The Insider Report publishes the first week of each month, covering the news of the preceding month. If it's not in the Insider Report, it was't important for enterprise comms.

Curated Enterprise Communications News and Insights from October 2024

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Siri, Put a Lid on It: What a month! Zoomtopia, WebexOne, EC AI, and we still have Ignite and re:Invent around the corner. Surprise: The recurring theme is AI. What we aren’t seeing is any competitive differentiation (yet?). Clearly, AI is changing approaches and attitudes, but considering all the attention, hype, investment, and mindshare, the results are pretty disappointing. 

With apologies to anyone offended, we must present the Generative AI contrarian point of view. In Dave and David’s opinion, the enterprise comms sector has over-rotated on GenAI. The endless hype around GenAI has sucked up all the oxygen, leaving a gap in differentiated innovation. Generative AI can’t be ignored; it’s table stakes. Be it Copilot, Zoom AI Companion (ZAIC), or [insert brand] AI Assistant. As the vendors reorg their R&D and payroll investments around table-stakes incremental improvements, topics like interoperability, user experience, UI, performance, integrations, marketplaces, and more get neglected. 

The just-released Gartner MQs (for UCaaS and CCaaS) are the first editions with a full year of GenAI hyperactivity factored in, and they look a lot like their prior editions: same vendors in roughly the same pecking order. Allow us to summarize: Despite frenzied investments, the vendor landscape remains unchanged. If anything, companies are losing sight of real innovation, protective barriers, and differentiation. (Dave and David discuss this here.)

Are Analyst Events Pay to Play? Between the MQ and the NICE event, the expression “pay to play” has popped up frequently over the past few weeks, albeit inaccurately. Most analysts are paid a salary without ties to expressed opinions. If there’s a back alley with bags of cash, we would like to know where. The NICE analyst event in Zambia was over the top, but that was by design. 

Analyst events are a form of marketing. About as sinister as you can get is they are attempts to buy mindshare (aka marketing). This time of year contains some of the biggest vendor events, including Dreamforce, Ignite, re:Invent, WebexOne, and Zoomtopia. These are broad customer and partner events, and there are also some big analyst events, such as the one NICE hosted in Zambia. 

NICE spent money to present its story. One of the event’s key messages was that NICE is breaking from the CCaaS herd. CEO Barak Eilam set the stage in his opening presentation, followed by several speakers who reinforced the message. Hearing that NICE does things on a different scale resonates more in Zambia than in Orlando. 

Some analyst events are better than others, and the variation isn’t directly correlated to the budget. Dave has said that he’d prefer an airport hotel over a remote resort because time is precious. After all, the majority of the time spent at most events is in a room with no windows. The ambiance can be a factor, but logically, the objective is to depart with new thoughts, perspectives, conclusions, and relationships. 

Let’s look at Zambia through that lens. Zambia is far. It took the Californians 40+ hours of travel each way to get there. That’s two work weeks of travel for a few days of presentations — a bigger-than-normal ask, and some said no. Those who did attend received a bigger-than-normal selection of thought-provoking conversations, activities, and relationships. 

Another theme was transparency. NICE brought 16 of its employees to Zambia, including its CEO, CMO, and CX President. All of them were available throughout the event. Beyond the usual presentations were activities that facilitated interaction. It didn’t hurt that many of the locations were without Wi-Fi or cellular coverage. NICE also brought three customers and three partners who presented AND participated in the activities AND were available to analysts throughout the event. Conversely, Genesys only interacts with a few analysts and leaves the rest to forage for clues from competitors and partners. Those who say the NICE event was unfair only reinforce how differently NICE is operating. 

Analyst Relations is just one piece of the marketing puzzle. Dialpad picked Super Bowl ads, other options include car racing teams, golf celebrities, and there’s always escalator branding at EC. TalkingPointz recommends white papers and webinars. Second-guessing a vendor’s marketing spend is a fool’s errand. 

General News

Zoomtopia 2024: At Zoomtopia 2024, Zoom unveiled several major AI announcements. Key highlights included the introduction of Zoom AI Companion 2.0, an upgraded personal assistant designed to work across the Zoom workplace ecosystem. This tool will enhance the user experience by summarizing meetings, analyzing documents, and streamlining task management across meetings, chats, and other platforms like Microsoft Outlook and Google Workspace. Zoom AI Companion 2.0 will be offered at no additional cost to users, demonstrating Zoom's commitment to democratizing AI.

In addition, Zoom announced the launch of a custom AI Companion add-on for Zoom Workplace. The purchased add-on should enable integrations with third-party applications. Further announcements included Zoom Tasks, an AI-powered task management system, and enhancements in verticals with tools such as AI Companion for Education. Additionally, Zoom revealed a new strategic partnership with ServiceNow, integrating Zoom’s AI capabilities into ServiceNow workflows. 

All in all, Zoom made about 33 announcements, the majority of which involve AI. Only two had a price (the custom AI Companion add-on and AI Companion 2.0 in Workvivo). TalkingPointz will be covering more in the next few months. The key takeaways are that Zoom intends to differentiate with AI, and Zoom continues to expand into more processes. The company updated its tagline to Work Happy. For those looking for more than AI, TalkingPointz offers the farcical #FakeZoomtopia here. 

WebexOne: Not to be out-AI’d, Cisco’s Webex One 2024 announced several new features and enhancements focused on AI-driven innovation, collaboration, and future-proofing workplaces. This was the coming-out party for the new leadership at Cisco Collaboration, and it was well executed. The new GM, Anurag Dhingra, nailed his keynote and was highly visible throughout the event. 

Major updates included the Webex AI assistant, which offers improved meeting summaries, call interactions, and audience engagement through tools like Vidcast and Slido. Vidcast is becoming a much more powerful tool; it is essentially async video meets NotebookLM. Additionally, AI-driven features such as language support across 120 languages and integration with enterprise systems were highlighted, with a strong emphasis on responsible AI practices and transparency. 

Cisco introduced spatial meetings, which enable the recording of stereoscopic video experiences using existing Cisco room systems with Apple Vision Pro. This was magical because this futuristic feature works without new hardware; instead, it leverages the secondary camera on the Room Bar Pro. Though only applicable to specialized use cases, this powerful capability has become significantly more accessible than Cisco’s earlier attempts with bespoke hardware and goggles like MS HoloLens or similar goggles. Cisco also introduced an adaptive AI Ceiling Microphone Pro for optimized audio capture. The announcements also included enhancements to Webex’s management capabilities with smart diagnostics, remote access management, and new online workspace designer tools that aim to simplify room configurations and improve IT support. 

MDEP/AOSP Dates: Microsoft inches closer to its Android-based Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) revolution. It announced that support for Android device administrator will end at the end of the year, a change that requires customers to transition to Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Automatic device management updates are coming early next year. This means MDEP-based collaboration devices from Barco, Jabra, and Yealink can go live soon. 

Breakup of Google? The US government is contemplating smaller Googles. After a judge ruled that Google unfairly monopolized search and advertising markets, the DOJ is considering a world where Google’s search engine is a separate business from other services like Android and Chrome. Google is arguing that the move would harm consumers and innovation. 

ECAI: The first Enterprise Connect AI conference explored Agentic AI, where AI agents autonomously make real-time decisions. Attendees, including Google Cloud and Cognigy, showcased AI-driven customer engagement and sales improvements. The event emphasized collaboration in AI deployment and the need to share best practices, although it remains unclear whether the conference will recur. 

AT&T and Verizon Hacked: Chinese hackers, known as Salt Typhoon, breached major US telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen by exploiting a backdoor mandated by the FBI under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). This law requires telecom networks to allow law enforcement access for wiretaps, and the hackers hacked the backdoor. 

Security experts have long warned about backdoor risks from malicious actors. This isn’t the first case of such exploitation; from 2004 to 2005, US agencies wiretapped Greek officials during the Olympic bid process. Greece doesn’t have backdoor laws, but demand for CALEA-compliant devices has effectively exported these security weaknesses into many global networks. 

Notion Mail: Notion has a productivity suite, too. It includes documents, forms, calendar, and now email. Mail and Calendar connect to Gmail. The goal is to streamline workflow and reduce app switching. Mail has built-in “AutoPilot” AI for prompt-based creation and interaction with email. Notion and Zoom seem to have overlapping visions to replace Microsoft with happier, more modern experiences. 

Email is ripe for disruption, but its strength and weakness is interoperability. Email and telephone numbers are our most interoperable comms services, which holds them back. For example, Microsoft Outlook allows email to be recalled or unsent, but that only works within an Exchange domain. A feature that makes email so powerful is that anyone can send email to any email address. Slack and other team messaging apps restricted communications, which meant less spam but extended the life of email. 

Email is broken. Can anyone fix it? If email isn’t going away, then it needs to be improved. It’s been stuck in time for too many decades.

DTC UCX: This month, the combined Digital Transformation Conference and UC EXPO conference took place in London. A few event videos are posted here (and more are coming — busy month). This is about the only general UC event in Europe. It’s a noisy and inconvenient venue (ExCeL), but it is a solid event. Lots of good interaction and an interesting, diverse set of exhibitors. ImagoTechMedia (part of Clarion Events) hosts a smaller version in Manchester in the spring.  

AI News

Anthropic Agents: Anthropic has introduced “computer use” for its Claude 3.5 model, allowing the AI to navigate computer interfaces, click buttons, and type text, marking a significant step toward agent-based automation. This beta feature lets Claude perform multi-step tasks across various applications, though it remains experimental and sometimes prone to errors. Autonomous agents will supposedly be the next big thing in AI, or at least the next big hype cycle. 

Microsoft’s Hoping You Don’t Recall: Microsoft relaunched its AI-powered “Windows Recall” with improved privacy controls, including audit logs, data encryption, and secure access via Windows Hello. Initially criticized over data privacy concerns, the tool aims to regain user trust with enhanced safeguards. Microsoft hopes you’ll be desensitized to just how bad this idea is by now. (Dave’s June post on Recall — critical points unchanged.)

EU Pact: Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have signed the EU’s voluntary AI safety pact, which encourages companies to adhere to the upcoming AI Act. The pact includes commitments to identifying high-risk AI systems, promoting AI literacy, and ensuring human oversight. Notably, neither Meta nor Apple has signed the agreement.  

ChatGPT Gets Visual: OpenAI’s latest version of ChatGPT lets users generate custom graphic images directly from prompts. From illustrations to diagrams, this new feature adds a visual element to conversations, enhancing creativity and interactivity. Now, ChatGPT doesn't just chat. We input this paragraph into ChatGPT, and ta-da — look what it created. 

The Nuclear Option: AI’s thirst for power has put nuclear back on the agenda. The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, known for its infamous 1979 meltdown, is in the news again to potentially power data centers. Naturally, there have also been renewed concerns about safety and environmental risks. Google and Amazon have made deals for small nuclear reactors (SMRs). While nuclear tech has come a long way in the past 50 years, the basic problems around safety and waste persist. What has tilted the scale in favor of nuclear is that it offers carbon-emission-free power. The question that isn’t being asked is whether nuclear safety and waste concerns outweigh the benefits of AI. 

New Search Tools: Perhaps the feds forcing Google to sell off search is just what Google needs. Perplexity is getting better at Internet searches, and now Meta has signed a licensing deal with Reuters to provide real-time news in its chatbots. Right at the end of the month, OpenAI integrated real-time web search capabilities into ChatGPT, enabling the AI chatbot to provide up-to-date information which positions it to be another Google search competitor.

Meetings and AV

Microsoft October Updates: Microsoft unveiled several updates this month, with even more likely in November (Ignite). For Teams Phone, Microsoft introduced new pay-as-you-go calling plans for non-US users with US-based tenants. The survivable branch appliance also has several new features, including hold, resume, and more flexible handling of call queues during outages. Microsoft also revealed a new calendar experience for Teams, which adds advanced features for scheduling, meeting creation, and multitasking, to be available in November as an opt-in feature (and which will later become the default). External meeting attendees will soon require one-time passcodes. And Teams improved performance over VDI.

Microsoft Places, its hybrid workspace management platform, will be available in core and premium versions, with the latter integrated into the Teams Premium license. (It made no sense to do space management for premium users only.) Teams Rooms now includes a digital signage feature that displays rotating content on front-of-room screens when not in use, integrating with Appspace and XOGO. Alongside these software updates, Microsoft certified several new devices for Teams, including devices from AVer (VC520), Meeting Owl (3), Poly (E60), and Yealink (A40).

Barco Claims Yealink Infringed: Barco filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Yealink in the European Unified Patent Court over its ClickShare technology, following a similar US case. Barco alleges Yealink’s devices violated patents covering its wireless conferencing solutions. While Yealink often copies market-leading devices, it also tends to improve upon them. Barco’s portfolio in UC is growing rapidly, and Barco clearly intends to protect it.  

Next Generation Neat Board: At GITEX, Neat introduced the Neat Board Pro, its next-generation 65" interactive board/all-in-one video collaboration device for medium and large meeting spaces. The Neat Board Pro is especially suited to bigger meeting spaces. Its 2x 50MP cameras incorporate a telephoto and wide‑angle lens, delivering up to 16x hybrid zoom. That enables it to reach and frame people in intricate detail at the front, side, or back of the room, up to about 30 feet away. The 65-inch device offers 4K video, intelligent participant tracking, advanced audio features, Zoom and Teams, BYOD, and Neat App Hub support. At about $7.5K US, the Neat Board Pro also integrates with the company’s trade-in program for customers upgrading from previous models or devices from other providers.

Barco Update: Barco issued an autumn 2024 firmware update for ClickShare, which includes new content-sharing options, improved user management tools, and more streamlined firmware updates. It also enables greater customization for corporate environments by allowing IT managers to precisely control update scheduling.  

Crestron NYC: Crestron opened a flagship Customer Experience Center (CEC) in New York City, showcasing its latest smart home and workplace technology innovations. The facility in Midtown Manhattan offers immersive demonstrations of Crestron’s residential and commercial application solutions, allowing visitors to explore hands-on configurations and experience real-world scenarios. (Danto’s preview tour.)

Logi Extend: New from Logitech this month is Extend. Two cables, two boxes, and a power adapter work together to enable a single USB-C connection in a meeting room. It’s the successor to its Swytch connection wire. Extend allows a single-cable plug-in for BYOD device sharing and control with Logi video systems, but it only supports USB-C connections and only works with newer-model Logi bars. While technically capable of powering the BYOD device, it also requires a BYO power brick to connect it to the below-table module. We see the value, but getting excited about a wire is hard. 

Logi’s latest update also introduces SmartSwitching for its systems with its Sight ‘Center Of Table’  camera. With this addition, Logi will automatically pick and change the best video camera. 

Design Meeting Rooms: Both Logitech and Cisco launched new, updated online room configuration tools. Logi’s is called “Room Configurator,” and Cisco’s is called "Workspace Designer." Customers and partners can use these tools to create equipment lists, designs, and blueprints for installing AV rooms – of course, only with the host’s solutions.

Pexip Free Trial: Pexip offers a 30-day free trial of its Connect for Zoom Rooms service, allowing users to join Microsoft Teams meetings from Zoom Rooms. Danto believes Pexip really wants you to try their service as they think the experience will be sticky.

Neat New Software: Neat’s latest 24.5.0 software update introduces dynamic microphone selection between Neat Pad and main room devices, proxy configuration via web admin, support for custom backgrounds in Microsoft Teams Rooms, and more. The update also includes framing detection and audio gain control improvements, with various bug fixes and performance gains. This enables a feature they’ve been discussing since they released the product, which really helps in big rooms.

AVER NDI: AVer announced that all its Pro AV cameras will now support Network Device Interface (NDI)  — a technology enabling efficient video transmission over IP networks – via a free upgrade. The new firmware will activate NDI functionality, even on models that were initially without it. This update allows AVer’s PTZ cameras to deliver high-quality, low-latency video across networked environments, which is suitable for diverse room sizes and seamless collaboration.

Give the Finger: FlatFrog and Ricoh launched InRoom, an AI gesture-sensing technology for Ricoh Collaboration Boards. The Gesture Pointer feature allows users to control meeting content through natural gestures, aiming to enhance collaboration. Gesture tech has been at the fringes of AV and collab for a while, with Canon AMLOS and Zoom testing the waters. Perhaps we can finally live out our Jedi dreams in the meeting room.   

New Portal: Another Video Window “Portal” is set to open in Philadelphia’s LOVE Park, offering a live video connection to other global cities. After the recent locations faced challenges with inappropriate behavior, there’s hope this new installation will avoid such issues and deliver a more positive interactive experience for visitors.

Customer Experience

Gartner CCaaS MQ: Gartner published its annual CCaaS Magic Quadrant report. Four leaders: AWS, Genesys, Five9, and NICE. Only four providers saw decent YoY improvement (8x8, Cisco, NICE, and Td). There were two quadrant changes from last year: Cisco went up into Challengers, and Content Guru dropped into Niche. 

AWS took a big hit to the left. Gartner cited complexity and costs. A big part of the AWS benefit comes from its broader suite of services. Though Gartner mentioned this, the MQ evaluation is product-focused, which minimizes the impact of the broader suite. This benefits Genesys because the turbulent ride for its Multicloud partners and customers presumably had minimal or no effect on its G Cloud evaluation. 

Dave will publish a deep-dive analysis of the report in November. Although this report is chock full of valuable information, there is a nagging sense that the CCaaS MQ needs a major refresh. MQs inherently provide a view of the market in the past, but the gap between past and future is widening as excitement and investment in “CX” continues to increase.

The MQ never really adapted to the digital wave. It still requires included vendors to realize significant revenue from inbound voice. As digitalization continues, we are also seeing totally new approaches to old problems with generative AI. Then come the providers themselves shifting from “CCaaS” to “CX” to signify a broader set of capabilities and use cases. Inevitably, this CCaaS MQ will give way to a CX or similar MQ and, with it, a new set of inclusion criteria and evaluated vendors. Note that’s vendors, not providers — this 2024 CCaaS report seems to work very hard to exclude single-tenant solutions, despite the increasing popularity of dedicated instance “multi-tenant” implementations.  

Webex AI Agent: AI Agents are the next shoe to drop in AI automation. The WebexOne keynote did an impressive demo of its new AI Agent. It combined a natural spoken interface with integration to back-end systems that enable the “agent” to resolve issues without a human. As with most generative AI demos, it was flawless. Cisco also showed the simple and intuitive studio where one spawns such agents. Impressive, yes; original, no. Original would be an enterprise customer presenting effective results post-implementation. Perhaps that presentation will be at WebexOne 2025. 

Salesforce CC with Amazon Connect Preview: AWS announced that what was teased at Dreamforce is now in preview. The new service is an upgraded version of Service Cloud Voice. It combines digital channels such as chat, SMS, video, and web calling with voice capabilities from Connect, all within the Salesforce CRM UI. Toyota is the launch reference customer (preso). Within this announcement, we also learned that Service Cloud Voice, launched in 2020, has over 1K customers with +100K agents. 

OpenAI Real-Time: OpenAI announced a beta release of a real-time voice API for call centers, offering speech recognition, natural language understanding, and speech synthesis capabilities. Though the API is currently expensive, it promises to automate tasks and provide personalized responses. 

Zingly Suite: Zingly.ai introduced a suite of AI solutions designed to enhance revenue growth for banking, financial services, and insurance institutions. Zingly’s solutions, including Zingly Rooms, Gen AI Buddy, Relationship AI, and Agent Copilot, leverage generative AI to improve business outcomes. Zingly Rooms provides a persistent digital space that unifies customer interactions across various channels and retains every interaction for continuity. Gen AI Buddy, a customer-facing AI agent, automates routine tasks and inquiries. Relationship AI escalates high-value interactions to human agents at critical moments. Agent Copilot empowers representatives to handle more inquiries independently. A recent implementation with a leading financial institution resulted in a $200M increase in account opening and onboarding, showcasing the effectiveness of Zingly’s AI solutions.

NICE CXone Mpower: NICE launched CXone Mpower, an AI-powered platform that automates customer service processes at scale. It enhances existing CXone architecture by integrating workflows, orchestrating human and AI agents, and consolidating knowledge and models. CXone Mpower expands NICE’s CXone architecture by orchestrating human and AI agents on a single platform, including an adaptive copilot to assist employees and automate agent development. 

At its core, CXone Mpower consolidates data, knowledge, and AI models into a single hub, allowing businesses to utilize domain-specific AI models trained in customer service. Robust access control and advanced guardrail management ensure secure management of its capabilities. CXone Mpower transforms contact centers from cost centers to profit centers, achieving operational efficiency at an unprecedented scale.

So far, generative AI has made more noise than differentiation. Most providers are implementing like capabilities using outsourced AI on simple databases. This is expected to change, and Mpower threatens to give NICE a differentiated AI and orchestration advantage. 

RC by C1CX: C1 unveiled advanced technology solutions to help businesses and organizations modernize communications and other IT services. The new communications offers include RingCentral RingEX Powered By C1CX and RingCentral RingCX Powered By C1CX. These solutions, along with its Elly, are key to how C1 expands from channel to technology vendor/provider for transformative growth.

Avaya Virtual Ops Manager: Avaya introduces the concept of a Virtual Operations Manager to transform contact center management. The concept is to build a centralized contact center data and operations system on the Avaya Experience Platform. Leaders can create follow-up actions using a low-code/no-code interface to ensure appropriate responses. Avaya plans to make the Virtual Operations Manager more accessible to its on-premise, public cloud, and private cloud customers, empowering supervisors to focus on supporting their teams.

At GITEX Global: Meet the new CEO of Avaya. See a demo of the Avaya-Zoom integration. 

UC and Messaging

Webex Go Expands: Webex Go is Cisco’s solution for native UCaaS mobility. The service has only been available in US, France, and UK from Cisco directly. That changed this month at WebexOne when Cisco and Tango expanded the Webex GO (MVNO variant) to six newly announced Certified Mobile Calling Providers (AudioCodes, CallTower, Pure IP, NTT, NUWAVE, and Tata Communications). Additionally, Cloud Connect Partners will begin managing numbers and availability, and service will significantly expand into more regions over the next six months. 

Each of these partners can provide Webex as a single-vendor solution for calling, meetings, messaging, contact center, and cellular services — available globally with centralized management through Webex Control Hub (hard phones to smartphones). Some of these partners also offer Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile, the UCaaS native mobility solution for Teams. 

This significant news was buried in the WebexOne announcement heap. TalkingPointz expects that this capability will become table stakes for UCaaS buyers, and Webex and Teams are moat-building. “There’s a SIM for that” will replace “There’s an app for that.” See UCaaS Mobility 3.0 Note. 

Gartner MQ UCaaS: Gartner released its 2024 Magic Quadrant report on UCaaS. It identified five leaders: Cisco, Microsoft, RingCentral, Zoom, and 8x8. 

UCaaS, as Gartner has defined it, involves telephony, messaging, meetings, and CCaaS. However, it is not uncommon for enterprises to adopt different solutions to address these modalities. The primary collaboration-first Leaders are Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and Zoom — each positions voice as an add-on. The primary voice-centric Leaders are 8x8 and RingCentral — voice is required. 

Cisco made the biggest positive move this year, likely because it straddles both voice- and collaboration-centric use cases. Gartner believes the market is shifting toward collaboration-centric and expects most enterprises will adopt telephony as a feature of a collaboration suite. 

The UCaaS report talks a lot about CCaaS, but the CCaaS MQ, also published this month, mostly ignores UCaaS. As per the inclusion criteria, all of the UCaaS providers offer a CCaaS solution. 

A few observations: Microsoft Teams is at the top right, but the report did not mention Europe’s antitrust complaint or that Teams is no longer bundled with Office subscriptions. Google UCaaS is weaker than the graphic implies because the ability to execute is not the same as executing. The MQ ignored native mobility offers, which TalkingPointz expects will radically change UCaaS over the next few years. Subscribers can access Dave Michels’ full Research Note on the 2024 MQ here.

Vonage SMS: Vonage VBC customers had a significant SMS outage this month. Reports of a phishing URL attack from some Vonage customer accounts caused Vonage to pause the ability for its VBC customers to send outbound SMS (inbound SMS and CPaaS were unaffected). Vonage claims no security breach occurred but did urge its customers to use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication. 

TalkingPointz believes SMS should be included in UCaaS, but many providers do not offer it. SMS is old and tired but remains critical, and it is heavily used for two-factor authentication. Last year, 10DLC changes were the SMS headache. RCS offers a brand new, decade-old approach that may improve supportability. UCaaS providers with strong CPaaS RCS capability, such as Vonage and Cisco, may have an advantage if/when they upgrade their UCaaS to use RCS. Unlike SMS, which was designed by mobile carriers, RCS can be activated on any number. 

Call Me Back: Microsoft Teams has introduced a callback feature specifically for Contact Center Call Queues, allowing customers to request a callback instead of staying on hold. This new capability lets agents respond when they’re available, which helps reduce wait times and enhances customer satisfaction. By integrating callback support, Microsoft Teams Contact Center is improving workflow efficiency and providing a more seamless call-handling experience.

Namaste RingCentral: India is finally opening up to competitive UCaaS offers. RingCentral announced that its UCaaS and CCaaS solutions are now available across all telecommunications circles in India, connecting global offices for seamless communication. The company’s RingCX platform offers an omnichannel contact center experience, enhancing customer engagement. 

Enreach DialoX and Marketplace: Enreach launched a new AI marketplace. Built on its existing DialoX platform, this marketplace gives partners a low-code/no-code path to market and provides SMBs and channel partners with preconfigured conversational AI apps. It offers businesses and channel partners affordable AI features, provides new revenue streams for AI developers and extends improved customization options. The service will initially launch in the Netherlands and Germany.

Apple Dialer: Apple took an unexpected step in iOS 18.2 to allow iPhone users to set third-party apps as the default for key functions like calling and messaging. Android phones have always supported this feature, while iPhone users have been locked into Apple. Now, with iOS 18.2, apps like WhatsApp, Skype, and … UCaaS applications for calling and texting become stronger. Apple is finally acknowledging that its notorious control over its ecosystem has severely limited its users. 

RingCentral AI Assistant Free: RingCentral’s AI Assistant is now included with RingEX at no extra charge. The AI Assistant enables users to automate mundane tasks and focus on more important strategic work. It generates detailed, real-time notes for phone calls, helps write, polish, and translate texts and chats, and summarizes meetings with clear action items. Key capabilities of the AI Assistant include real-time note-taking and summaries for phone calls, AI-powered writing and translation for SMS and team messages, AI-generated meeting highlights, and real-time live transcriptions. Many customers consider AI call notes to be a valuable asset for their business.

Slack Templates: Slack Templates are now generally available and help users launch and expand their projects, programs, and processes. The templates include preconfigured canvases, lists, and workflows organized by business functions (such as sales or marketing), general productivity, and team collaboration. Users also have the option to create their own templates.

AI is causing a general shift from task automation to workflow automation. Workflows automate manual, low-value tasks. These templated workflows can collect incoming requests and store them in a list, remind teammates to share progress updates, send timely alerts into a channel, generate weekly activity summaries powered by AI, and more. Templates are included in all paid plans.

Microsoft Phone UI Improves: Microsoft updated the Teams Phone UI to allow users to add speed dials to their line keys. Previously, this was done by the Teams client. 

The Business Section

Dmitry Netis from the Benchmark Company will contribute to the November Insider Report. 

Crescendo and PartnerHero: Crescendo, an augmented-AI customer experience platform, acquired PartnerHero, which is known for CX innovation, with clients like Airtable and Khan Academy. The terms were undisclosed, but it marks the largest high-tech acquisition by an early-stage firm. Crescendo raised $50M in funding, adding PartnerHero’s 200+ customers and 3,000 CX professionals to scale enterprise operations. The company’s AI approach shifts from traditional labor-based charges to outcome-based payments, aiming to improve customer engagement and reduce costs.

Acuity Buys QSC: Acuity Brands, a major player in lighting and building management solutions, is acquiring QSC for $1.215B. Known for its innovative audio, video, and control technologies, QSC’s addition will bolster Acuity’s Intelligent Spaces Group. This move aims to leverage QSC’s expertise to create data-driven, interactive environments, expanding Acuity’s capabilities beyond traditional lighting to encompass smarter building experiences and AV. The acquisition is set to close in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, subject to regulatory approval.

Yorktel Acquired: Yorktel has been acquired by private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP). The acquisition aims to fuel Yorktel’s growth, leveraging OEP’s expertise to enhance Yorktel’s managed services and collaboration solutions for corporate and government clients. Founded in 1985, Yorktel will continue expanding its offerings, particularly in hybrid work environments, with plans for strategic growth and new investments in digital workplace technologies.

Genesys Files for IPO: Genesys filed for a US IPO. The timing of the announcement is reasonable as the IPO market slowly recovers, although G’s specific IPO timing hasn’t been announced. IPOs have been cold over the past two years as investors perceived that valuations were inflated. Genesys is positioning itself as an AI company, which might work. Genesys took a $580M round two years ago with a valuation of $21B. Last month, Genesys reported ARR of $1.6B, up 35% YoY, but partially accelerated by robbing from its own Multicloud pipeline. Bloomberg cited sources that believe a Genesys IPO could raise as much as $2B. It’s been a long wait, so the go-no-go threshold is likely lower. 

The IPO will expose financials. IPO preparations often reduce R&D spend, but it’s a pivotal time for both CX and AI. Many are anxious to see the company’s debt level (its closest competitor, NICE, has zero debt). CEO Tony Bates didn’t do well during his post-IPO stint at GoPro. 

OpenAI — Money Printer or Incinerator? Will OpenAI ever be a good business? It’s debatable right now. At least on a sales multiple basis (13 to 14 times next year’s forecasted $11.6B revenue), some investors can justify it without embarrassment. However, investors in the latest round (which increased its valuation to $157B) probably need OpenAI to eventually become a $1T company to get a positive return. The company is estimated to lose $14B through 2026.

Samsung Sorry: Samsung apologized after revising its third-quarter profit forecast down to 9.1T Won, citing weak memory chip market conditions and one-time costs. Vice Chairman Young Hyun Jun pledged to focus on innovation and restore technological competitiveness to overcome setbacks. There are so few sources of LCD/LED display glass for other manufacturers that weakness in a major one is an impact that Danto thinks shouldn’t be discounted. 

Blurring the AV/Broadcast Lines: Distributor Starin (part of Midwich) announced a new division dedicated to content creation and production technologies. AV celebrity Chris Neto will help Starin’s clients expand basic AV services into editing, streaming, and similar products and services. Chris was at NAB-NY to introduce the new focus.  

Dialpad and Surfboard: Dialpad acquired workforce management platform Surfboard to enhance its contact center capabilities with AI-driven tools. The move aligns with Dialpad’s strategy to optimize customer service through advanced AI-powered solutions. Dialpad also announced this month that it has surpassed $300M in ARR. It had previously announced in April 2023 that it had passed $200M. 

Clerk Chat $7M: Clerk Chat Inc., a startup messaging platform integrating directly with telecom carriers, secured $7M in seed funding. The funds will enhance the platform’s messaging capabilities, allowing businesses to send bidirectional messages across SMS, WhatsApp, and iMessage from a single number. Notably, RCS was not mentioned in the announcement. Dave comments that this is yet another headache for Twilio.

CS Automation: Nicolas de Kouchkovsky estimates that there are nearly 40 customer support automation companies. The old-timers were launched five to eight years ago, but a new wave is attracting significant investment. It’s an interesting category because these companies’ centralized ticket and resolution repositories make them attractive for AI automation. 

Capacity, for example, just raised $26M in a Series D and has acquired eight companies in less than two years. Other companies include Parloa ($66M Series B), DevRev ($100M Series A), and Neuron7.ai ($44M Series B). “With six significant funding rounds totaling almost $300M in just the past 6 months, the customer support automation space is one of the most vibrant categories in customer service.”

Today, these are overlay systems, but inevitably, they will expand. Consider Zendesk and its relaunched “complete service solution,” which includes ticketing, CCaaS, and several recently acquired tuck-ins, including Tymeshift (WEM), Klaus (QM), and Ultimate (service automation).

Leadership Changes

AudioCodes has hired Mitch Hershkowitz (Dimension Data and Canon) as its Channel Sales Director for Global System Integrators. Avaya CPO Omar Javaid and CMO Josh Mueller are no longer at Avaya. Dialpad appointed Jen Grant as its Chief Marketing Officer and Atit Shah as its first-ever Chief Security Officer, reinforcing its leadership team. Five9 announced Ajay Awatramani as Chief Product Officer. Jabra announced that Olly Henderson has taken on the role of Head of Video Product Management and Portfolio. Opus Research: Ian Jacobs has moved from Forester to Opus. QSC Promotions: QSC, before the news of its purchase, announced Christopher Jaynes as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Additionally, Jason Shangkuan has been appointed Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Vonage has appointed former Avaya and Bandwidth executive Anthony Bartolo as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Yorktel: After Acuity Brands’ purchase of Yorktel, industry veteran Ken Scaturro becomes the new CEO, and Ron Gaboury moves over to their Caregility team. Zoom has appointed Michelle Chang as its new Chief Financial Officer. She succeeds Kelly Steckelberg, who will remain in an advisory role until later in the fiscal quarter. 

Goodreads

1. Hungry for Energy, Amazon, Google and Microsoft Turn to Nuclear Power Highlights the desperate need for power that AI creates.
2. Amazon, Google make dueling nuclear investments to power data centers Furhter highlights the desperate need for power that AI creates.
3. Google is using AI to make fake podcasts from your notes The new Google Notebook automated podcast feature.
4. OpenAI losses could hit $14B in 2026 Burning money chasing an AI future,
5. US Government considers a break-up of Google Will there ever be another Judge Greene?
6. Here's Why Tesla's Robotaxi Makes Absolutely No Sense Many people see Musk as making future promises that never come true.
7. 'Click to cancel' rule to ban subscription traps The FTC will force companies to simplify subscription cancellations.
8. Google ordered to open Android app store in Epic Games trial This is a big deal that will impact every smartphone. 
9. Automating Processes with Software is HARD It will take a lot of work to use LLMs for more enterprise automation.
10. 78 Artificial Intelligence Startups That Could Be for Sale This Year Developing AI models is costly, and customers are not yet sold on the benefits of using AI.
11. Five9 faces pressure from activist Legion on costs, board seat, sources say Legion Partners has built a stake in Five9. Now, it is pushing for a board seat and cost cuts, making it the second activist investor to buy into the firm's stock.  
12. Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Are The Top Selling Product In Many Ray-Ban Stores Not to be confused with actual AR goggles. 
13. 911 callers can livestream what they see with Prepared Live app The app allows 911 callers to livestream a scene while waiting for first responders.
14. One Company A/B Tested Hybrid Work. Here’s What They Found Recent research conducted in a real company showed that employees who worked from home three days a week experienced higher satisfaction and lower attrition rates.

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Recent Insider Reports (only new Insider Reports are behind the paywall) 

1. Insider Jan 2024
2. Insider Lite Feb 2024
3. Insider Feb 2024
4. Insider Lite Mar 2024
5. Insider March 2024
6. Insider April 20, 2024
7. Insider Lite May 2024
8. Insider May 2024
9. Insider June 2024 
10. Insider Lite July 2024
11. Insider July 2024
12. Insider Lite August 2024
13. Insider August 2024
14. Insider Lite September 2024
15. Insider September 2024
16. Insider Lite October 2024

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Insider Reports offer timely, curated, and opinionated news. The Insider Report is published the first week of every month. Enterprise subscriptions also include TalkingPointz research notes. These reports are geared toward the industry itself, though some enterprises subscribe, too. Core subscribers are vendors, providers, consultants, and (financial and industry) analysts. TalkingPointz offers enterprise-vendor, channel, consultant, and personal subscriptions. 

Meet Us

Dave Michels is Founder and Chief Protagonist at TalkingPointz and Editor in Chief of the Insider Report. [email protected]. David Danto is AV Aficionado at TalkingPointz. [email protected].