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Editorial Advisory Board

  • Professor Andrea M. Armani, University of Southern California
  • Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D., LightSolver
  • James Butler, Ph.D., Hamamatsu
  • Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Ph.D., Columbia University
  • Justin Sigley, Ph.D., AmeriCOM
  • Professor Birgit Stiller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz University of Hannover
  • Professor Stephen Sweeney, University of Glasgow
  • Mohan Wang, Ph.D., University of Oxford
  • Professor Xuchen Wang, Harbin Engineering University
  • Professor Stefan Witte, Delft University of Technology

Strolid and Frontline Group Redefine the Contact Center Through Virtualized Conversations

SALEM, N.H. and PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a strategic alliance that blends empathy, intelligence, and execution, Frontline Group and Strolid are joining forces to embed vCons (Virtualized Conversations), a groundbreaking data standard for call intelligence, into the modern contact center.

At the heart of this initiative is a shared belief: AI should serve people, not replace them.

Led by Frontline Group CEO Jill Blankenship and Strolid CTO Thomas McCarthy-Howe, who co-authored the IETF’s vCon Internet-Draft, this relationship sets a new standard for contact centers, including those supporting at-risk communities, to capture every conversation as structured, AI-ready insight without losing human nuance.

“Technology should amplify humanity, not replace it,” said Jill Blankenship, founder and CEO of Frontline Group. “With vCons, our agents gain perfect recall. Every interaction becomes actionable, transparent, and transformational.”

This isn’t just another tech integration. It’s the convergence of two companies committed to operationalizing empathy at scale. Frontline, with 400 employees and $25 million in annual revenue, brings a human-first approach to customer care across healthcare, finance, and public service sectors. Strolid’s vCon Conserver platform provides the trusted infrastructure to scale that approach, securely, intelligently, and at speed.

From the Core to the Crisis Call

vCons will first go live within Frontline’s BPO operations, including Frontline Connect, the company’s contact enablement platform. This ensures every conversation, voice, SMS, chat, and email is immediately structured, searchable, and secure.

Externally, vCons will power upcoming pilots with 211 contact centers across the U.S., transforming crisis calls into real-time intelligence. With 32 people dialing 211 every minute, the need for more intelligent systems is urgent.

Thomas McCarthy-Howe, CTO of Strolid and vCon author, said, "When we see our technology helping organizations transform crisis conversations into community intelligence that saves lives and connects people to essential services, we're reminded that meaningful connections, whether in automotive retail or social services, are what drive lasting business success. vCons don't replace the human element; they amplify it by giving Frontline's partners superhuman memory to spot patterns in chaos and respond with unprecedented precision. When embedded in a mission-driven partner like Frontline, you don't just see innovation. You see outcomes."

Architecture of Trust, Built for Impact

vCons align seamlessly with Frontline’s mission to redefine care through clarity, speed, and human connection. This deployment reinforces Frontline’s AI-enhanced, human-first positioning and elevates its ecosystem play, integrating with NICE, Microsoft, Zoom, and others.

With weeks-to-live speed, Frontline is already scaling vCon use cases internally, from reducing onboarding time to enhancing agent guidance and improving outcome reporting via SCITT-verified dashboards.

Not the Future, The Now

This isn’t theory. It’s in action. Synthetic data models are already in use, and pilot deployments with 211s are scheduled for this quarter. For public-sector contact centers, vCons represent an infrastructure upgrade, not an experiment.

“We’re not chasing trends,” Blankenship added. “We’re building the care model the future requires, faster, smarter, more human. With vCons, we don’t just answer calls, we remember people. And we respond better every time.”

About Frontline Group (https://frontline.group/)

Frontline Group is transforming customer care by pioneering an AI-enhanced, human-first approach to contact center and BPO services. Named to the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, Frontline delivers a full-circle suite that includes CX platform integration, support optimization, mobile agent enablement, and Voice AI services, deployment and consulting. Businesses, from fast-scaling SMBs to enterprise leaders, turn to Frontline for service that’s faster, friendlier, and smarter, without the bloat of legacy providers. Rooted in transparency, speed, and empathy, the company empowers organizations to scale with integrity, putting people at the center of every interaction. Backed by a sustainable, founder-led model and strategic alliances with innovators like Zoom, Nice, and Microsoft, Frontline is redefining the future of service, where intelligence meets humanity.

About Strolid (https://strolid.com)

Strolid, founded in 2014, is a pioneering tech-enabled automotive service company that revolutionizes customer engagement through its innovative Customer Lifecycle Center and expertise in automotive BDC services. With over a decade of experience serving hundreds of dealerships, Strolid combines human-centric communication with cutting-edge AI technology, including contributions to the development of the vCon Internet-Draft currently under development in the IETF. Strolid's comprehensive solution encompasses sales and service BDC, outbound engagement, and AI-driven insights, seamlessly integrating with existing CRM systems to enhance dealership efficiency, enhance customer experiences, and drive sales across multiple communication channels. As the trusted partner for transforming customer interactions, Strolid continues to set new industry standards, offering 24/7 personalized lead responses and leveraging its deep expertise in dealer operations to deliver unparalleled value to businesses and consumers in the automotive and other sectors.

Media Contacts
Ken Herron, Strolid Inc.
ken.herron@strolid.com
www.strolid.ai

Andy Abramson, Frontline Group
aabramson@comunicano.com
www.frontline.group


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