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In January, Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro predicted the voice-based marketing automation company would grow between 50 and 100 percent each year for the next three years. This year, that prediction is coming true.
The company just signed a lease to double its headquarter space in the West Loop because its 75-person team is well on its way to doubling by the end of the year. The hires will mainly be on the engineering, sales and marketing teams, Shapiro said. A recent $9 million round will help fund the hires.
This growth is a result of the exponential rise in the number of Ifbyphone customers and number of phone calls Ifbyphone processes; already the company processes over 25 million minutes a month for the over 4,000 customers using the product. Various trends in the workplace, as well as in selling and mobile advertising, are “causing the need for our service to accelerate rapidly,” Shapiro said.
New Internet-based companies, whose employees work from a variety of locations, still use their voices to sell. These companies, many of which have employees use their own devices at work, need Ifbyphone’s products to manage, automate and analyze these voice conversations.
Additionally, companies that sell software as a service sell to customers who come to a call center via a website. Using Ifbyphone, companies can link a site ad to a specific sales number to track which ads are effective in upping inbound inquiries.
These trends and unique offerings will allow Ifbyphone to “very aggressively pursue a leadership role in the business of new voice."
