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Dialpad Expands Full-Service CCaaS with Self-Service

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Dialpad today announced it acquired the assets of Kare Knowledgeware, a conversational robotic process automation company. The acquisition intends to bolster Dialpad CCaaS, but we can also expect its use in other Dialpad services. Another sign that the company is thinking about CCaaS is Dialpad's recent partnership with workforce engagement (WEM) provider Playvox.
 
These moves make sense. Dialpad’s brand is strongly associated with UCaaS and meetings but is less known for CCaaS — and it’s clear Dialpad intends to change that. Dialpad reports significant growth in CCaaS subscriptions. Joe Manuele, SVP of Corporate and Business Development at Dialpad, said, “we’re experiencing significant demand and growth for Dialpad Contact Center across our customer base, which is a direct result of our ongoing strategic investments.”
 
Dialpad CCaaS has a strong call routing feature set, but the service is limited in two functional areas: WEM and self-service. Playvox filled the WEM gap last month, and Dialpad CCaaS now has a direct and integrated solution for workforce management, quality assurance, scheduling and forecasting, and other WEM functions.
 
Today’s acquisition of Kare Knowledgeware resolves the self-service gap. Kare Knowledgeware is a U.K.-based data analytics developer that turns unstructured data into useful knowledge. The primary product is the Kare ‘dialogue engine’ using AI and robotic process automation (RPA) to gather and evaluate information from diverse systems. The solution is optimized to discern the best responses and provide them in a conversational format (spoken or textual) in real-time.
 
Kare Knowledgeware accumulates knowledge by crawling through various data sources. This includes unstructured data from sources such as FAQs, call centers, customer relationship management (CRM), websites, and even transcripts. Dialpad customers have no shortage of transcripts. In 2018, Dialpad acquired TalkIQ and used that technology to create Dialpad Voice Intelligence (VI). Dialpad uses VI to create searchable, real-time transcripts of every call.
 
Tim Porter, Kare Knowledgeware’s CEO, joins Dialpad’s product management team. “Together, we'll significantly improve both customer and agent experiences through new conversational, RPA capabilities,” he said. The acquisition includes intellectual property and employees, additional terms were not disclosed.
 
The new acquisition also positions Dialpad to create augmented agent solutions. Because it can already monitor and transcribe agent-customer conversations, Dialpad can use Kare Knowledgeware capabilities to guide the agent to answers with screen prompts. These agent-customer interactions are created continuously, thus offer the potential for passive (self-maintaining) AI training.
Acquiring Kare Knowledgeware “addresses the key innovations happening as companies transform their customer experience strategies,” according to Robin Gareiss, a Principal Analyst at Metrigy and fellow No Jitter contributor. She added that “when companies use AI-enabled, self-service tools like Kare’s, they see a 40% growth in revenue and a 51% improvement in agent efficiency.”
 
Dialpad’s CCaaS services span both inbound and outbound use cases. With Kare Knowledgeware, Dialpad can now create a self-service option for its CCaaS customers. For example, customers could initiate interactions via chatbot on a brand’s website. It’s a new path for Dialpad CCaaS that could reduce calls to human agents. For digital interactions, Dialpad has offered SMS and team chat for years.
 
It’s notable how quickly and comprehensively the Dialpad portfolio is expanding. TruCaaS, Dialpad's approach to UCaaS, CCaaS, and AI with a single client built on a single communications stack, is at the core, and representative of where the enterprise communications industry is headed. TruCaaS supports additional channels and integrates with Salesforce, Zendesk, and Intercom.
 
These CCaaS improvements follow the recent launch of Dialpad Meetings, and Kare Knowledgeware marks the provider’s third acquisition (TalkIQ in 2018, Highfive in 2020, and Kare Knowledgeware in 2021).
 
Dave Michels is a Contributing Editor and analyst at TalkingPointz.