Text: Daniel Lange