We’ve come a long way since the days of the 1960s secretarial pool. That’s when an executive secretary had to type at least 60 words per minute, take dictation at 100 words per minute, use a shorthand system, operate typewriters, calculators, and dictaphones – and smile throughout.  Today We’ve Got ChatGPT Now we’ve all become secretaries – unto ourselves.   We’re booking our own travel, running to the post office, scheduling our own meetings and making our own coffee.   And if you’re a contact center agent, you’re taking a lot of notes. Transcribing your calls during ..read more

In recent months, Avaya’s bankruptcy has become the talk of the CX town. Yet, it’s far from the only vendor in the space to experience financial woes. Last month, that reality shifted further into sight, with Lifesize following Avaya into Chapter 11. Reacting to the news, Dave Michaels, Lead Analyst at TalkingPointz.com, told CX Today: Quite simply, it’s too many companies and too little growth… Microsoft is sucking the air out of the ecosystem, and companies like Lifesize don’t stand a chance. In the UCaaS space, this is most evident, with Microsoft reaching 300MN monthly active users on Te ..read more

Demand for chatbot technology is on the rise. For years now, consumers have been growing more accustomed to interacting with bots and virtual assistants when contacting businesses and contact centers. Although some of the earliest bots on the market were often clunky and overly simplistic, the rise of solutions like natural language processing and generative AI have helped to address this.   Today, the global chatbot market is projected to reach a value of $1.25 billion by 2025, and consumers are beginning to trust bots to deliver more efficient, convenient service. Used correctly, t ..read more

This Wednesday, Accenture acquired Nextira, a provider of cloud-based analytics, enterprise-grade immersive experiences, and predictive data solutions to support customer relationships in the media and entertainment industry. Moreover, the acquisition enables Accenture to boost its delivery of AI and ML solutions to distribute and optimise enterprise-grade RT3D and analytics applications. Accenture bought the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Premier Partner also to optimise its Cloud First service, which assists enterprise end-users in leveraging cloud capabilities and tools. The firms did not reveal ..read more

Qualtrics has announced the general availability of its Customer Journey Optimizer, which allows businesses to analyze customer journeys, spot issues, and support customers in avoiding them. The new solution, powered by Qualtrics Experience iD, provides an omnichannel view of customer journeys, with data analytics to determine pain points, which may result in unnecessary service costs or lost revenue. Journey analytics also allows teams to establish which customer segments and individuals are being affected by particular issues across different channels. Moreover, pre-built integrations with c ..read more

Watch on YouTube. CX Today’s Charlie Mitchell presents the latest trending news from the customer experience world. He’s joined by four prominent CX analysts to dissect the latest stories from the space – including news from Zoom, Twilio, Lifesize, RingCentral, and 8×8. In this edition, our CX experts include: Dave Michaels, Lead Analyst at TalkingPointz.com Liz Miller, VP & Principal Analyst at Constellation Research Rebecca Wetteman, Principal at Valoir Michael Fauscette, Founder, CEO & Chief Analyst at Arion Research Thanks for watching, if you’d like more like this, don’t forget ..read more

In recent years, brands have invested in innovative new technologies, self-service strategies, and insightful analytics to drive a new era of customer service. Today, it’s not just the demand for excellent experiences that is pushing businesses to evolve. An unpredictable economy, impending recessions, and changing customer behaviors mean companies must build the right CX strategies to survive. After all, during the last crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic – brands that pushed the CX innovation envelope typically adapted best. Of course, doing so again is likely a daunting prospect in the face of b ..read more

Even before the pandemic, 92 percent of consumers chose their smartphone as their primary device for customer service.    Perhaps this is no surprise. After all, it has been 16 years since the advent of the iPhone.    Yet, in all that time, many of the same pain points still irritate customers as they interact brands on their mobile devices.    For instance, they cannot simply escalate a phone call to a video to show a live assistant a visual of the problem they are facing.    Then, there are other issues. Contact forms that offer no contact information, multimedia content ..read more

What does an excellent SMS customer service strategy look like? Here’s an exceptional example.   Consider the everyday scenario of delivery delays. Everyone hates them, and companies know the consequences: negative customer reviews, lost business, and the steady drip of reputational damage.    But, when a company expresses empathy about that delivery delay and sends an SMS with an apology, the lemon can become lemonade.    After all, customers want to hear from companies. And they feel validated when a company is proactively maintaining the relationship ..read more

Activist investor Legion Partners has implored Twilio to make boardroom changes, sell more assets, and improve its cost structure. Indeed, it has reportedly met with Twilio officials six times in recent months, advocating for changes throughout the business. These reports come after Twilio announced $1.38BN in trailing-12-month losses last month. Its revenue growth also slowed to 15 percent YoY. This time last year, that figure stood at 48 percent. As such, it is perhaps not surprising that Legion Partners, which owns a stake of approximately $40MN in Twilio, is trying to force change. Moreove ..read more