Humberto Pertuz is the founder and CEO of Vozy, a Colombian voice communication platform that helps companies communicate with their customers at scale using voice technologies and conversational AI.
1. What motivated you to start Vozy?
When consumers call customer support, 50% of customer service calls around the world are not being solved in the first contact. This shows that most of the time customers are having bad experiences with their brands because they need to call twice or more to solve their problems, and also wait on the line for several minutes.
As a software engineer and as someone who worked in the telecommunication industry, I knew communication software was only a small part of the service, but this idea got more relevant when I had a call center with my wife. Our agents were bored because they did the same thing every day and we needed a support service for when our system was down: response times were slow, sometimes we had to send agents home because our system had collapsed, and all the while, we lost money. As a software engineer, I knew why the system did not work, but as a customer, it was just not profitable. I had to learn about communication systems.
2. How do you think voice technology will change the way in which we communicate?
The voice is our most natural communication channel, and although we will create different products, we know that as humans it will always be important for us to be able to communicate through our voice. That’s why we named our company Vozy.
Although the way we communicate will change dramatically with these technologies, not everything must be automated, humans are a key component in the customer experience, that is why we believe that a combination of humans and AI will create the perfect balance for delivering a good service to customers.
3. What has been your experience with Magma Partners?
Magma’s support has been excellent, they have driven us in incredible ways to take Vozy to the next level. Their support has impacted different areas from sales, investors, and networking to business strategy.
4. What is the most important lesson you have learned through your experience at Vozy?
If you manage to empower your team with the mission of the product you are building, it ends up generating a very powerful momentum within the company which creates a significant impact on the progress of the business without having to depend 100% on anyone in particular.
5. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to start their own company in Latin America?
With so many similar products/services out in the market today, you should find out how to give value to your target audience with what you do and focus your efforts on a key task that differentiates you from the rest. It sounds like a cliché but if you succeed, they will see you differently from the other options and you will have easier access to customers, employees, investors, and partners.
6. What’s next for you and Vozy?
We continue to strongly support Latin America by building our artificial intelligence developments with the customizations that the region requires. There’s a lot in voice biometrics and speech analytics to come that are sure to continue supporting the relationship of companies with their customers.
At Vozy we work every day with the mission of improving the customer experience and the lives of the people who are at the forefront of the service focused on creating technology that understands and adapts to us humans.
