From the release of a new innovation that ties two CX giants to more industry layoffs, here are some extracts from our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Kore.ai Releases a Conversational IVR for the Genesys Cloud CX Platform
Kore.ai has developed a GenAI-powered conversational IVR for the Genesys Cloud CX platform.
The "Voice Gateway" solution detects intent before automating the query upfront or passing the customer through to a relevant live agent.
In doing the latter, the conversational IVR may also gather information for the agent upfront to streamline the subsequent interaction.
Interested customers can access the application on the Genesys AppFoundry, a marketplace of solutions offering applications and integrations to boost customer and employee experiences.
Raj Koneru, CEO and Founder of Kore.ai, commented on the launch of Voice Gateway on Genesys AppFoundry: "As a Genesys AppFoundry partner, Kore.ai will strive to help our joint customers deliver outstanding customer experiences.
The Voice Gateway powered by generative AI and conversational AI will become a critical differentiator for brands that leverage this technology to improve their market performance and competitive standing.
Voice Gateway routes conversations to voice and digital channels, answers customer queries 24/7, and provides personalized self-service. (Read on…).
Qualtrics Lays Off 14 Percent of Its Workforce
Qualtrics has laid off 14 percent of its workforce as part of an organizational restructure.
The VoC stalwart follows many other CX tech juggernauts in making layoffs in 2023.
And Zig Serafin, CEO of Qualtrics, told a familiar story when announcing the news: the company’s organizational structure had become too complicated.
After a pandemic-driven business surge, Qualtrics seemingly grew too quickly – and somewhat unsustainably.
Salesforce, Zendesk, and many others have painted a similar picture when announcing their layoffs.
Another example is SAP, which acquired Qualtrics in 2018 and continues to own a majority stake in the company. Earlier this year, it announced plans to lay off 2.5 percent of its global workforce.
Soon after, Qualtrics was acquired by investment firms Silver Lake and CPP Investments for $12.5BN, including SAP’s remaining 71 percent stake in Qualtrics.
Going deeper into the rationale behind the job cuts in a memo to employees, Serafin explained: "Simply put, the organizational structures, work processes, and the way we made decisions previously don’t work for the company we’ve become or the company we aspire to be.
The result is an organizational structure that will enable our teams to work better together, bring new innovations to market faster, and make it easier for our customers and partners to do business with us.
Employees made redundant will receive a minimum of ten weeks of severance pay, health insurance, equity vesting, as well as outstanding quarterly bonuses. (Read on…).
Dialpad Showcases Its Latest Generative AI Innovation for Contact Centers
During the recent Google Next event, Dialpad showcased its latest generative AI (GenAI) innovation for contact centers.