Signals, a startup focused on building an AI-powered cloud workforce platform, officially launched today. The company aims to help businesses automate customer interactions in sales, marketing, customer service, and human resources.
The platform can deploy cloud-based "AI employees" that are ready to use right away, integrate easily into corporate systems, and understand business contexts.
"It has been pre-trained on over a billion sales conversations," said Dave Elkington, founder and CEO of Signals, in an interview with SiliconANGLE. "This allows us to deliver agents that are ready for specific use cases, whether it's scheduling appointments, resolving issues, or expanding accounts."
For example, Elkington explained that if someone calls to book an appointment with a chiropractor or dentist, the company has successfully assisted over 150 million such cases. These AI staff can operate across multiple communication channels, including phone calls, emails, chat messages, and social media, enabling organizations to engage with customers anywhere.
Signals' AI agents can integrate with every data pool within a company and access customer relationship management systems, enterprise resource planning tools like Oracle, as well as behavioral data from websites, allowing them to be highly informed.
"All this data is essentially signals," Elkington explained, adding that this is also where the company's name originated. "As employees, we should know this information, but no single tool can do that. Our agents can."
These agents are available 24/7 without taking breaks. They can handle outreach or follow-ups via email and phone, thus enhancing the work of sales and marketing teams. This makes them a valuable asset for companies looking to maintain strong relationships with customers or attract potential leads.
"Signals’ AI cloud workforce improved our inbound lead follow-up performance by 23% and scheduled more meetings than our previous processes," said Gabe Larsen, Chief Marketing Officer of Kustomer LLC, an AI-driven customer service platform. "By reimagining what’s possible, our sales pipeline increased by 33%. Signals not only saved us thousands of dollars but also helped us unlock a faster, smarter, always-on revenue engine."
Signals' agents can also make external calls and communicate in a surprisingly natural manner. When they call, they inform the recipient that they are "AI agents" from Signals or acting on behalf of its clients, explaining the reason for their call. They can answer questions, find and update information, register for events, and more.
In one instance, Elkington recalled an agent calling a receptionist to follow up on an email and requesting to speak with someone. The receptionist was unsure whether the person worked there and asked if the AI could wait. The agent responded, "Take your time; I can wait. I'm just an AI, not in a hurry."
Elkington believes what sets the company apart in the market is that Signals' agents learn from every interaction. The AI is designed to continuously improve through reinforcement learning from each conversation.
Just like talking to a human, "this call will be recorded for training purposes," where a sub-AI listens to the call and evaluates the success of the outcome. If the conversation doesn’t go well, the system automatically adjusts instructions to improve future responses.
Although the company officially launched today, Signals is already profitable and has deployed hundreds of AI cloud workers across more than 65 organizations.
"Typically, when companies deploy AI agents, it’s very specific: an email agent, a chat agent, or a voice agent. We have a very different vision," Elkington said. "With us, you create an employee who understands the company culture, history, and has access to the technical stack. It learns, evolves, and communicates with customers in a way that aligns with their needs."
