From the introduction of another new autonomous AI offering to landmark acquisitions, here are extracts from some of our most popular news stories over the past seven days.
SAP Introduces AI Agents That Collaborate Across Business Functions
At TechEd 2024, SAP introduced collaborative AI agents to expand the capabilities of its copilot Joule.
Currently, Joule just focuses on singular tasks that support employees in their everyday work. For instance, it retrieves data, extracts insights, and answers their questions.
However, multiple AI agents will soon become available within Joule. These will work together to automate complete processes across different SAP systems and departments.
Joule’s AI Agents may require human oversight but don’t necessarily need a human in the loop.
Muhammad Alam, a Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, SAP Product Engineering, hinted that such innovation signals a profound change in how humans collaborate with AI. He said:
Drawing on SAP’s unmatched business and technology expertise, the AI innovations we’re announcing at TechEd forge a new human-AI partnership to transform the landscape of modern business.
Indeed, SAP has high hopes for Joule once it integrates more deeply within its portfolio. The tech giant even suggested that collaborative AI agents may support up to 80 percent of its most used business tasks.
For example, consider all the cross-departmental tasks involved in resolving a payment dispute. Those may include sending back-and-forth emails, sweeping incorrect and missing invoices, and assessing denied or duplicate payments. Joule may soon handle all of this. (Read on…).
Dialpad Enters the WFM Space by Acquiring Surfboard, Bolsters Its C-Suite
Dialpad has acquired Surfboard, the contact center workforce management (WFM) provider.
With Surfboard, the enterprise communications contender gains trusted solutions that planners can utilize across the WFM cycle. That cycle has four stages: contact center forecasting, scheduling, intraday management, and review.
Expect Dialpad to combine these solutions with its Ai Scorecards and Ai Coaching offerings to build a rich workforce engagement management (WEM) suite.
In time, that will likely come part and parcel with the Dialpad Ai Contact Center Platform. However, it could also form a standalone offering that businesses can plug into a rival CCaaS platform, CRM system, or UCaaS solution.
Alvaria and Zendesk have taken a similar path this year, spinning out WEM propositions of their own.
While it is not certain that Dialpad will follow suit, it cites Surfboard’s cloud-native foundation as a critical motivator for the acquisition. That foundation will ensure easier cross-integration of both provider’s products.
Sharing more on the strategy behind the acquisition, Vincent Paquet, Chief Product Officer at Dialpad, said: “In our hybrid and platform-powered workforce, enterprises want a single place for all business communications and organization.
The team at Surfboard has created an exceptional product for workforce management, and we’re excited to combine our capabilities to bring customers the very best, AI-native WFM on the market.
Dialpad also praised the WFM provider’s intuitive solution and culture. (Read on…).
HubSpot Acquires Mindstream, Expands Its Media Network
HubSpot has snapped up Mindstream, an AI-focused media outlet.
Based in the UK, Mindstream provides a daily newsletter to subscribers, aiming to help them keep up with the latest AI trends and technologies.
In doing so, the media outlet aspires to offer unique insights, education, and inspiration.
Mindstream’s mission has connected with many, too, as the business has built a base of over 150,000 marketing, business, and AI professionals worldwide.
That’s impressive, considering the company is only 18 months old.
However, some subscribers may worry that HubSpot’s influence could cause the publication to lose its independent edge.
While that’s the elephant in the room, Jonathan Hunt, VP of Media at HubSpot, has pledged that such acquisitions will – ultimately – help provide HubSpot’s customers with “trusted” information regarding AI. On LinkedIn, he wrote:
By acquiring Mindstream, HubSpot will continue to become a trusted source of information about AI across multiple subtopics and platforms, helping our customers better understand (and apply) new AI technologies.
Mindstream joins several other publications on the HubSpot Media roster. (Read on…).
Avaya Presents a Virtual Operations Manager for Contact Centers
Avaya has created a showcase for a Virtual Operations Manager built on its Avaya Experience Platform (AXP).
The solution, presented at GITEX Global 2024, centralizes contact center data and operations reports to advise contact center leaders and act on their behalf.
For instance, it may isolate compliance issues, excessive wait times, schedule adherence non-conformities, etc., and recommend fixes.
Leaders may also create follow-up actions via a low-code/no-code interface to ensure insights trigger an appropriate action.
While the Virtual Operations Manager is currently a concept, Avaya could soon make such a solution more readily available to its on-premise, public cloud, and private cloud customers.
The move would follow up on the contact center stalwart’s release of two AI-heavy bundles, unveiled by CX Today earlier this month.
Yet, in presenting this latest concept, Avaya hopes to go further in highlighting how it views the future of human and AI collaboration in contact centers.
That’s the message from Omar Javaid, Chief Product Officer at Avaya, as he geared up to demo the Virtual Operations Manager solution to attendees of GITEX. (Read on…).
