C.O.O., Vannessa LeBoss, shares the journey, the mission, and the impact of 360 Direct Access.

360 Direct Access offers AI and genuine human solutions to expand services to the deaf, hard of hearing, and signing community

The Origin Story

CEO, Craig Radford, is Deaf himself.  360 Direct Access started as a consulting company in August 2017, with a mission to help businesses improve their accessibility services. We provided expert guidance to companies striving to create more inclusive environments, particularly for individuals with disabilities.

In August 2022, a personal experience highlighted the urgency of our mission. Craig shared, “While at an airport, I needed to change my flight—a simple task for most travelers, yet a frustrating ordeal for me as a Deaf individual. I spent 45 minutes on hold to connect with a third party-relay interpreter and another 45 minutes navigating phone trees and waiting for an English-speaking representative. Despite the long wait, there was a miscommunication in the interpreted session, and when I disconnected and saw my email confirmation, I was booked on the wrong flight.”

This moment was a stark reminder of the systemic barriers that millions of Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals face every day. Whether it’s a phone call to customer service or an in-person interaction, the lack of accessible, efficient, and accurate communication solutions is a widespread issue.

The Solution

Determined to drive change, we launched 360 Direct Video, the first truly equitable customer service solution for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Our goal was to eliminate the delays, errors, and frustrations that come with traditional interpreting services, while providing an equitable communication experience for the millions of deaf customers today.

As we grew, we realized that technology could push accessibility even further. Six months ago, we acquired an AI sign language recognition company, and two months ago, we began integrating avatars to enhance our platform’s capabilities.

To make in-person interactions as seamless as virtual ones, we also partnered with a company to offer on-demand Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) via QR codes. This allows Deaf individuals to instantly access an interpreter with a simple scan—bridging the communication gap in real-time, anywhere.

With these new innovations and verticals, we decided it was time for a rebrand. What started as 360 Direct Video has evolved into 360 Direct Access—a name that truly reflects our broader mission: providing direct, immediate, and equitable access to communication for all.

After two years of dedicated work, we have secured major contracts, with more exciting partnerships on the horizon. The future of accessibility is here, and we are proud to be leading the way.

We provide trained deaf representatives and an innovative video platform with a signing widget that can go on any website page(s), providing a direct native-language customer support experience to deaf customers calling in. To date, ‘solutions’ are sub par and non equitable, where deaf individuals only have the choice to utilize third party relay interpreted calls or online chat conversations completed in English, which is a 2nd or even 3rd language for a large number within the deaf community. Our approach reduces call times by an average of 42%, increases engagement and customers within this community up to 533%, and provides a superior customer experience, while reducing costs for the business/organization.  We’re skipping past the calls wrought with frustration for both the agent and customer, miscommunications, and unnecessary escalations, as well as the associated higher costs.

Uses

Deaf individuals have the same daily communication needs that hearing people do.  Customer service spans Finance, Telecommunications, Government – local, state and federal divisions, Hospitality/Travel, Retail, and more.

For example, we just launched the first bank in the United States to offer Direct Video Calling (press release going out 3/10) so their Deaf customers can have an equitable communication experience when doing any of their banking needs.

Pricing

Our goal is to meet customers where they are.  Small businesses who want to be accessible can have answering services directly in sign language, while medium and large companies can decide between shared and dedicated customer support agents.  Our turnkey solution has both subscription plans starting at $360/month as well as dedicated agents at an hourly rate directly correlated with the type/level of support being provided. 

Check out the INNOVATEAble pitch here.