Vision Critical took $20 million to build out its community panel platform which administers customer surveys and facilities two-way communication between organizations and consumers.
Businesses can use Vision Critical's products to engage with their customers, receive feedback, and provide customer service support. The program can be used to conduct research as well as a way to implement the findings. These tools strive to put the personal "why" into "big data."
Take Banana Republic, which used Vision Critical software to form a panel of 50,000 shoppers. By administering surveys, asking questions, and dialoguing about the fashion line, the clothing chain was able to learn more about their customers. It used the answers to stay on top of trends, make design choices, and enhance the in-store experience.
The company serves over 600 companies across the travel, tech & telecom, health, media, and retail industries. Big-name customers include Yahoo, NASCAR, Nature's Path, JetBlue, and Lonely Planet.
With this financial support, Vision Critical will introduce new product lines and expand into more markets around the world. The investment was made by OMERS Ventures, the venture capital arm of OMERS, a large Canadian pension fund.
Vision Critical is based in Cananda and has offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It was founded in 2000. This is its second round of funding.