In this week’s No Jitter Roll, we share news of the latest telecom acquisition, improvements to a mobile team collaboration app, an enhanced Microsoft Teams integration, new co-browsing capability for a customer engagement platform, a digital workflow integration, an API ecosystem for integrations, a omnichannel contact center solution, and an AI acquisition.
Microsoft Acquires MetaSwitch
Yesterday,
Microsoft announced a definitive agreement to acquire Metaswitch Networks, in a move to bolster Microsoft’s position with telecom network operators as 5G rolls out. Microsoft plans to use Metaswitch’s technology to extend the Azure platform, said Yousef Khalidi, corporate VP of Azure Networking, in a blog post. The Metaswitch acquisition will provide, “additional depth to our hyperscale cloud infrastructure [via] the specialized software required to run virtualized communication functions, applications and networks,” Khalidi wrote.
Slack Releases Enhanced Mobile Experience
To create a more streamlined mobile experience, Slack made changes to navigation, messages, and mentions and reactions. These changes include:
- Top-level navigation with a tab bar — From the home screen, users can tab over to channels and direct messages, and will have access to a list of conversations. Additionally, from any tab, users can swipe right to open a list of workspaces or swipe left to get back to the last conversation.
- Easier access to direct messages (DMs) — Previously, DMs on mobile were hard to access. Now, a dedicated "DMs" tab will allow users to easily access conversations.
- Activity screen changed — The activity screen has been moved to a prominent location in the app and renamed to "mentions and reactions."
- Managing statuses — The tab bar will allow users to update their status and snooze notifications without needing to go to a separate menu.
The changes will be available to all users by the end of next week.
SurveyMonkey Gets Tighter Teams Integration
This week, SaaS online survey provider
SurveyMonkey released tighter integration with Microsoft Teams. With the expanded integration, team leaders and IT managers can create surveys and generate feedback directly through the Teams interface, according to SurveyMonkey. In addition to creating surveys from scratch, users also have access to 22 templates, which include coronavirus-related remote work and work-life balance check-ins, meeting and project feedback, and engagement and satisfaction surveys, SurveyMonkey said.
LogMeIn Comes to the Rescue
This week, at its CXNext 2020 virtual event, unified communications and collaboration provider
LogMeIn announced the launch of Rescue Live Guide – co-browsing technology that allows agents secure access to view and interact with a customer’s web browser. As part of LogMeIn's customer engagement and support portfolio, this latest offering delivers immediate and secure co-browsing capabilities that enable customer service agents to resolve issues via personalized support. Highlights include:
- Instant deployment — users can take a code-based approach or choose a code-free deployment option that enables chat and phone-based agents to begin co-browsing without the enterprise making website changes.
- Stress-free security — Rescue Live Guide has built-in privacy functionality that prevents agents from viewing sensitive customer data or taking certain actions on behalf of the customer.
- Flexibility — agents can provide customer assistance on any owned or third-party device, mainstream browser, or website.
The Rescue Live Guide enables personalized service for faster customer resolutions and white-glove service that can provide differentiation for brands that use it, said LogMeIn.
Rescue Live Guide is available as a standalone offer.
Vonage Incorporates ServiceNow
Cloud communications provider
Vonage announced this week an integration with digital workflow company ServiceNow to help contact centers better serve internal and external customers in real-time.
Vonage Contact Center for ServiceNow is a unified platform that provides agents with contextual and relevant data and workflows, allowing them to stay within the ServiceNow application.
Features include:
- Embedded call controls via the contact pad
- Screen pop and click-to-dial
- Automatic interaction event logging
- Ability to listen to call recordings with a convenient playback link
Vonage Contact Center for ServiceNow is available with Select and Premium VCC packages. It works with ServiceNow’s Madrid, New York, or Orlando versions, and is compatible with either the Classic or Agent ServiceNow workspace.
Fuze Expands Portfolio, Announces Google Integrations
In the first of a pair of announcements, cloud communications provider
Fuze announced a new offering this week, that enables customers and third-party developers to implement custom integrations.
The Fuze Integrations Ecosystem is available now and features a developer center that includes APIs and documentation; a marketplace that enables integration with the applications customers already use day-to-day; and personalized integration solutions scoped and built for specific use cases.
Fuze also announced a suite of Google product integrations to support remote workers, leveraging existing integrations that include Fuze Web for Google Chrome, and the Google Chrome Browser Extension with the Fuze Meeting Google Plug-in. The new GSuite add-on for Gmail enables one-click calling of any contact’s phone number in a Gmail thread, while the browser extension delivers dial pad access so that users can directly dial a phone number from the toolbar. A click-to-call option enables these users to make phone calls from any webpage that lists a phone number.
Infobip Gets Conversational with CPaaS Solution
This month, global cloud communications provider Infobip
announced the launch of Conversations — a digital cloud contact center solution that delivers omnichannel support for customers through a single-agent interface. Messaging services such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Live Chat, SMS and in-house chatbots can all be managed through this platform.
This latest offering aims to help businesses:
- Empower agents with automation — set up rules and automate workflows so that customers are routed to the correct agent, or one already who’s already dealt with the customer, in the case of a return visit.
- Give agents the context they need — by allowing them to access customer data from CRM systems, webshop, ticketing, and loyalty program systems, all in one location.
- Manage cross-channel conversations — while retaining a full conversation history to help agents easily respond to questions.
- Improve remote agent performance through analytics — Managers can track customer activity, monitor agent performance to identify challenges, and make necessary adjustments.
Conversations aims to help businesses reduce the complexity of global messaging and enable them to interact with customers in a personalized way without friction, said Infobip.
Kustomer Acquires Reply.ai
Omnichannel SaaS provider Kustomer this week announced the acquisition of service automation startup Reply.ai, which provides AI and machine learning capabilities via self-service chatbots. Following enhancements to its CRM platform, Kustomer will be able to leverage Reply.ai to deliver enhanced self-service and assist capabilities.
Dana Casielles, No Jitter associate editor, contributed to this article.
