From a surge of generative AI enhancements to a popular CCaaS platform to the return of a stalwart CX event, here are some extracts from our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Amazon Connect Gets a Generative AI Face-Lift, New Digital Channel Features
AWS has released new generative AI-powered features for Amazon Connect, its CCaaS platform.
Each new feature builds on existing applications within Amazon Connect and comes at no additional cost until March 2024.
Moreover, they leverage the LLMs available within Amazon Bedrock – which hosts models from various big-name vendors, such as Anthropic, Cohere, and Meta.
AWS teased many of these in September when highlighting how generative AI (GenAI) could improve agent-assist, manager-assist, and customer self-service experiences.
Now, it has packaged these up and hard-launched four of them during the AWS re:Invent conference – as unpacked below.
Amazon Q In Connect
AWS has released a new, customizable GenAI-powered virtual assistant – “Amazon Q” – across its tech stack.
Q allows employees throughout the organization to gain fast, relevant answers to pressing questions, solve problems, auto-generate content, and take action.
Those employees include contact center agents, who can now leverage Amazon Q in Connect. (Read on…).
Google Teases Real-Time Translation for Contact Centers, Releases an AI Playbook
Google has promised to release a live translation tool for customer-agent conversations “soon”.
The solution will allow both parties to interact in different languages, with an AI-powered engine in the middle, translating the conversation in real-time.
It will seemingly also cover voice – alongside digital channels – with a Google blog post suggesting the tool supports customers and agents as they “talk or chat”.
Such functionality is potentially a significant differentiator from other real-time translation tools on the market, which only cover chat.
In addition, as global business operations grow and contact centers engage with people from across the world, such a tool may prove invaluable.
Yet, it may also support more local service operations. After all, 21 percent of people in the US don’t speak English at home as of 2020.
According to the Pew Research Center, the figure of people speaking the native language at home stands at 11 and ten percent in Germany and the UK, respectively.
As these numbers climb higher, Google may benefit from this unique innovation, which will embed itself into the vendor’s growing agent-assist portfolio.
Alongside this, Yariv Adan, Sr. Director of Product Management at Google Cloud, also promises more sophisticated performance management solutions. He said:
We’ll also be offering personalized, continuous monitoring and coaching for ALL agents with real-time scorecards and personalized coaching and training in real-time and post-call.
Generative AI (GenAI) will play a significant role here, as it already has in expanding Google’s agent-focused innovation drive. (Read on…).
Rumoured Adobe Acquisition Could Shake Up Video In CX
Rumors suggest Adobe is about to acquire Rephrase.ai, a vendor known for its innovative generative AI and video technology.
The move to purchase the Bengaluru-based AI startup could once again bring video to the fore of CX discussion and perhaps challenge CX vendors that differentiate through the channel.
All signs currently point to the acquisition going ahead, with the news appearing to be confirmed by Rephrase’s cofounder Shivam Mangla in his announcement via X, formerly Twitter:
Exciting news! Rephrase.ai is getting acquired by a pioneering creative tech company, ushering us into the new era of Generative AI.
Mangla continued: “As we begin this new chapter in a larger org, the possibilities are endless. Excited to see what our teams will create next in the world of GenAI. The future is creative and bright!” (Read on…).
The CX Awards 2024: Applications Are Now Open!
Applications are officially open for the CX Awards 2024, which promises to be bigger and better than ever before.
After the CX Awards 2023 attracted hundreds of applications from CX vendors, leaders, and teams, we want to use our platform to celebrate even more customer experience innovators.
As such, we’re introducing several new categories and casting a wider net, ensuring there are many more opportunities to win.
So, don’t miss your chance to showcase to the customer experience world what differentiates your business in this bustling, solution-rich space and walk away with a deserving CX Awards trophy.
→ Click here to submit your application now.
The CX Awards Categories for 2024
CX Award categories split into three groups: innovation, people, and transformation.
Judges will assess applicants across each category by evaluating their ability to innovate, ability to execute, and ability to improve experience.
These soon-to-be-announced judges include alums from respected industry researchers – including Gartner, Forrester Research, and IDC – alongside battle-hardened CX leaders. (Read on…).
