From a CCaaS milestone to a differentiative AI approach, here are some extracts from our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Zoom Reaches 700 CCaaS Customers, Virtual Agent Growth Soars
Zoom added 200 customers to its contact center install base last quarter as its CCaaS business ramps up.
In total, the enterprise communications stalwart has 700 CCaaS customers – many of which are expanding their relationships with Zoom and leveraging its virtual agents.
Kelly Steckelberg, CFO at Zoom, shared the news on an earnings call, stating:
First, Zoom Phone reached approximately seven million paid seats. Second, Zoom Contact Center reached approximately 700 customers as of quarter-end, while Zoom Virtual Agent customers nearly doubled quarter over quarter.
“These proof points demonstrate our customers’ willingness to entrust us with their critical CX and EX processes and their commitment to grow with us as we expand our platform.”
As they do so, Zoom’s revenues continue to grow. In Q3, they reached $1.137BN – up three percent year-over-year (YoY).
That growth defies many of Zoom’s doubters, who predicted a slump as its consumer business slowed in the post-pandemic world, where people have returned to their pre-COVID routines.
Thankfully, its enterprise growth – also powered by its Zoom ONE bundles, as per Steckelberg – has filled and flowed over the expected revenue void. (Read on…).
Verint to Introduce 50 Specialized Bots for Contact Centers
Verint has announced it will have 50 specialized bots generally available to customers by the end of January 2024.
After that, it plans to release another 50-100 bots before the beginning of 2025 to support contact center teams further.
Verint designed each to automate specific tasks and seamlessly integrate into contact center workflows – according to David Singer, Global Vice President of Go-to-Market Strategy at Verint.
In an exclusive interview with CX Today, Singer said:
We want to talk about bots, not about generalized AI, because we’re focused on driving specific value using AI.
The slide below from a presentation at the recent Verint Analyst Day demonstrates this targeted and application-specific approach.
Moreover, it highlights a handful of the specialized bots Verint has already brought to the market.
Singer pinpoints the “Interaction Wrap-up Bot” as an excellent example – which leverages generative AI.
“The bot operates by listening to conversations in real-time, regardless of whether they are voice or digital,” he said. “It then provides a summary after the call concludes.” Agents may then upload this to the CRM and accelerate post-contact processing. (Read on…).
Salesforce Wants to Poach Disgruntled OpenAI Employees
In the wake of Sam Altman’s ousting from his position as CEO of OpenAI by the company’s board, more than 700 of its employees have threatened to quit in support of Altman.
Capitalizing on the opportunity to acquire new talent, Salesforce’s CEO Marc Benioff announced on Monday that he will match the existing salaries of any OpenAI researcher who resigns over Altman’s firing.
These researchers would then join the Salesforce AI research team, bringing their expertise to the CRM giant’s Einstein AI Platform – which burst onto the CX scene at Dreamforce.
Benioff made the offer via X, formerly Twitter:
Salesforce will match any OpenAI researcher who has tendered their resignation full cash & equity OTE to immediately join our Salesforce Einstein Trusted AI research team under Silvio Savarese. Send me your cv directly to [email protected]. Einstein is the most successful… pic.twitter.com/1RXoc9ekeo
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) November 20, 2023
The Story So Far
OpenAI has grabbed a lot of headlines in recent times, not only for its cutting-edge AI technology but for its internal goings-on as well.
In 2021, for example, OpenAI employees left to start up the rival AI research company, Anthropic, which now has its own version of ChatGPT in the form of ‘Claude’ that Zoom embedded into its CCaaS platform in May this year. (Read on…).
Amazon Connect Telephony Prices Continue to Drop Across Europe
AWS has reduced its outbound dialing rates for Amazon Connect users calling into several countries within its London and Frankfurt regions.
As such, businesses will see their outbound dialing costs drop when calling into the following countries:
- Austria – Eight percent reduction (to $0.0360/min)
- Denmark – 11 percent reduction (to $0.440/min)
- Netherlands – Ten percent reduction (to $0.0380/min)
- Norway – Ten percent reduction (to $0.0800/min)
- Switzerland – 13 percent reduction (to $0.1000/min)
These new telephony rates are now part of the standard Amazon Connect service usage pricing across the Frankfurt and London AWS regions.
The announcement marks the second wide-scale European price drop in telephony costs in two months for Amazon Connect.
Last month, AWS reduced outbound dialing rates for Amazon Connect to several other countries within these regions – as highlighted below:
- Italy – 51 percent (to $0.020 per minute)
- Ireland – 57 percent (to $0.030 per minute)
- Spain – 28 percent (to $0.0181 per minute)
- United Kingdom – 30 percent ($0.0110 per minute)
Yet, these price reductions expand beyond the confines of Europe, with outbound AND inbound telephony prices plummeting in Argentina and Mexico, too. (Read on…).
