Welcome to this week’s No Jitter Roll, our regular roundup of product news in the communication and collaboration spaces. This week NJR highlights: Microsoft Teams' enhancements to the Meetings experience, Nureva's collaboration with Sony and PTZOptics on audio/video conferencing systems, and Crestron's debut of the 1 Beyond camera line. In AI and CX news, Genesys acquired Radarr, Yellow.ai and Infobip partnered, SnapLogic announced a no-code generative AI application builder and Pega launched its Gen AI-powered "Knowledge Buddy."
Microsoft Enhances the Meeting Experience in Teams
Microsoft debuted a new default gallery experience for Teams meetings that places everyone in tiles of equal size (16:9 ratio) whether their video is turned on or off. The gallery size defaults to 16 participants, but the number of visible participants can be customized. And, the user can hide their own tile from their own gallery view. Another new feature is the Light Theme option (the Dark Theme is pictured).
For virtual participants, the AI in Teams will prioritize those with a raised hand and the active speaker. When a Teams Room joins the meeting, the video of the room automatically enlarges (pictured below).
Microsoft is also rolling out audio and video flyouts in meetings (pictured below), which allow users to select their preferred camera or mic device directly from the flyout. Users can also adjust volume, spatial audio, noise suppression, backgrounds, avatar use, brightness and soft focus from the flyout.
Microsoft has also updated Together Mode (which brings all meeting participants into a shared background) with a new layout for content sharing. All participants are grouped below the content being shared (pictured below).
Microsoft updated the meeting invite design to group related information and make it “visually cleaner.” Finally, the company updated how users join meetings: participants will be able to join Teams (free) meetings from Teams for work and vice versa, a change from the old experience where users were prompted to join via a browser and treated as a meeting guest (anonymous).
Nureva HDL410 enables camera tracking with PTZ cameras from Sony and PTZOptics
The audio conferencing solutions provider announced that its HDL410 audio conferencing system now integrates with PTZOptics Move 4K and Link 4K cameras. The integration allows sound location data from the Nureva HDL410 system to steer the PTZOptics 4K cameras to where people are speaking in the room.
Sony and Nureva partnered to create a large-room audio and video reference bundle which pairs the Nureva HDL410 audio-conferencing system with select Sony SRG series pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) and remote cameras (e.g., the AI-powered SRG-A40 and SRG-A12 cameras, the SRG-X40UH camera and the SRG-XP1 box camera). The reference design is available online with Nureva and Sony.
Crestron Debuts New 1 Beyond Optical Zoom Cameras
The workplace collaboration solution provider launched the new 1 Beyond PTZ camera line which includes four cameras each equipped with optical zoom: the i12 and i20 which have built-in Visual AI framing and tracking capabilities; the p12 and p20 are PTZ cameras.
The i12 model, designed for medium to large spaces, offers 12x optical zoom and can be used for either group framing or basic presenter tracking up to 25 feet. Using Visual AI, two i12 cameras can be paired together and when someone enters or exits a designated zone the cameras will switch automatically. The i20 model is tailored for large and extra-large spaces, providing 20x optical zoom. It features enhanced presenter tracking up to 50 feet with group tracking and preset zones.
The p12 and p20 models are standard PTZ cameras. The p12 is suitable for medium and large rooms with 12x optical zoom. Offering 20x optical zoom, the p20 is designed for large and extra-large rooms.
SnapLogic Announces GenAI Builder
The provider of integration, automation and orchestration solutions announced GenAI Builder, a no-code generative AI application development product that allows organizations to integrate AI with enterprise data. For example, an enterprise can:
- Add conversational AI co-pilots to existing and new applications through a no-code visual designer and pre-built templates for common use cases.
- integrate their data with Large Language Models (LLMs), to create Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) applications without coding.
GenAI Builder is now available for private beta and will be generally available to all SnapLogic customers in February.
Want to know more? Retrieval Augmented Generation
Per AWS, RAG is “the process of optimizing the output of a large language model, so it references an authoritative knowledge base outside of its training data sources before generating a response.” Nvidia defines RAG as: “a technique for enhancing the accuracy and reliability of generative AI models with facts fetched from external sources.”
Pega Introduces New Generative AI Assistant
The enterprise AI decisioning and workflow automation platform provider announced Pega GenAI Knowledge Buddy, a generative AI-powered assistant that will search, analyze, and synthesize an organization’s existing document libraries to generate answers. Users can also ask Knowledge Buddy to generate new content, such as emails or documents, based on their existing libraries.
Administrators can define and test AI-assistant prompts, guidelines, and access control. Security and governance capabilities enable organizations to define role-based visibility across content bases to help ensure users have access to the appropriate information.
Pega GenAI uses RAG to only generate answers based on the client’s content in their enterprise knowledge base. Answers generated by Buddies include citations back to an organization’s own content so users can validate answers. Additionally, conversations are tracked and audited. Enterprises can also customize “Buddies” for different use cases such as marketing, operations, sales, service, etc.
Genesys to Acquire Radarr Technologies
The CX solution provider said it would acquire Radarr Technologies, which provides AI-based social and digital listening, analytics, and consumer engagement. Radarr’s product will be integrated into Genesys Cloud and the social media insights delivered by Radarr will feed into Genesys AI thus allowing Genesys to “further connect attitudinal, sentiment and interaction data from across the CX continuum.”
According to Sheila McGee-Smith, president, McGee-Smith Analytics, “Connecting these public feeds with the orchestration of the customer journey will provide companies not only a more holistic understanding of consumer behavior and sentiment, but the tools to take action through more enhanced personalization and engagement.”
Yellow.ai and Infobip partner for Gen AI-powered Customer Support Automation
The generative AI-powered customer service automation partnered with InfoBip to create conversational AI experiences through the channels (e.g., WhatsApp, SMS, and email) supported by Infobip's platform.
This Week on No Jitter
In case you missed them, here are some of our top stories:
- AI in Business Communications: Despite AI’s promise, in 2024 there’ll be a lot of mistakes made along the way as we navigate the early days of some of the new AI capabilities, particularly for generative AI.
- Tech Trends in 2024: When you’re assessing what’s going on in tech, Wall Street’s beliefs are as important as business case reality. Here’s what the investors are expecting for 2024.
- Hybrid workforces dependent on virtual collaboration tools should put a priority on equipment with excellent audio quality.
Reserve Your Spot: Enterprise Connect 2024
Learn more about today’s most pressing enterprise communications and CX issues at Enterprise Connect, March 25-28, 2024, in Orlando, FL.
