Oscar Sanchez

"Internet and social media offer a window to the world for any small company to offer its services. But it may be necessary to attend to current or potential users´ queries by phone, and not all small companies can afford the necessary infrastructure. Óscar Sánchez is one of the cofounders of Toky, a company that offers a solution which replaces call centers with calls placed directly from an internet browser. Thanks to this development, Sánchez has been included in MIT Technology Review, Spanish Edition´s Innovators Under 35 Paraguay and Bolivia 2016 awards.

""At Toky, we have moved the call center to the cloud,"" Sánchez explains. Without the need to buy the necessary telephony hardware, as with VoIP solutions, and without any software installation, Toky allows companies to establish a voice-controlled communication channel based on the WebRTC standard. By registering in Toky, the company can manage a link which can be included in their website, email messages and social media posts. By clicking on the link, the user can automatically place a call to the company with no corresponding charge for either party.

""Today, a large part of this customer support is provided via text messages, in chat windows or through email"", this young Paraguayan points out. ""Thanks to Toky, the agent can send a link to a user at any time to continue the conversation by phone, without requiring the customer to navigate through complicated menus,"" he explains.

Speaking of menus, another one of Toky´s advantages is that the user can use the browser to introduce information prior to placing the call. This can be done through visual menus, which replace automated answering systems, or through an analysis of the browsing activity prior to the call. This way, when an agent answers a call they will already have at hand some of the data they will need in order to resolve the query.

""The problem that Toky addresses is so common, around the world and across every sector, that the potential market is overwhelming,"" according to the director of data strategy and analysis at IBM and jury member for the Innovators Under 35 Paraguay and Bolivia 2016 awards, Erick Brethenoux. In little more than one year of operation, the company accelerated by Wayra has already gained thousands of customers and attracted the attention of investors from Silicon Valley (EEUU)."