During COVID, video conferencing took over telecommunication services. Simultaneously, stories emerged of hackers tapping into those systems from pranks like putting inappropriate images on screen to more nefarious breaches that placed personal customer data at significant risk and some involved large ransomware demands.
The rapid shift to distributed offices led to a disconnected, cumbersome and inefficient array of business communication tools. Remote workers relied on personal mobile phones for calls, texting and Zoom for video conferences.
“As a result, customer data such as Zoom recordings, mobile phone calls and texts, and manual call notes posed a significant cybersecurity risk and is nearly impossible to gather and synchronize it with their customer relationship management (CRM) data,” CloudCaller.io CEO Dan Federman told California Business Journal.
Before this collision course, CloudCaller.io had already been developed by Software Next Door as a solution to the muddled security protocols in the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) sector. By 2020, CloudCaller emerged as a powerful option among several UCaaS apps and a formidable solution during the pandemic.
“We had a new dispersed office, and people needed to communicate efficiently,” Federman says. “As video communication took center stage, the communications landscape became very different than it was even a few years ago.”
As video conferencing became the new norm, some very public security problems started to happen with products like Zoom, LinkedIn and Alibaba. Cybersecurity became the paramount fear for every company, but in particular if you are an organization working in areas like telehealth, investment advising, and judicial proceedings, where the highest levels of security are vital.
For CloudCaller.io, that meant going deep in the Salesforce ecosystem, where encryption and cybersecurity in general are as tight as anywhere in enterprise-level tech. Users needed to have a way to conduct not only video, but phone, SMS and chat communications as well, ideally all in one place, on one app and on one phone line, in a highly secure manner. That is why the CloudCaller.io app was developed as native to Salesforce, providing that type of unified communications, and offered on the Salesforce AppExchange. CloudCaller takes advantage of the Salesforce centralized and synchronized customer data and efficient CRM features such as click-to-call and comprehensive call notes and recordings all stored in the prospect or customer record.
Jeanie Bunker, who has been consulting with CloudCaller.io and serving as engagement manager on the next phase of the company’s rollout, points to recent data from a Gartner survey: By 2023, the number of remote workers will double to over two-thirds of digital workers. The ability for employers to offer work-anywhere options is more important than ever. By 2024, 75% of enterprise users will not use a desk phone, up from 30% in 2020.
“We saw even before the pandemic that sales and service tools around telecommunications needed to evolve with these realities,” Federman says. “While the need for WFH solutions accelerated during COVID, that writing was on the wall long before 2020.”
An early test case for CloudCaller.io was the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, and their need to have a Cloud-based solution for conducting Unemployment Insurance Appeal Hearings. “They are a trendsetter in the unemployment market,” Federman says. “And, they reported a 30% productivity improvement.”
CloudCaller.io makes a difference in the public sector in multiple respects. Here’s one: unemployment insurance claims are most often contested by either the employer or laid off employee. A call can last up to an hour while an administrative law judge adjudicates unemployment insurance disputes. Regulations require a full record and call recordings of the proceedings, and the call needs to take place in a highly secure environment.
CloudCaller.io was built for exactly this kind of scenario.
As Federman says, “communications must work seamlessly in real world cases like this. Along with security, you require efficiency. If you are calling in volume, you need to do it with ease and without mistakes.”
CloudCaller.io was developed with notetaking and recording abilities, along with a simple retrieval system. “If you have thousands of recordings, you need a great system for managing them and keeping track,” Bunker says.
CloudCaller.io also solves the problem of having too many disjointed tools in data driven communication systems. For instance, if you are going to Salesforce for customer data and using an outside-communication system like Zoom, you have to rely on manual data entry, and multiple data bases and integration thorough connectors and APIs to keep track of key prospect and customer insights. Just one app built into Salesforce and able to withstand the risks of hacking and ransomware is exceptionally useful, especially in industries where security is a supreme concern.
“One of the guiding principles at CloudCaller.io,” Federman says, “is that Cybersecurity and efficiency should not be an added bonus, but an expectation.”
CloudCaller.io’s development by Software Next Door changed the landscape. For companies that decide to purchase CloudCaller.io, the application operates within their Salesforce Cloud and their communication infrastructure. The product installs in one hour. From there, the CloudCaller.io team tests it with a pilot group of employees, then the roll out takes place in 1-2 weeks.
Currently, CloudCaller.io is moving from what Federman calls the “bootstrapping” phase into the next round of funding and a rollout into wider sales.
“As we go forward, in addition to the focus on security, efficiency, and comprehensive record keeping, we’ll be adding AI,” he says. “With AI and machine learning in place, companies can glean information about best practices and improve ROI exponentially.“
CloudCaller used the early years wisely, rolling out its product with a level of prudence as improvements to security and usability are made.
“Before raising this next round of seed money, we wanted to have the best product out there in security, efficiency, useability and integrated features,” Federman concludes. “We put a lot of time, effort, and money into getting the product right. Every company needs a viable video, phone, SMS and chat solution. As the workforce becomes more dispersed, the demand for a UCaaS platform that delivers on those promises will only increase.”
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