We talk to Sindhu Joseph, Founder and CEO of CogniCor about her business, legal issues and the advice she received from qLegal.
Can you tell us about CogniCor? It seems like a very interesting business.
CogniCor provides complaint-handling services on behalf of other enterprises. The service resolves complaints brought by the customers of other enterprises. CogniCor provides the service by utilising artificial intelligence technology. The technology resolves the complaints within seconds, thereby reducing the need for any human intervention.
So if you’re a customer of a telecommunications company, what’s the process to resolve a complaint?
The customer may visit the website of the telecommunications company to make a complaint, for instance in relation to additional charges on their bill. The customer will then click on the complaints section of the website. CogniCor’s artificial intelligence technology will assess the complaint and within seconds confirm if the claim is valid and if so, the sum to be refunded to the customer. If the customer is not happy with the resolution, they will then be able to phone a helpline to discuss the complaint further.
It sounds like it’s the technology of the future. How’s the business performing?
It is the technology of the future. Watch this space! CogniCor is going from strength to strength and growing. The company has also won many awards including the European Commission’s Startup Prize, Early Stage Company Prize, Wayra Barcelona Prize and BDigital Award for Digitial Innovation, among others. It’s an exciting time for the company and for all of us working here.
With pushing new boundaries, you must have had a number of legal questions and not a huge legal budget to get advice?
Yes. As a start-up, our priorities are to get the business off the ground, attract finance and grow (all within a sound legal framework). We instructed qLegal to get advice on a number of issues including the laws around complaint handling, elements of an electronic contract, liability, likelihood of a patent for our artificial intelligence function, and data and privacy law.
That must have been interesting work for the students. How was the advice you received?
The qLegal student advisers were very professional and took time to interview me and understand the business and how it operates. The work that they undertook was of a very high standard and it was extremely useful in setting out the legal position of the issues. Best of all, the service was free! I would definitely recommend qLegal to other start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Read more about Cognicor.