Resilient Customer Support
Directly
Directly is an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that provides AI-powered solutions to improve customer experience. The Directly platform delivers automations that are backed by a network of product and service experts who train the algorithms and answer customer questions, as well as by sophisticated machine learning models that are continuously updated to ensure peak performance. This enables customer support leaders to resolve customer issues with the right mix of automation and human support.
The Challenge
The technology industry has produced thousands of AI startups that have raised tens of billions across verticals. Given the incredible hype surrounding AI technology, it’s hard for any single company to cut through the noise. Our goal was to build a strong narrative that would raise brand awareness and solidify Directly’s technical bona fides for potential enterprise customers and recruits, as well as the investor community.
The Formula
Directly began working with The Bulleit Group in early 2018 to secure validation among key audiences ahead of their Series B announcement. To highlight Directly’s innovative approach to building effective chatbots and critical customer service infrastructure, The Bulleit Group created a robust communications program anchored by a strong narrative foundation. With media and analyst relations as the primary pillars of this program, The Bulleit Group was able to leverage funding and acquisition news, along with steady engagement on issues of the day, to achieve the third-party validation Directly was looking for.
Media
Analyst Relations
The Results
Since its Series B announcement, Directly has since been featured in a wide range of top tier business and tech press, including Bloomberg, Business Insider, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and the San Francisco Chronicle. The Bulleit Group has also worked with them to secure briefings and resultant collateral with analysts from Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and 451 Research—further establishing Directly’s position in the market. Directly boasts enterprise customers like Microsoft, LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Samsung, helping these companies to radically transform their customer experience operations.
“Brydon got the idea for Directly while consulting for software companies that specialized in call-center programs. While customers armed with the internet were increasingly knowledgeable, he noticed, ‘the revolving door and short tenures of call-center agents prevented them from truly becoming experts.'”
“Directly, a startup developing a platform that leverages AI trained by subject matter experts to analyze contact center interactions, says it has also had to make “significant” service adjustments for clients like Microsoft, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Autodesk, Samsung, and SAP in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Directly has therefore built a platform that helps businesses identify and reach out to “experts” in the business or product in question, collect knowledge from them, and then fold that into a company’s AI to help train it and answer questions more accurately. It also looks at data input and output into those AI systems to figure out what is working, and what is not, and how to fix that, too.”
