From one tech giant proposing a hiring spree to another sending out a warning to the entire CRM industry, here are extracts from some of this week’s most popular news stories.
SAP Plans to Hire “Several Thousand” Employees Before Year-End
Dominik Asam, CFO at SAP, has revealed the tech giant’s plans to recruit “several thousand” people.
The CFO shared the news in response to an analyst question during SAP’s latest earnings call.
The analyst pressed Asam on SAP’s plans to increase its spending in late 2025 and how fast it plans to hire.
In response, Asam stated:
I don’t want to be precise now on how many headcount exactly, but we are talking about several thousands of headcount we would still embark.
However, while SAP accelerates its hiring, the company warned of a “reskilling component”.
As such, some of those “hires” will likely be attributed to moving existing employees from one job to another.
SAP did something similar last year, with only 3,000 employees reportedly leaving the company, despite the tech giant eliminating 10,000 roles (Read more…).
ServiceNow Dismisses Concerns Over Its Moveworks Acquisition, Fires a Warning to the CRM Industry
ServiceNow has poured cold water over concerns that its Moveworks acquisition might be in danger.
Bloomberg ignited the speculation last week, reporting that the deal faces an “in-depth” antitrust review.
Citing “sources familiar with the matter”, the publication also noted how the US Justice Department had sent a “second request” for additional information from both parties.
ServiceNow and Moveworks must complete this extra step before the acquisition can proceed.
Yet, Gina Mastantuono, President & CFO at ServiceNow, shrugged off concerns that this escalation could endanger the deal.
During the company’s latest earnings call, she said:
We’re not worried about Moveworks closing. It is, from our perspective, a timing issue.
The takeover, first announced in March, will cost ServiceNow $2.85BN, making it the largest roll-up in the company’s history (Read more…).
OpenAI’s New ChatGPT agent Will Find, Communicate with, and Buy from Businesses
OpenAI has announced ChatGPT agent, promising to change how consumers interact with businesses forever.
The agent is capable of doing real, complex work, using a computer. To do so, it switches between thinking and acting while using tools like the web, spreadsheets, slides, and more.
Thanks to this capability, ChatGPT agent may perform many office-based tasks, such as building spreadsheets, creating slideshows, and developing meeting agendas.
However, it can also execute tasks on behalf of consumers.
OpenAI shared an example of a person preparing for a friend’s wedding. They gave ChatGPT agent the following prompt:
Find outfits that match the dress code, consider the venue and weather, propose a few options in a mid-luxury range, suggest hotels, and find a thoughtful gift.
The ChatGPT agent first clarified the wedding date and location. It then performed those tasks on a virtual computer. As it did so, the user watched from their device, with a view of the agent’s chain of thought, i.e., what it’s thinking as it works.
Importantly, the user could intervene whenever they wanted (Read more…).
Zoom Drops an Auto Dialer, Expands Its Portfolio for Sales and Revenue Teams
Zoom has launched a new dialer to support sales teams in accelerating their customer outreach.
Introduced as an “AI-first” offering, the Zoom Auto Dialer has several notable capabilities.
First, it enables power dialing, automatically contacting a list of phone numbers one-by-one and only passing the sales rep through to a customer once they’ve picked up.
As such, sales personnel can skip past disconnected lines, busy signals, and voicemails.
If the call goes to voicemail, the solution leaves a pre-recorded message, ensuring the customer hears from a salesperson, which increases the chances they call back.
Alternatively, suppose the call reaches a person and they agree to a meeting. In that case, the sales rep can view their availability, share calendar invites, and send follow-up emails via the dialer.
That’s a unique feature, and the salesperson can encourage the prospect to accept the invite on the call, making them more likely to turn up. The feature also helps reduce toggle tax (Read more…).
