Artificial-intelligence-based operational management platform startup Operative Intelligence Pty. Ltd. disclosed today that it has raised $3.5 million in new funding to scale up its customer intelligence product capabilities.

The seed round was led by Bonfire Ventures, with Wonder Ventures also participating.

Founded in 2019, Operative Intelligence describes itself as offering the first purpose-built Demand-Insights-as-a-Service platform. The company says its platform offers contact centers and business leaders irrefutable data to make meaningful changes in the way they serve customers as an organization, tied directly to bottom-line revenue.

The service aims to address how a contact center’s perception of what customers want does not necessarily reflect the reality of what they need, resulting in consumers experiencing long wait times, poor inquiry resolution and unintuitive phone trees. As such, Operative Intelligence is said to enable businesses to discover the actual needs of their customers, powering better decision-making faster and at scale.

Benefits of the service include increased customer satisfaction, with the ability to understand the reasons why customers are reaching out. Using the data gathered, companies can drive change and reduce costs related to customer service, according to the company. Actionable insights show executives irrefutable data about how to make meaningful organizational changes, tied directly to revenue.

“It’s staggering to think that there’s over $49 billion in pure waste every year in customer service that’s just rework in the U.S. alone!” James Iansek, co-founder and chief product officer of Operative Intelligence, said in a statement.  “I had a hypothesis we could leverage machines and software to unlock the insight needed to fill the gap for businesses.”

Although young, Operative Intelligence said that it is working with some of the biggest companies in the world to help them unlock the reality of their customer’s needs at scale and to drive data-based continuous improvement around those exact needs. Notable customers include Orbit Irrigation Products LLC, MYOB Australian Pty. Ltd. and Apple Federal Credit Union.

Image: Operative Intelligence