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8x8 Taps AI Startup for Talent, Technology8x8 Taps AI Startup for Talent, Technology

Looks to imbue customer interactions with 360-degree contextual understanding

Beth Schultz

May 15, 2018

2 Min Read
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Seeking to draw ever more insight from and provide value out of the customer data it amasses, cloud communications provider 8x8 today disclosed that it has acquired MarianaIQ (MIQ), an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered B2B marketing startup, for an undisclosed sum.

Not seeing a connection between B2B marketing and communications? 8x8 really didn't at first, either, Bryan Martin, 8x8 CTO, shared in a No Jitter briefing on the announcement. That's to say, 8x8 began discussions with MIQ founders with the thought of grabbing AI and machine learning talent, he said. But, he added, the more 8x8 learned about the MIQ platform, the more the acquisition also became about the underlying technology.

As Venkat Nagaswamy, MIQ founder and CEO, described in a May 2017 interview with MarTech Advisor, the company's AI-powered account-based marketing platform enabled companies to engage with "specific people within specific target accounts in high interaction channels" -- i.e., social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. MIQ's main differentiation, he went on to say, was in the ability to cull accounts across such social channels, as well as from Google AdWords, for the same person.

Applying this type of machine learning as customers reach out to a company, regardless of channel, will enable 8x8 to enrich the interaction with contextual information, Martin said. In a contact center scenario, for example, a random ID on a chat channel suddenly becomes attached to a real person -- say the assistant to an executive at an important customer -- along with current and historical insight on any prior interactions, he added.

Consider the millions and millions of call detail records 8x8 processes each month -- data on who your employees are calling and who's calling your employees -- as well as all the chat conversations, for example. "As the data piles up, the ability to apply AI and add context and insight becomes paramount," said Martin, noting the company's focus on big-data analytics since its earliest days. 8x8 expects the MIQ technology will help it unlock more from customer communications patterns, he added.

8x8 isn't as yet bringing any MIQ-fueled enhancements to the X Series blended UC-contact center platform announced in March at Enterprise Connect 2018, but Martin said research and development is underway with the help of the MIQ team, including CEO Nagaswamy and his co-founder Soumyadeb Mitra. They'll report to Dejan Deklich, chief product officer, at 8x8.

The five-year-old company joins a half dozen or so other acquisitions 8x8 has made since 2013, as 8x8 "continues to put its balance sheet to work," Martin said.

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About the Author

Beth Schultz

In her role at Metrigy, Beth Schultz manages research operations, conducts primary research and analysis to provide metrics-based guidance for IT, customer experience, and business decision makers. Additionally, Beth manages the firm’s multimedia thought leadership content.

With more than 30 years in the IT media and events business, Beth is a well-known industry influencer, speaker, and creator of compelling content. She brings to Metrigy a wealth of industry knowledge from her more than three decades of coverage of the rapidly changing areas of digital transformation and the digital workplace.

Most recently, Beth was with Informa Tech, where for seven years she served as program co-chair for Enterprise Connect, the leading independent conference and exhibition for the unified communications and customer experience industries, and editor in chief of the companion No Jitter media site. While with Informa Tech, Beth also oversaw the development and launch of WorkSpace Connect, a multidisciplinary media site providing thought leadership for IT, HR, and facilities/real estate managers responsible for creating collaborative, connected workplaces.

Over the years, Beth has worked at a number of other technology news organizations, including All Analytics, Network World, CommunicationsWeek, and Telephony Magazine. In these positions, she has earned more than a dozen national and regional editorial excellence awards from American Business Media, American Society of Business Press Editors, Folio.net, and others.

Beth has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and lives in Chicago.

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