Austin, TX, Oct. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Opening Bell Ventures (“OBV”), a digital transformation and AI-focused professional services firm, today announced the initial release of Shelly, an AI knowledge worker that helps organizations assess operations, prepare for audits, and act on what they find.
Shelly AI Virtual Data Analyst
Most AI tools stop at the conversation. They record it, transcribe it, or summarize it. Shelly goes further. She speaks with the people closest to the work, compares what she hears against an organization’s policies, reports, and operational data, and shows exactly where the two agree, where they don’t, and what to do about it.
Then she keeps going: following up with issue owners, tracking remediation, and updating the picture as things change.
And you don’t need to sit through a presentation to see how she works. Visit shelly.openingbellventures.com, enter your phone number, and Shelly will call you.
Where the Real Insights Live
Policies describe one process; the team doing the work often follows another. A dashboard says an issue is closed; the person who owns it knows it isn’t. Customers describe a problem that never shows up in the reports.
Those gaps are where risk hides and where the biggest improvements are waiting. Finding them has traditionally meant weeks of meetings, document reviews, and manual cross-checking.
Shelly is built to find them. She asks questions, follows up on vague or conflicting answers, and then checks what she’s heard against the evidence. Every finding she delivers is traceable to the conversation, document, or data point behind it.
“Every organization has two versions of the truth: what people say happens, and what the records show,” said Avi Kalderon, CEO of Opening Bell Ventures. “The most valuable insights live in the gap between them. Shelly is built to find that gap, show her evidence, and stay on the work until it’s resolved.”
“That’s how our consultants have always worked. Shelly works the same way, and because OBV’s team stands behind her, her findings can move straight into delivery. We’re inviting a select group of organizations to put her to work on real business challenges.”
From Discovery to Done
Working with Shelly feels less like operating software and more like briefing a capable colleague.
• Give her an assignment. Tell Shelly what you need to understand: a compliance requirement, a business process, a customer experience issue, or a strategic question.
• She gathers perspectives. By phone or in Microsoft Teams and Zoom meetings, Shelly speaks with employees, stakeholders, and customers, asks follow-up questions, and captures the details that matter.
• She checks the record. Shelly reviews authorized documents, policies, reports, and operational data, and tests what she’s heard against them.
• She shows her work. Organizations receive structured assessments, scorecards, and recommended next steps, each tied to the evidence that supports it.
• She follows through. Shelly checks in with owners, tracks progress, flags blockers, and keeps the picture current long after the report is delivered.
The result: the depth of a traditional assessment in days, not weeks, with an evidence trail that doesn’t end when the report does.
Where Shelly Puts in the Work
During the invitation-only beta, OBV is prioritizing organizations with high-value challenges where better evidence and faster follow-through can make a measurable difference.
Compliance and Audit Readiness
Shelly speaks with control owners and operational teams to confirm how policies and procedures are actually followed, compares their answers against documented procedures and supporting evidence, and flags the gaps. Organizations move from periodic compliance exercises toward continuous readiness.
Remediation and Action Tracking
Shelly follows up with issue owners, records progress, surfaces blockers, and keeps remediation moving. Leaders get a current picture of what’s done and what still needs attention, without relying on manually updated trackers and status meetings.
Customer Insights
Shelly holds structured conversations with customers, then connects their feedback to the business data, so leaders understand not just what customers are saying, but what’s driving it.
Live Meeting and Decision Support
Shelly participates in Microsoft Teams and Zoom meetings, answers questions using authorized enterprise information, and helps employees navigate policies and procedures. When a request needs a person, she routes it to the right team or workflow.
Operational Assessments
Shelly gathers perspectives across departments, reviews existing documentation and data, and pinpoints where day-to-day practice diverges from policy, along with the risks and improvement opportunities that follow.
Shelly is designed for mid-size and large organizations in financial services, insurance, healthcare, nonprofit, manufacturing, and other industries where regulation and operational complexity make evidence essential.
Guardrails Built In
Shelly can work independently, but never without boundaries. She follows configured access permissions, verifies a person’s identity before sharing restricted information, and asks for confirmation before making any authorized change.
Client information is logically isolated, every interaction and action is logged with a timestamp, and anything outside her assigned scope is escalated to a designated person.
The goal is AI that does real work, with the visibility, accountability, and human oversight enterprises require.
Don’t Watch a Demo. Take Her Call.
Visit shelly.openingbellventures.com, enter your phone number, and Shelly will call you. Tell her about your business, the challenges you’re facing, or the opportunities you’re exploring. She’ll ask questions, follow up, and show you firsthand how she approaches a problem.
No prerecorded demos. No slide decks. Just a conversation.
Meet Shelly today: https://shelly.openingbellventures.com
About Opening Bell Ventures
Opening Bell Ventures is a digital transformation and AI-focused professional services firm helping organizations solve complex business challenges through strategy, technology, data, and intelligent automation. Combining deep consulting expertise with emerging AI capabilities, OBV helps clients move beyond experimentation to practical, measurable business outcomes. From enterprise transformation and operational optimization to AI knowledge workers and agentic solutions, OBV partners with organizations to accelerate results while maintaining the governance, accountability, and human judgment that successful transformation requires. For more information, visit www.openingbellventures.com.
Press Inquiries
Corinne Lowenstein
Chief Operating Officer
Corinne.Lowenstein@openingbellventures.com
A video accompanying this announcement is available here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=x53vwYQp36k
