Expectations for customer service are higher today than a year ago, with the coronavirus pandemic fueling online shopping and challenging enterprise customer service operations, according to Customer Thermometer. That puts companies offering automation solutions in the right place at the right time. Directly of San Francisco, cofounded by Antony Brydon, Jean Tessier and Jeff Patterson, offers a platform to integrate into call centers and provide a mix of automation and human support. Directly recently added $11 million in funding to bring its total investor commitment to $66.8 million, according to Crunchbase. The Directly platform is trained by thousands of subject matter experts to analyze call center interactions and provide a degree of automation, according to a recent account in VentureBeat.