The PennZone

PITTSBURGH - PennZone -- LATO AI is helping two western Pennsylvania-based sports businesses keep pace with rapid growth by developing custom AI-driven communication systems for the successful baseball training and batting cage brands.

CSide Sports Academy, a 30,000-square-foot baseball and softball training facility in Washington, Pennsylvania built by former baseball pro Chris Sidick, has enjoyed major league growth and powered through the associated growing pains.

As CSide's clientele burst at the seams and team rentals were waitlisted, Sidick's answer was BAT 24 Nation, a 24/7 self-access, members only batting cage brand giving customers personal entry codes and around-the-clock training access. The concept quickly grew from one facility into nine locations across four states.

As both CSide and BAT 24 grew, one thing didn't change: customer communication. Every question, scheduling request, membership administration, and billing issue across every location still funneled to one place — Sidick's personal cell phone. That hands-on involvement from Sidick forged CSide and BAT 24's success. But spread across multiple locations operating around the clock, it became more than one person could handle.

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While large national chains have budget and staff to build in-house systems to manage customer communication, independent, regional operators like Sidick have fewer resources to meet the same needs.

"That's where LATO thrives," said LATO AI CEO Michael Reynolds. "We give smaller businesses the tools larger competitors have long used to manage growth, without the time, cost or risk of building it themselves."

LATO AI came in clutch with customized systems to automate communication for each business. An AI voice assistant triages incoming calls while inbound texts and emails are automatically read and classified. Simple requests and questions, such as booking sessions through the companies' scheduling systems or sending a payment link, are answered on the spot. Anything needing a human eye is flagged and routed, with every conversation tracked in a centralized dashboard for quality control.

Sidick, the owner who used to answer every customer text, is given back time, which he re-directs into more expansion, marketing and networking.

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"Everything I've built has been to give each player, at all talent levels and ages, the opportunity to excel at their sport," Sidick said. "LATO has given me time, and that freedom is allowing us to expand and provide our service to players across the country."

About LATO AI

Harnessing the power of AI since 2021, LATO AI delivers custom solutions to help clients improve productivity and boost customer satisfaction. Our growing team of more than 130 software developers, designers and project managers crafts personalized tools to solve specific business challenges, automate processes and help businesses scale and thrive. Learn more at http://www.latoai.com.