The team at AIRA started off 2020 with the recent news surrounding a change in ownership and the sunsetting of the Horizon product. J.J. caught up with Troy Otillio, CEO of AIRA, outside the Exhibit Hall floor to discuss several topics regarding the service. Listen in, or read the transcript below, as the pair talk about the future of AIRA and answer some of the questions sent into us by our Twitter followers. To stay up to date with the goings on at AIRA, or to sign up for the service, visit the company's website
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Transcript
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Hide transcriptTranscribed By Grecia Ramirez
Direct from Anaheim, it’s blindbargains.com coverage of CSUN 2020, brought to you by AFB AccessWorld.
For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings; access technology book reviews and mobile apps and how they can enhance entertainment, education, and employment, log onto AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind’s free monthly online technology magazine, www.afb.org/aw.
Now, here’s J.J. Meddaugh.
J.J. Meddaugh: CSUN 2020 in the hallway outside the Exhibit Hall, where I have found Troy Otillio, or he found me or something to that effect. New CEO of Aira, and here to talk about all things past, present, and future with Aira.
Welcome to the podcast, Troy.
TROY OTILLIO: Thanks, J.J. Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here at CSUN. It’s, what, my fifth year; right?
JM: Yeah.
TA: And a little bit different this year, and also important because as the new CEO, I’m here to, like, share. I’m here to listen. And, at the same time, we can’t ignore that there’s not as many people here. And there’s, like, a worldwide event going on, so – but I’m happy to be here.
JM: Absolutely. So let’s talk a bit about you. You are the new CEO, but you’re not new to Aira. So tell everyone a little bit about what you’ve done with the company in the past.
TA: Sure. So I’m proud to say that I’ve been with Aira since the beginning. Suman and I knew each other at Intuit. In fact, we worked on a couple projects. And because I had a background in startups, when he was contemplating Aira, you know, he would consult with me on this idea. And he got so passionate about it. And he asked me one day -- he’s like, what do you think I should do? Intuit’s a great company. Should I leave and go pursue this dream? And I told him, you can’t close that door now. It’s you. You got to go find out if this is your mission. And of course, it was.
Low and behold, I found myself at Aira, both as an investor to begin with because I just thought it was an awesome idea and something, you know, I believed in. And I believe in Suman. And then, I couldn’t, you know – I had to do more, and I, you know, have a background in leadership and technology, and I decided to leave Intuit, in part because I wanted to go pursue something even more passionate. And so I left in part because my oldest daughter went off to college, so I had the time to go, you know, spend the hours and hours that are a startup. And I’ve been here since the very beginning, kind of not as public, but really, the guy in the background helping scale the agent services, leading our access sales effort, and, you know, in the day-to-day of everything. And I love Aira. I love our – you know, I love our agents. I love the mission we’re on, and I’m now excited to play the most, you know, perhaps the most important role of my life as CEO of Aira.
JM: And we’ll talk about some of these new initiatives that you’re doing in just a minute. But let’s talk about the investment. Recently, there’s been a bit of transition. You decided to invest even more in Aira, I believe?
TA: Yeah.
JM: And obviously, showing a commitment to the future of the platform. So what did you see in that and –
TA: Yeah. Sure. So it’s publicly out there, you know. Aira has raised 35 million dollars from venture capitalists, and that’s awesome. They saw the vision that Suman had, and they’ve been along with us the whole time. At the same time, when you’re a venture-backed company, you know, you’re looking to grow at a hyper rate, and what I could see was that that hyper rate was very expensive. And what I see instead -- and I think that the group I’m with sees -- is that we want to see Aira around for 25 years. We want to see it here for a long time. And to really support that company, we need to run it a little more – I call it pragmatically with all the passion.
And so the idea was to kind of reset a bit of the mission, or the approach, to just run a little more sustainable, a little more pragmatically. And with that, while we’re not making a lot of significant changes – we’ll talk about one of them, Horizon. But we’re here to, like, figure out and look ahead more in a, you know, multi-year view instead of, like, how can we grow hyper fast in the next year?
JM: Yeah. I told some people towards the beginning that I think Aira, at some point, was doing the dartboard approach and throwing out 50 different ideas just to kind of see what sticks, and it seems like now, you’re trying to get a bit more focus on the core and what works the most; right?
TA: And I think if you look at a lot of startups, the ideas that you have, you know, you throw out a lot of darts and -- exactly what you said. You've got to go with the ones that stick instead of the ones that maybe were your idea or that you just were sure were going to work. And you kind of have to follow where that market leads you, especially as you get bigger. I mean, Aira was founded on – I mean, Suman – I think the whole company did a great job of not just bringing a technology and saying, hey, this is great. You should use it. It was really about, frankly, listening and doing, you know, hundreds of thousands of hours of work; listening to customers; prototyping, and I think what we’ve arrived at is where -- our customers vote with two things.
They vote with, you know – there’s free Aira, there’s paid Aira, but they vote with their calls. Like, what are they calling for, why are they calling? We have that data, and I know what that is, we know what that is. And it’s really about that agent experience. And they also vote with their wallet, for, you know, the paid portions of Aira, whether it’s Horizon or whether it’s subscription.
So we listen and we follow where that, you know, activity is going. And so with this new approach at Aira, you know, we’re going to continue that pragmatic approach. We’re going to listen to our customers and we’re going to follow where they – you know, where they lead and where our ideas and imagination can kind of lead them to new places, you know?
JM: Yeah. How do you find that that balance of staying viable yet also, you know, supporting customers, agents, everybody else in the field? I know you’ve gone through some transitions –
TA: Uh-huh.
JM: -- some people, you know, were let go of recently. I know there’s been a lot of transition. And so what do you do to ensure the viability? Where does the – is the money going to be mostly from corporate or from users or –
TA: I think it’s combined. I mean – so our agents are paid; right? They’re professionals –
JM: Yes.
TA: -- this is their job. They love – they wake up every day – they love their job. I mean, I – you know, for the users who work with our agents – and I’m assuming most of these are Aira folks that maybe listen to this podcast – they feel your love, and sometimes your disappointment, when there’s those cases where a session doesn’t work out, and they grow from that. And so how do we make this thing sustainable? I think it’s a – it’s a multipronged approach.
So certainly, there’s users who want a lot more from Aira and, you know, are in an economical position to pay more for those extra services, and we want to keep offering the right value for the money that they can afford to pay. And we’ll continue to evolve, like, those kind of capabilities. At the same time, we know that corporations and, you know, whether the corporations or government, they want to engage this audience. They want to demonstrate inclusion. They want to connect with this audience, and we’re giving them a way to do that, and that’s unique; right?
JM: Yeah.
TA: And we’re very proud of that and very proud of a lot of our sponsors, whether it’s Intuit or Vispero or Bank of America or Target -- and I can go on. And I hate to not list one of the 150 access partners. And so I think that it’s a combined, you know, a combined contribution to help this grow into something that is increasingly affordable for everyone, and I really appreciate everyone who is contributing their time and money to help us grow.
So I think we continue doing what we’re doing, but let’s stay on track on what features, capabilities users want to pay for. Let’s keep on track with growing this access network, which takes not just Aira, but the advocacy of everyone who’s, you know, not just using Aira but, I think, over here at CSUN. And I think the more products that are out there that are illustrating that the benefits and, maybe sometimes, the needs around accessibility, I think that helps everyone because it’s in part, in my opinion, awareness that still needs to grow in this larger audience of the United States and outside the United States.
JM: It seems like there are definitely some corporate partners that are finding value in this. Target keeps expanding their Aira presence. Now it’s in every single store, and you’re doing more transit pilots and –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- City pilots in Milwaukee being one of the latest. It seems like that’s been working out really well.
TA: Yeah. And I think we’re just getting started. I mean, with roughly 150 access partners – some of those are employers. Many of them are folks you mentioned, either transportation, retail, banking. What we’re finding is there are early adopters in those markets who see the value and are embracing early. And then what we find is that in some of those markets, as you turn on one, two, or more of the same, you know, in a vertical. So let’s take, you know, Target and, let’s say, Walgreens, you know, it’s still very early. There’s a lot more folks in the retail space to go. You know, we have no fast-food, really, to speak of. There’s markets we haven’t even penetrated.
And then, if you look at transportation, boy. Airports. Early on, it was a difficult sell. It took a long time because it’s a new product and it’s not in anyone’s budget. Now, airports are signing up, in part, just because they’ve seen that our other airports get the benefit and it’s an easy decision for them. So I think it’s about – we’re in early days and, you know, we need the collective support of industry, we need the collective support of the users to, you know, who advocate and share and kind of really bring to light the benefit that everyone’s getting.
JM: So you mentioned that data, and right now, the interaction is pretty much 100 percent human aided, you know, with –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- with an agent. But of course, with the advancements in AI, there’s a lot of potential in a lot of different areas to perhaps supplement that. And, you know, you’re collecting a lot of data and –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- info on what are the most common requests, things like that. How can you – are you looking to leverage some of that data to perhaps create a blended experience that sometimes is human interaction, sometimes is perhaps, you know, automated tools or things like that, or – what are you thinking about in that direction?
TA: Nice setup. So first off, anyone who knows me knows I’m kind of a data geek. I just – I find data fascinating. And it’s not the be-all-end-all, but with data, you can do a lot of things and, of course, AI’s built on data, and I’m going to talk about more. But firstly, I just want to start with privacy and security.
And just to be very clear, I mean, our biggest asset with that – I think the brand and the value we’re creating is about trust. And there’s a –
JM: Right.
TA: -- lot of services out there. And they’re all great and there’s uses for all of them, but what our customers, I think, are finding is that we have agents that are trained and there’s trust, and with trust, you can do a lot. And we’re getting data as a side effect of that trust, and we use it for operations. But you know, we really explicitly wrote our privacy policy, and we’ll continue to evolve it. And I just want to be clear with all the users, we will always be thinking about privacy and what is appropriate, and if we ever ask for more data or to share more, we’ll be very explicit and there will be an opt-in. So I just know there’s a lot of concerns always about privacy, and someone who used to work at turbo tax and a lot of us came from Intuit, we’re – you know, we just are built in with that, like, passion for security and privacy.
So with that said, yeah. What are we doing with AI? Can we reduce the cost of service with AI? Can we improve the – you know, the outcomes with our service with data and AI? And the answer’s yes. So today, we leverage our data quite heavily in our operations, everything from determining how many agents to schedule in an hour to determining, you know, how our agents are performing, where do we need to invest in training, where’s our technology fragile? It’s one reason, you know, when I looked at Verizon, it wasn’t just a guess at, you know, is it meeting the Aira bar, but, you know, we could clearly see how that system is operating.
As it relates to AI, I think it’s a great time to be in the market. I think if you look at -- all companies are looking how do they leverage AI, but to use and leverage AI, you need data. And Aira’s data-rich relative to other systems that are just collecting clicks from a website; right? We’ve got rich interaction, and we’re using that data, frankly, right now to optimize internal processes. And I think you’ll see, over time, we’ll expose some of those as automated features as ways that perhaps route your call and – I don’t want to give away too much because, you know, it’s a road map item, and maybe that’s another interview we could have.
JM: Sure.
TA: Yeah.
JM: So lots to unpack here and a few different directions I want to go –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- but let’s come back to the privacy stuff for –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- just a second because there has been some questions that have come in from users and others –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- one of them related to the Sight Access program, which enables the use of Aira in a lot of public locations, the New York MTA –
TA: Uh-huh.
JM: -- Mass transit authority –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- enables free Aira everywhere. So not only are you getting the interaction between the agent and the explorer, you’re getting lots of other bystanders who probably really didn’t opt into anything, just happened to be there. How can you find that balance to ensure the privacy of others while maintaining the experience for the agent and explorer?
TA: Yeah. That’s a great question. And, you know, we all know this is an evolving topic; right? There’s cameras everywhere; right? And not just cameras mounted and monitored by places like the MTA, like, we all are running around with a camera. We all have a phone, and I think, if you think about the origin of Aira; right? Like, the origin of Aira was Google Glass. And if you think about Google Glass, you know, Google launched that, and it was like a phenomenon, and then it was a flop. Then why was it a flop? Because society didn’t like the idea of some people filming everywhere. And, you know, I don’t think Aira’s going to set the standard, but I think we can help influence the standard. And this is a long way of saying I think we’re still trying to figure out what that correct balance is and, you know, what the rights are. We have – you know. We consult our attorneys and we consult others, and I think more partnership is needed with more companies to kind of decide what is appropriate, because you’re right. Those are -- you know, security, privacy, quality, personalization, those all come into play, and I guess it’s one way of saying like, we’re still in that development phase. So maybe not the answer that, you know – definitive, but I’m just going to say we’re going to do right by our customers, and we’re going to do right by, you know, what’s required by law, and we’re going to do what’s in the best interest of our access partners who are supporting that, but it’s going to come with the customer first. That’s always going to be what does the explorer need, want, and what’s appropriate?
JM: Did I hear correctly there was a specific situation regarding TSA checkpoints at the New York airports?
TA: Boy, I’m not an expert on this. I can tell you that we – I know certain explorers use Aira through TSA checkpoints. I know sometimes TSA asks for the equipment to be turned off. I wish I had a better answer. I just know that it’s often situational. I know that there’s different policies even in – internationally whether it’s Australia, New Zealand. You know, security comes first. So, you know, if security requires that the Aira service isn’t used in a certain area, that’s what’s going to happen.
JM: Sure.
TA: Yeah.
JM: Although it’s funny. I’ve heard a couple agents talk about -- joking, being pushed. They could just watch the camera go through the belt.
TA: Oh. Interesting. The belt. Yeah. I – yeah. It’s facing up, it’s going through the x-ray.
JM: Yeah.
TA: Who knows what it sees?
JM: Yeah. Absolutely.
TA: Yeah. That’s a good one.
JM: One more thing on privacy before we move –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- toward some other stuff: There’s been a lot of questions around the recordings. I mean, lots and lots of companies make recordings of calls --
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- for quality control –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- and training, of course. You guys do the same thing.
TA: Yeah.
JM: There is a pretty buried option in the terms and conditions that explorers can opt out on those on a per-call basis, but to this point, there’s no way for users to have access to their own recordings.
TA: Yes.
JM: What’s – is the reasoning for that, and is that something that can be changed in the future?
TA: That’s certainly something that can be changed in the future. And we were very cautious when we started Aira because we know we’re collecting information and data and really, where we opted was to be very conservative about how we use that – those videos; right? So some of those videos are, you know, in people’s homes. Some of them are in public places, so the idea was no. This is for quality control in an anonymized fashion. If we can build AI features off it to reduce the cost of services, make it better, you know, we’re going to do that too.
And so – but right now, they’re being used to ensure that our agents are doing – giving the best service they can. It allows us to come back and review when we get feedback that they’re not. It allows us to go back and even identify where agents are, you know, providing extraordinary service. So we use it today in quality control. I’ve had a lot of users ask for their sessions. And we have a blanket policy right now -- and it’s in our privacy policy as well that, you know, here’s what we do with your data, here’s how we share it, and we do not provide access to the videos. And that could be something that could change, but if we did, we’d be very explicit about it, and we’d be very clear and deliberate and slow to kind of share that. And I do understand the need and some of the value. There’s also the unknown unknown. What happens if there’s, you know, a flood of Aira videos out there? Like, what’s the policy? Who decides, you know, which ones are appropriate?
JM: Yeah.
TA: And so all those questions have to be answered before we can, you know, think about something different.
JM: Is the global opt-out a possibility for users?
TA: So that’s something that we’ve talked about. I mean, a lot of – you know, today, just in case anyone doesn’t know, you can ask on any session, hey, agent -- you wouldn’t say, hey, agent. You’d know the agent’s name.
JM: Right.
TA: You would ask, like, I prefer this session doesn’t – you know, please don’t record, and off you go. And so it makes sense to have a more convenient model where you would have a setting, for our app. We just don’t have that today, and that’s something we’re looking at.
JM: Okay. So let’s – you alluded a bit to Horizon.
TA: Uh-huh.
JM: Of course there’s been some changes in that realm, so recap what the current situation is and how we got to this point with the Horizon.
TA: Yeah. Okay. I’ll start with the short version, and then we’ll go with the long version.
JM: I’ll get some popcorn. We’re good.
TA: Yeah. Yeah. So the short version is as we announced in Email and then follow-up calls to Verizon owners in person, that we’re discontinuing Horizon. The last call on Horizon we made at the end of the month. And so what that means to users is they were contacted and they were given options, you know, depending on if they purchased or they were given the Horizon for free. And so – and that’s all taken place. But the last call will take place on the 30th. And for people who have the equipment, you know, we’re – you can – it’s there; right?
JM: Yeah.
TA: Whether – you can sell the phone, you can mount it on the wall, you can – you can go to your local provider and turn it into a functioning phone tied to a data plan. It’s yours. I think what we found is that this setup still hasn’t met the Aira standard, which is to say, I might have alluded to this before – we – when you talk about data, we look at how many calls people are making with Verizon, we look at the feedback we get through tech support, we talk to people, some – even at CSUN today. And what we found is that it didn’t meet the bar, and then like, the really killer problem is we need to be able to update that phone, we need to be able to update the software so that we can evolve the service and make it better, and we just – we couldn’t do it. And, you know, my – it was my call, and apologies to those who are inconvenienced or otherwise this is frustrating.
My commitment is we’re going to eventually find that the industry produces a solution that is easy to use, you know, has a camera, has audio, has easy-to-use connectivity, battery life, all the great stuff. And when that day comes – and maybe there’s something that we found here at CSUN here or maybe there’s something around the corner, we will deploy Aira on that. You know, our commitment is to put Aira everywhere it makes sense so it is convenient to call, it’s easy to use.
JM: There are –
TA: The longer story, just for fun. Just to remember.
JM: Uh-huh.
TA: We’ve been at this five years. Aira started on Google glass, we went to Austria. And through this journey, we found all the friction points and looked to eliminate them. Horizon was our next attempt, but I can say that, you know, that we’re still not there yet. The industry isn’t there. We’re not there yet, but we’ll be there when, you know, the conditions are all right
JM: It sounds to me that you felt the gap between Horizon, the discontinuing of Horizon and when the next solution would come along was too long as opposed to just try to hold on to Horizon for few months when something might come along.
TA: Exactly. Yeah. And it comes back to – as the CEO and as – and the new, perhaps – I don’t want to say new mindset, but the operating philosophy is about passion and pragmatism. So, you know, I just couldn’t look at the challenges our users were having, the amount of resources we were spending on this device in relation to other things that propelled all the users, and, you know, just had to make that choice. And exactly that. I – there’s just – we can’t hang onto this solution that’s not performing in the way that, you know, meeting everyone’s expectations. And so – yeah. We’re at a gap.
JM: Do you happen to know about what percent of calls were Horizon calls?
TA: I can say – you know, I’ve shared -- I’ve shared some details before. I would say that ultimately, we saw not enough calls. It was somewhere below, you know, 20 percent or lower for –
JM: Yeah.
TA: -- the – on aggregate. But at the same time, you know, a lot of users probably sitting out there, there’s some who were, you know, 100 percent Horizon and really thrilled with that experience from – because it really met their need in terms of really preferring a, you know, a hands-free experience. And so we saw both. Yeah.
JM: Sure. I wonder, too, because what Horizon gave you was an opportunity to sell a hardware product to the VA and government and other organizations where – it seems like it might be more difficult to sell minutes or apps to those people.
TA: It could be. We’re working with the VA. I mean, I think the VA serve to serve their constituents and, you know, I think Aira is a great solution. It’s been proven and, you know, it’s been ultimately about that service, and we’re actively working with them to look at the solution and not just, you know, the fact it’s hardware or a service. Yeah. So we’ll –
JM: Sure.
TA: -- we’ll find a solution.
JM: Sure.
TA: Yeah.
JM: And it sounds like – you alluded to it. I mean, there are companies in the Exhibit Hall that actually still showed up that do have smartglasses or are doing things with wearables. Do you see a potential of partnering with one of them, at least as an option for users that want –
TA: It’s absolutely an option. I think, you know, one reason I come to CSUN, one reason a lot of us come to CSUN is to go find those new companies or existing companies and – yeah. We’re actively evaluating people that are here and as – you know – a reminder to all of the explorers. I mean, you guys are very creative as a group, and there’s a lot of solutions out there, you know. And as I’ve put in an Email to the Horizon users in particular, send us your thoughts and ideas, and we’ll go hunt those down. But we’re also taking it upon ourselves to then reach out and talk to folks, some of whom are here. Yeah.
JM: Great. Just a couple specific questions that came in on Twitter when we –
TA: Uh-huh.
JM: -- put out a call. We had someone writing in asking about the status of Aira in the U.K., which, I believe you had a pilot project and then –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- you temporarily left that market.
TA: Yeah. So look. We’d love to be in the U.K., but we didn’t get much response from access partners outside of Heathrow and Gatwick when last we attempted. You know, if I got a call from, like, you know, Marks and Spencer’s or the metro saying they wanted – they want the tube to be an access partner, I would say, likely, yes. U.K., here we come. You know.
So I think we’re in that phase where we’re going to look at – we’re always looking at the U.K. I think now is a good time, you know, given that we’ve – you know, we don’t have hardware to ship over to the U.K, so it does make it a little easier, but I think the key is going to be defining those access partners who can kind of support the journey. And so again, I would encourage anyone who’s in the U.K. who’s listening to this to help us, you know, get a foothold there.
JM: Why the need, then, for corporate access partners? Is it just some of the startup funding to enter a new market?
TA: Yeah. I mean, I think if you look at this -- even to -- you know, Aira’s a paid service; right? Those agents, again, are out there, you know –
JM: Yeah.
TA: -- getting paid, and they’re professionals, and we have a, you know, a service that we have to tend to. And having partners out there are a signal to the users that this service is going to be affordable and also, you know, helps with the overall economic model. It also helps us – you know, they champion the service. And so I think that we found that having access partners and free users and subscribers all together is the right mix. And so we just want to make sure that we get off on a strong footing when we do enter a new market.
JM: Sure. Does GDPR have anything to do with Europe, and is there additional considerations over there?
TA: I mean, GDPR is something we’ve already looked at and we’ve, you know, had to implement. We have users over there. Certainly with a larger user base, there’s going to be potentially more requests, there’s going to be more, you know, activity there. But we’re ready from a GDPR perspective, yeah.
JM: Okay. We had also a question to ask you about one of those features that was talked about, I think at a convention somewhere, about having agents to perform specialized tasks, like someone –
TA: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
JM: -- that was specialized in travel or reading mail. Is that something that you’re still –
TA: Yeah –
JM: -- considering?
TA: -- that’s definitely on the road map. I can say that that will happen, and if we promised a date before and we didn’t hit it -- you know, I don’t think we promised a date. I can say that we’ve made development progress on that. You know, I can share that that’s definitely on the road map. Is it going to happen this year or next year? I wouldn’t want to misset expectations, but it’s something we’ve heard a lot from customers and, back to the way we operate is we listen to our customers. And then we, you know, provide creative solutions and we implement and -- yeah. We’re – I’m excited about that potential for sure.
JM: Sure. You got a lot of traction with the free five-minute call offer.
TA: Yeah.
JM: Did that ultimately help you gain traction? Is that something you would have still done today? Maybe because you – it seems like you could almost turn some paid users into free users that were -- you know, if all your calls fall under a few minutes or you fit under one of the promotional offers. Is that going to be still an ongoing thing that you’re going to continue for the foreseeable future?
TA: Yeah. I mean, I’m, again, going to apply the lens of pragmatism, but I can tell you what is great about the five-minute free call. So, like a lot of services out there, the pay wall doesn’t – you know, you don’t hit the pay wall before you – to enable the service. Like, you can use Spotify –
JM: Yeah.
TA: -- for free; right?
JM: All month.
TA: I used to be – I loved Pandora, I love Spotify. But I used to be a Pandora user. But if someone would have said, hey, pay, you know, to use Spotify, I would say I’m happy with Pandora. But it was free, so I used it, and, you know, I found that it was valuable, and then I didn’t want the ads anymore so personally, I paid; right? So there’s that, kind of, pay walls a little bit later.
What we found with Aira is it’s still new, and it takes multiple calls before people really – most people get comfortable, they understand for themselves what Aira means. And so the five-minute free is one way just to allow people to use it in a limited way, let’s say. And maybe that’s enough; right? That’s great because not everyone can afford or has the need, perhaps, to use more. And we got access partners for that anyway. So five-minute free is really there to allow people to try it in a way that’s convenient, continue to use it, and it also helps with the larger picture of access.
So brands want to, you know, really deliver diversity, inclusion, and a better experience, and the more folks who are using Aira means that they deliver that – you know, they deliver more value. So –
JM: Sure.
TA: -- free customers are great. I mean, they really – again, back to this bigger picture, the more -- as an industry, we can illuminate, like, the benefits of accessibility, of access, of diversity, inclusion. The more I think you’ll find all of, you know, the economy, all of – more people will invest their time, energy, and support here. And so free is just another way to kind of raise awareness, to get more usage, to get more access partners and, frankly, part of the mission of Aira is to be sustainable and to deliver, you know, this critical information. It’s not about how to grow this great empire. It’s really the mission of delivering information on demand. Yeah.
JM: And finding a way to do it and –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- and stay in business. I mean –
TA: Yeah.
JM: Yeah. They all kind of –
TA: They all come together.
JM: -- come together. Absolutely.
TA: Yeah.
JM: Sir, before we go, we’ll expand how you’d like to talk about the big picture, and I think that’s important to do. So let’s talk about where you – you know – I don’t want to do the cliché, where do you see –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- yourself in five years? But, you know, looking ahead in the next year or two, I mean, I know you can’t tell me your entire road map, but –
TA: Yeah.
JM: -- where do you see Aira going? In what type of direction compared to where it’s been in the past.
TA: Well, in the past, we’ve – boy, we’ve done a lot. You know, we started very small, did a lot of iterating on the product, and then ramped up to where we are today. And along the way, we tried a lot of things. Some were very successful, some didn’t yield the results. Over the next year, I’m really going to be playing more or less the strategy of expanding our service to our core constituency, improving even beyond what we have today as an awesome agent experience, but making sure that that’s capable, reliable, meeting the needs of our users while adding incrementally new capabilities. So nothing exciting or super dramatic in the next year. I think it’s just deliver what we already have, incrementally improve, and then coming out of that, we’ll be set up to then look at investing in, you know, bigger leaps. You mentioned call-routing. Like, there’s a lot of things that we have that we know will provide value, and finding out what that next thing is is what we’ll be doing in the next six months to decide what that next big evolution of Aira is. Yeah.
JM: Great. Definitely appreciate you taking time and talking to us today and –
TA: Thanks J.J.
JM: I’m pretty sure everyone knows, but just in case, go ahead and give the website and contact information.
TA: Yeah. So Aira is simple. It’s www.aira.io. And that’s A-i-r-a.io.
JM: Great. Thank you so much, Troy.
TA: All right. Take care. See you guys.
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.
