October 15, 2024
By Ruben Harris
Last week, over cafecito in Miami, I sat down with some customer experience leaders, and we kept circling around a critical question:
How can customer-facing teams leverage AI to move beyond outdated solutions like prerecorded phone menus (Interactive Voice Response-IVR systems) and third-party offshore solutions like BPO’s (business process outsourcing), to create personalized experiences that drive both satisfaction and business results?
The conversation hit home—while these teams know the customer journey better than anyone else, they often lack the tools to turn their insights into action.
That’s why we built OutRival.
OutRival is an AI platform that empowers customer experience teams—both technical and non-technical—to turn their insights into action, creating solutions that enhance customer satisfaction and drive revenue.
We’re starting by empowering Admissions Teams in Higher Education. Universities are leading the charge in modernizing student engagement and OutRival helps Admissions Teams create their own Conversational AI Agents and Workflows, transforming the way prospective students interact with universities, guiding them through the admissions process, answering questions, and delivering personalized experiences at scale. By leveraging AI, universities can enhance recruitment efforts, cut costs, and free up staff to focus on deeper student relationships.
OutRival is designed with an intuitive interface that anyone can use right away—no manual required. It ensures that every solution is not only efficient but also reliable, scalable, and built to meet the standards enterprises demand.
With OutRival, teams can quickly innovate in a collaborative way, while maintaining the safety, compliance, and oversight necessary for enterprise-level deployments—turning insight into action with confidence.
When we started Career Karma in 2018, we didn’t just help people break into tech—we built and led customer experience teams ourselves. To this day, we continue to make thousands of calls, guide people through their career journeys, and continue to learn that personalized relationships are what truly make the difference. Every conversation matters, and we see firsthand how voice, tone, and attention to detail can transform a single interaction into a lasting connection.
Over the last 2 years, as founders of OutRival, we’ve worked closely with customer experience teams across industries. We understand the pressures they face to deliver personalized interactions at scale, all while balancing efficiency and business impact. We’ve seen the disconnect between teams that understand customer needs and the tools available to bring those insights to life.
With OutRival, companies can leverage their deep domain expertise through an intuitive interface—without needing to reskill or worry about mastering the latest AI technology. Our platform empowers them to design solutions that increase satisfaction, cut costs, and grow revenue, while ensuring that human relationships stay central to every interaction.
OutRival puts voice and personalization at the core of its platform, making sure that every customer experience is as personal and meaningful as it is efficient.
Every brand has a voice—today, that voice is primarily powered by humans.
In the future, that experience will continue to be powered by humans, but they will be augmented by a different kind of technology.
Our friends in Silicon Valley refer to this type of technology as an AI agent, but what they really are is an extension of your team—like a personal assistant that works 24/7.
These AI agents handle repetitive tasks, such as answering routine questions or guiding customers through workflows, allowing your team to focus on what they do best: building relationships. The best part? With OutRival, anyone on your customer experience team can design these agents—no technical background required.
Soon, there will be more AI agents than humans on the planet. By empowering customer experience teams to create Conversational AI Agents that align with their brand's voice, companies can deliver the kind of personalized, memorable experiences that customers expect.
Higher education is no exception. With an alarming rate of college closures—currently, one U.S. college closes every week—universities face pressure to serve more students with fewer resources. Even as the number of institutions declines, demand for education remains high as individuals seek to prepare for a technology-driven future, with around 19 million enrollments projected in 2024.
Each year, over 25 million students navigate decisions about where to attend and how to finance their education. System inefficiencies often add to this challenge—this year alone, 4 million financial aid calls went unanswered, leaving many students without the support they need.
Moreover, colleges are recognizing the importance of being accountable for demonstrating clear student outcomes, such as job placement rates and post-graduation earnings, to justify rising tuition and secure future enrollment.
In this evolving landscape, Conversational AI technology is essential to helping institutions answer calls and manage these student/customer interactions efficiently, providing colleges with the tools they need to deliver personalized experiences without adding to their headcount.
Unlike other AI Agent platforms that cater primarily to developers, OutRival is built for the people who understand your customers best.
AI's transformative power in education has already been demonstrated by platforms like Khan Academy’s Khanmigo and Duolingo (read Brave New Words), giving us a glimpse of what’s possible.
By removing the learning curve and making AI accessible to everyone, OutRival isn’t just helping companies keep up with the competition—it’s enabling them to outpace it, using the tools they already trust and invest in.
Here’s what sets us apart:
Florida is home to some of the fastest-growing colleges, while the South has a strong presence of HBCUs and engineering schools, which play a pivotal role in advancing diversity in education. Our goal is to empower these institutions with AI-driven tools that can scale personalized admissions and student engagement.
In addition to these institutions, we aim to support leading universities on the East Coast and in the Midwest, where AI is already playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of education. Similarly, we strive to help community colleges across California and the U.S., which are critical in providing accessible education to diverse student populations.
With deep roots in Silicon Valley, including our experience with Y Combinator’s W19 batch and backing from top investors, we are connected to the forefront of AI innovation, with access to thought leaders and institutions driving AI research.
Since our Series B in 2022, we’ve been committed to helping higher education institutions leverage AI to enhance admissions, recruitment, and alumni engagement at scale.
While we’re starting in higher education, where institutions face immense pressure to improve enrollment efficiency and ROI, the power of AI Agents goes far beyond this sector.
Many industries struggle with the limitations of outdated IVR systems and the need for more personalized, scalable customer interactions. The Conversational AI Agents your company creates with OutRival’s Platform are built to handle large volumes of voice calls, texts, and routine tasks, making them adaptable to any business that relies on customer experience and contact center technology. By leveraging what we learn in higher education, we aim to help Fortune 1000 companies across industries revolutionize how they interact with their customers, increasing satisfaction and driving growth.
OutRival is already making waves in industries like HR, education, real estate, and travel, and we’re just getting started.
Picture this: The teams that know your customers best—those optimizing the student, employee, candidate, patient, guest, etc experience—can build AI solutions themselves in any industry.
AI isn’t going to replace you, a generalist with no ego, using AI tools is going to do the work that 10+ people used to do.
As a leader, if you aren’t actively using AI tools to run experiments in your company, you are missing a key ingredient to the process of invention. As AI transforms industries, businesses must innovate and adapt to stay competitive.
Co-intelligence is the future—where humans and AI collaborate to create solutions that are faster, more personalized, and more efficient.
We’re not here to compete; we’re here to OutRival. The best innovations come from those closest to the customer, and OutRival unlocks that potential, empowering companies to set a new standard with AI.
This isn’t just about keeping up—it’s about staying ahead. Those who embrace AI today won’t just follow trends; they’ll dominate tomorrow. OutRival isn’t just another tool—it’s your competitive edge in reshaping the future of customer experience.
Don’t wait to see where the industry goes—lead it. Let’s unlock your team’s potential and revolutionize how you connect with your customers. Reach out today and discover how OutRival can accelerate your journey, putting you at the forefront of the AI-powered revolution.
