CINCINNATI - WorkFlex Solutions LLC, a Cincinnati-based startup company that has created Web-based software for managing call center staffing, has closed a $1.5 million venture capital investment round led by CincyTech with an initial $250,000 investment.
The company's flagship product, WorkFlex Manager, enables work force administrators to fully automate the intraday staffing process, which can generate millions of dollars in operating savings per thousand call center agents.
"Forecasting demand is a lot like forecasting the weather," said WorkFlex co-founder and CEO Larry Schwartz. "Even the best work force management systems can't generate a perfect forecast for the future. The longer that schedules are created in advance, the worse the accuracy gets.
"WorkFlex Manager effectively manages daily staffing gaps by providing optimized near real-time access to qualified workers to enable service providers to quickly adjust staff levels to actual demand. This capital investment will enable us to accelerate our strategic business development and product roadmap activities."
"We are excited to be investing in such a visionary technology company right here in Cincinnati," said Bob Coy, president of CincyTech. "WorkFlex transforms workforce administration much in the same way that real-time supply chain methodologies have done for manufacturing."
Charles Corfield, a private investor and entrepreneur who will serve on the WorkFlex board, said WorkFlex is a highly attractive early-investment opportunity.
"WorkFlex's software-as-a-service based deployment approach and ability to easily augment existing work force management systems makes it simple for customers to deploy," said Corfield, who has founded several successful technology companies, including Frame Technology, which was acquired by Adobe, iBasis, which was acquired by CISCO, and nVoq Inc., an SaaS-based speech-to-text company where he currently serves as CEO.
WorkFlex was founded in 2009 by Schwartz and Mitesh Desai. Schwartz has more than 25 years of global experience in enterprise software development, large outsourced services, and consulting including executive management roles at Convergys, Compaq, Tandem, Nortel Networks and Fuse IT Consulting. Desai's extensive experience spans technology planning, global software engineering and business operations including senior management roles at MetaSolv, Compaq, Nortel and Siemens.
The investment round is the first outside money for WorkFlex, CincyTech's 16th portfolio company.