AI and CX Lead the Way for Best of Enterprise Connect

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The Finalists for the Best of Enterprise Connect awards were announced today, and—no surprise—AI and CX dominate the list, with a thread of security also weaving its way through the nominees.

Many of the finalist product announcements are under embargo until closer to the show, so we can’t give you all the details just yet. But it’s clear from the companies nominated and the categories that it’ll be a big year for AI and CX.

The finalists for the overall Best of Enterprise Connect 2024 award are:

Cyara: For a product to be announced in March
Five9: For a product to be announced later this year
Genesys: For a product to be announced in February
MiaRec: MiaRec Automated Quality Management and Coaching, which uses generative AI technology to automatically score, summarize, and categorize 100 percent of contact center calls.
RingCentral: For a product to be announced in March
Vonage: Vonage Protection Suite, which proactively blocks suspicious traffic, accesses real-time fraud assessment data for global numbers, and/or implements a turnkey, omnichannel 2FA solution with fraud protection and customizable automatic failover.

We’re also recognizing innovation in four specific technology/market areas. Here are the categories with their finalists:

Best Innovation in Customer Experience

Cognigy: AI Copilot, which equips contact center agents with AI-driven support for customer interactions on all voice and digital channels, enhancing their performance.
First Orion: SENTRY, an authentication solution that allows enterprises to proactively block fraudulent, spoofed outbound calls and ensures their numbers are only used for legitimate calls.
Five9: For a product to be announced later this year
Genesys: For a product to be announced in February
Nextiva: For a product to be announced in March
RingCentral: For a product to be announced in March

Best Innovation for Meetings/Conferencing

Barco: ClickShare Bar Pro, a premium, carbon-neutral video bar that enables effortless wireless conferencing in medium-sized meeting rooms with any video conferencing platform.
Shure: Microflex Advance MXA902 Integrated Conferencing Ceiling Array, ceiling-mounted audio solution for AV conferencing, with array microphone for enhanced directional voice capture and an integrated wide-dispersion loudspeaker for natural sounding far-end speech. 
Theta Lake: Theta Lake Risk and Compliance Suite latest release, for collaboration platforms like Zoom, RingCentral, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Slack, Office 365, whiteboards like Mural and Miro, in addition to work management platforms like Monday.com, Asana and more.
Webex by Cisco: Webex AI Codec, applying advanced neural networks and machine learning to speech to greatly improve hybrid work in low bandwidth situations.
Yealink: Yealink SmartVision60, integrating AI technologies like voice control, identity recognition, transcription, and multi-stream IntelliFrame into video conferencing for medium-sized Microsoft Teams rooms.

Best Innovation for Systems Management

Cyara: For a product to be announced in March
NexGen Technologies: NexGen Virtual Office, a business management platform for hybrid and in-office environments, connecting workforces to build a collaborative culture and community with accountability.
Upwork: Upwork Enterprise Suite, a comprehensive set of tools for enterprises looking to streamline workforce management and become more cost-efficient, innovative, productive, and growth-oriented.
Vonage: Vonage Protection Suite, which proactively blocks suspicious traffic, accesses real-time fraud assessment data for global numbers, and/or implements a turnkey, omnichannel 2FA solution with fraud protection and customizable automatic failover.

Most Innovative Use of AI

Amazon Web Services: Amazon Q, a generative artificial intelligence-(AI) powered assistant that is specifically for work and can be tailored to a customer’s business.
Cyara: For a product to be announced in March
Genesys: For a product to be announced in February
MiaRec: MiaRec Automated Quality Management and Coaching, which uses generative AI technology to automatically score, summarize, and categorize 100 percent of contact center calls.
Nextiva: For a product to be announced in March

Zoom: AI Companion, a generative AI-powered assistant that empowers people to increase their productivity, enhance their skills, improve team effectiveness, and free up time spent on repetitive tasks to focus on more meaningful work and connections.

This year’s judging panel once again comprises a list of veteran industry experts from the analyst and consultant world. They worked hard to comb through the 31 valid entries to come up with our Finalists, and they’ll meet with the nominees for the overall award before they make their final decision on which company will take home the top prize. I’d like to thank this group of independent experts: