Launched in 2018 with Enterprise Ireland, the Elevation Award recognises fast-growing Irish companies with substantial potential for global expansion. Klearcom, a Customer Call Path Testing platform, is a finalist in this category. Its CEO, Liam Dunne, sits down with Business & Finance to discuss the company’s nomination.
What motivated you to start the company?
Klearcom was founded to address a specific pain point that multinational call centres were facing: the inability to monitor and manage the performance of their Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems and other telecom infrastructures in real time, especially across borders. As co-founders, Mark, Satish and I realized that when something went wrong, such as a dropped call or failed connection, businesses often learned about it only after it had already impacted customers.
This lack of visibility and the potential for customer churn became the driving force behind Klearcom. We wanted to provide a solution that not only detects issues faster but also pinpoints their root causes and helps businesses fix them before they affect customer service.
Our goal was to create a platform powered by AI and real-time monitoring, which would give call centres the tools to ensure seamless customer communication, whether through IVR systems, voice bots, or toll-free numbers.
The motivation came from a deep understanding of the stakes for large businesses, where one bad call experience could lead to losing a customer for life. Klearcom set out to fill this gap and help global enterprises like Mastercard, Hewlett Packard, Pfizer, and Visa maintain flawless customer communication, ensuring they never miss a call, and never lose a customer over a preventable telecom issue.
How does it feel to put your vision into practice? How does it feel to be an Elevation Award Finalist?
Putting Klearcom’s vision into practice has been incredibly rewarding. From the initial idea, which started in Waterford with a small group of entrepreneurs, to becoming a trusted partner of some of the world’s largest corporations, the journey has been both challenging and exhilarating.
Watching the platform grow from a concept to a fully operational, AI-powered system that helps global enterprises prevent customer outages has been a testament to the power of innovation, dedication, and teamwork. Seeing the difference Klearcom is making for multinational businesses—allowing them to ensure seamless communication and avoid telecom issues that could cost them millions—is a major source of pride.
Being named a finalist for the Elevation Award feels like a major validation of the hard work and vision that the team has put into building this company. The Elevation Award is about recognizing Irish companies with the potential to scale globally, and that’s exactly what Klearcom is doing.
The nomination underscores not only the innovation that has gone into building the platform but also the global potential the company has to continue growing and expanding its reach across multiple industries and countries. It’s a reflection of our ability to solve real-world problems on a global scale and continue pushing boundaries in the telecom testing and troubleshooting space.
What, in your opinion, specifically led to this nomination?
The nomination for the Elevation Award can be attributed to several key factors. First and foremost, Klearcom’s innovative approach to solving critical telecom issues for multinational businesses sets it apart in the industry. Our AI-driven SaaS platform offers real-time insights, allowing companies to test and monitor their IVR systems, toll-free numbers, and customer call paths across more than 100+ countries.
By providing immediate visibility into telecom issues and enabling businesses to resolve problems before they affect customers, Klearcom has positioned itself as a game-changer in the contact centre space. Additionally, the fact that we’ve been able to secure major clients like Mastercard, Hewlett Packard, Pfizer, and Visa further highlights the trust and credibility Klearcom has earned.
These clients depend on our platform to ensure flawless communication in highly sensitive industries like pharmaceuticals, finance, manufacturing, and chemical safety. Another factor contributing to this nomination is our relentless focus on innovation.
Over the past few years, we’ve introduced cutting-edge features such as automated IVR testing, fax testing, and load testing to name a few, all of which have helped our clients maintain exceptional service standards and minimize downtime. Our ability to scale these solutions globally, without requiring complex integrations, has made Klearcom the preferred choice for many enterprises.
Lastly, our rapid growth and expanding international footprint, coupled with our commitment to providing unparalleled customer service, have positioned us as one of Ireland’s most promising companies with significant potential to scale globally.
Start-ups are traditionally difficult to get off the ground – how would you advise overcoming the many obstacles that can emerge?
Starting a company is undoubtedly challenging, especially in a competitive and highly technical field like telecommunications. At Klearcom, we encountered many of the same obstacles that other start-ups face—finding early investment, building a team, developing a minimum viable product, and gaining traction in the market. One of the most important strategies for overcoming these challenges is maintaining a clear focus on solving a specific problem.
For us, it was about ensuring that multinational businesses could avoid costly telecom outages that could lead to customer churn. By staying laser-focused on this mission, we were able to develop a product that provided real value to our clients from day one. Another key piece of advice is to surround yourself with a strong support network.
Klearcom’s journey was significantly boosted by the support we received from organizations like Enterprise Ireland and local accelerators. Enterprise Ireland helped us in the early stages with grants, while accelerators such as NDRC allowed us to refine our business model and de-risk some of the assumptions we had about the market. Networking and building relationships with mentors, investors, and fellow entrepreneurs can provide invaluable advice and open doors to new opportunities.
Persistence is also crucial. There will inevitably be setbacks, whether it’s difficulty raising funds or challenges in scaling operations. What matters most is the ability to learn from these obstacles, adapt quickly, and keep pushing forward. Start-ups must also be flexible and willing to pivot when necessary, while always keeping the end goal in sight: building a product that makes a meaningful difference to customers.
Enterprise Ireland prioritises start-ups – how has support from EI impacted the global vision of your company?
Enterprise Ireland’s support has been critical in helping Klearcom realize its global vision. From the very beginning, Enterprise Ireland played a pivotal role by providing early-stage funding that enabled us to develop our minimum viable product (MVP).
This initial investment gave us the runway we needed to build and refine our platform, test it in the market, and prove that it delivered real value to customers. Without that early support, it would have been much harder for Klearcom to get off the ground and scale internationally.
Enterprise Ireland didn’t just provide financial support; they also opened doors for us by connecting us with key resources, mentors, and potential clients. As a high-potential start-up, we were able to participate in various programs that helped us refine our business model, de-risk our assumptions, and access new markets. The backing of Enterprise Ireland also provided credibility, which was especially important when we began targeting larger multinational clients. They’ve helped us grow from a start-up in Waterford to a company with offices in India and the US, serving global giants like Pfizer, Telnyx, and Danfoss.
Enterprise Ireland’s focus on helping Irish companies scale internationally aligns perfectly with Klearcom’s mission. As we continue to expand our global footprint, their support remains invaluable in helping us navigate the complexities of international markets and build long-lasting relationships with global enterprises. Their investment in our success reflects their belief in Klearcom’s potential to become a global leader in telecom testing and troubleshooting solutions.
For more information about Klearcom, click here.
Business & Finance Awards Elevation Award
The Elevation Award category was launched in 2018, in partnership with Enterprise Ireland. This award recognises Irish companies that are fast-growing and with significant potential to continue to scale globally. The Award complements the well-established Company of the Year Award.
Previous winners of the prestigious prize include Portwest in 2018, Wisetek in 2019, Aerogen in 2020, APC Ltd. in 2021, FINEOS in 2022, and Fenergo in 2023.
Attend the Awards
The award ceremony holds an important date for Irish and international business and political leaders as we recognise those paving the way for business excellence on the island of Ireland and beyond. Given demand, table availability is limited. For Partnership opportunities contact brian.kearns@businessandfinance.com.
For more information on the 50th annual Business & Finance Awards see www.businessandfinanceawards.com