French startup Rounded has come up with a bold step and it is related to the future of customer communication. The approach is innovative approach as it is offering a platform for companies to build their own customized AI voice agents.
The idea of AI voice agents is not new, but the orchestration platform of Rounded stands out as the control is in the hands of businesses. Companies can pick and choose various tools such as transcription, natural language processing and voice synthesis. They can thereafter customize for their use and as per the requirements. The flexibility is powerful and reflects belief of Rounded that voice interactions will soon become the default way for customers to engage with businesses.
The journey of Rounded is also equipped with some serious challenges. It starting as a web3 company and later in mid-2023 it shifted to AI voice agents. Their first product was Donna and it targeted a niche market —anesthetists’ secretaries who handle routine calls about scheduling and appointments. The healthcare industry is full of repetitive tasks and automating them with AI makes sense.
The Rounded platform is exciting for its potential to democratize AI voice technology. Building a voice agent is no longer limited to big tech companies with huge budgets. Businesses can experiment, refine and deploy their own agents without having deep technical expertise. It is believed that the doors for small and medium businesses will now be opened to compete on customer experience.
However, it is being questioned whether Rounded can scale its technology for broader markets. Moreover, how can it compete with giants like Google and Amazon as they are having strong AI presence.
