Could a Four-Day Work Week be the Norm by 2030?

A majority of UK workers (83 percent) believe the four-day week could be the norm by 2030, according to a new survey from collaboration firm Owl Labs. 
The survey, which examined the experiences of over 1,000 UK employees in hybrid, in-office and remote work settings, found support for the initiative was highest among Gen Z (91 percent) and Millennials (87 percent).   
“The rise of flexible working trends such as the four-day week and “working-to-rule” show that the traditional nine-to-five no longer makes the cut,” said Frank Weishaupt, CEO, Owl Labs.   
“It’s crucial to recognise that more hours doesn’t always lead to greater productivity, nor does forcing strict in-office attendance – it’s about how effectively those hours are used, not where they are spent.  
As organisations look to attract and retain talent in a competitive market, flexible models like the four-day week are already shifting from experiment to expectation. For many, the question is no longer if – but when.” 
Over three-quarters (76 percent) of those surveyed said a four-day week could improve their work-life balance, with 74 percent saying there would be more time for personal development and 72 percent saying it could lead to greater job satisfaction. 
While the overall sentiment was in favour of a shorter work week, a majority of those surveyed (60 percent) did raise concerns about longer hours during working days or potential impacts on customer service (raised by 38 percent of respondents). 

Is the Worker/Leader Divide On Flexible Working Coming To A Head?
Owl Labs Boosts Seamless Hybrid Work With Microsoft Teams Certifications

What’s the Uptake?
Although the number of companies formally adopting a four-day week has grown in recent years, the overall prevalence remains relatively low.
A March 2025 survey from jobs website StandOut CV found that only about 1.61 percent of job postings in the UK advertise a four-day workweek, showing that widespread adoption is still in its early stages.
A 2022 pilot of the policy involving 61 companies and 2,900 employees yielded positive results, with 92 percent making it a permanent fixture.
As of early 2025, approximately 200 companies in the UK had adopted a four-day workweek without reducing employee pay.
The firms collectively employ over 5,000 workers and span various sectors, including marketing, technology, charities, and consulting.
Technological Challenges Persist 
Owl Labs’ data also highlighted a series of technological challenges faced by some workers, with a staggering 83 percent of employees saying they have experienced tech issues during hybrid meetings.    
Unreliable connectivity (38 percent), audio issues (34 percent), and video lag (33 percent) were among the most disruptive problems reported.
The situation was further exacerbated in physical office spaces, with 32 percent of those surveyed saying outdated or missing technology was a “persistent issue”.  

 

Pre-Emptive Customer Service: Dialpad Announce Agentic AI Ambitions and Platform Enhancements

Dialpad has today announced its strategic vision for agentic AI and new platform enhancements.
“Our platform’s unique ability to coach agents in real time is just the beginning, and we will always keep pushing the boundaries further,”
Craig Walker, Founder and CEO of Dialpad, said.
“We’re laser-focused on revolutionizing customer interactions, with systems that adapt in real time and complete complex tasks. This is about transforming customer experience and empowering businesses to serve their customers in an entirely new way.”
Dialpad’s Agentic AI platform ambitions aim to enable businesses to deliver what Gartner calls “pre-emptive customer service,” and its platform enhancements bring new AI and Teams integrations.
Dialpad’s Agentic Ambitions
Agentic AI has taken over as the new industry interest from generative AI.
Now, companies are trying to build and deploy agentic AI that works across their UC solutions.
Already, we have seen some elements of this with RingCentral’s AI Receptionist.
Yet what Dialpad is referring to in its vision is AI agents that work across the whole platform to fulfill various functions.
With the release of the Agentic Platform, it intends to give customers the ability to create fully autonomous applications.

Key Features at a Glance
Order Tracking: AI agents will automatically authenticate customers, access order systems, and provide real-time shipping updates with delivery estimates and tracking options.
Appointment Management: Customers can reschedule appointments through AI agents that identify them, show available time slots, and update scheduling systems automatically.
Recruitment Screening: AI agents will conduct initial candidate interviews, collect qualifications, store information in HR systems, and schedule promising applicants for human interviews.

The platform will also include an agent management toolkit aimed at improving efficiency and accelerating time-to-value for agent implementations by up to 75% compared to typical execution timelines.
Dialpad believes they are well positioned to usher in this Agentic Platform, having stated they remain the only contact center platform that can coach live agents in real time during each call using native AI.
It is these features built into its core platform that Dialpad says will soon be augmented with fully agentic AI.
Dialpad’s Agentic Platform is scheduled for release in Fall 2025, with early access for select customers.
New Platform Updates
Alongside the ambition announcement, Dialpad joined the update with some tangible feature releases that its customers will now be able to give their teams.

AI Live Coach: Proactive, in-the-moment guidance for live agents during each and every conversation, including real-time information gathering from the company’s entire knowledge base.
More customer data to support customer calls through additional and expanded integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk, Microsoft Teams, and many more.
An AI CSAT score after the call, along with insights and tips on how to improve the customer experience for next time.

Automatic syncing with Salesforce and other CRMs: Call summaries, action items, full transcripts, and call dispositions synced with your CRM within minutes of the conversation.
Dialpad has also enhanced its Microsoft Teams integration, offering strong contact center capabilities for Microsoft-centric enterprises.
Key enhancements include simplified setup through self-serve direct routing, two-way presence syncing for accurate status reflection, and an enhanced embedded experience within Teams.
This integration enables organizations to operate Dialpad’s AI-powered features directly within Microsoft Teams while maintaining full visibility and control.
Dialpad is working towards the Certified Contact Center Solution for Microsoft Teams this fall.
The platform has also expanded AI language support for eight languages, advanced security controls, compliance tools for data governance, and strategic integrations for workflow automation.
Dialpad’s AI Strengths
Dialpad’s strengths in AI come from an intense focus on the area.
Dialpad has developed its own AI system, DialpadGPT, that works across its suite of products.
Equally, it has specific LLMs working across its platform that allow for more industry-specific work to be enabled.

 

From Reactive to Proactive: UC Service Management Strategies for Success

In a time of evolving hybrid work strategies, increasingly complex unified communication platforms, and growing reliance on technology, businesses need to shift tactics. Simply “reacting” to issues as they emerge isn’t enough. Organizations need proactive UC service management strategies to minimize downtime, boost productivity, and cut risks.
Ultimately, modern, distributed teams need a comprehensive collection of UC, collaboration, and productivity tools to thrive. If any of these systems suffer an outage or technical issue, troubleshooting the problem after the fact causes costs and staff frustrations to spike.
A proactive UC service management model helps prevent disruptions before they happen, boosting efficiency, reducing costs, and keeping employees happy.
The Risks of Reactive Troubleshooting
If you’re waiting for employees to report UC issues before you start counteracting them, you’re risking longer downtime periods and higher resolution costs. Picture an average Monday morning, when sales managers are gearing up for calls and marketing teams are collaborating on a new project.
A sudden UC outage can leave countless employees sitting idle as IT teams scramble to reboot systems and patch vulnerabilities. By the time the problem is fixed, deals are jeopardized, employees are exhausted, and productivity has crumbled.
Reactive troubleshooting leads to:

Operational Efficiency: When around 80% of IT incidents are reported by end-users (rather than being detected by systems), repair times increase. IT teams spend a significant portion of their day troubleshooting and repairing preventable issues.
Increased Costs: Unplanned outages cost money. Gartner suggests that network downtime costs around $5,600 per minute. That figure comes from lost revenue, reduced productivity, and repair costs.
Poor Employee Experiences: An organization’s communication stack is supposed to make employees’ lives easier, not harder. Frequent disruptions sabotage that goal. In a remote/hybrid environment, UC downtime leaves distributed employees cut off from their teams and resources.
Security Vulnerabilities: A reactive approach to UC service management strategies can open the door to security issues. If you only update platforms or patch vulnerabilities after something goes wrong, you risk prolonged exposure to known security gaps.

Winning Proactive UC Service Management Strategies
Moving from reactive to proactive means anticipating problems before they turn into full-blown crises. With modern UC Service Management tools, particularly those utilizing AI features, companies can effectively stay one step ahead of major problems.
Implementing Predictive Maintenance with AI/ML
Predictive maintenance solutions are becoming increasingly common in UCSM platforms. Systems can collect data on call quality, latency, network load, and user endpoints in real-time. Then, AI solutions can dive into data to detect anomalies well before they escalate. Instead of waiting for an outage, you get an alert about unusual packet loss or suspicious fluctuations in call volume.
Some advanced platforms can even forecast the likelihood of hardware or software failures within the next 72 hours. That means less guesswork, and less unplanned downtime, as well as an opportunity to schedule fixes and updates during off-work hours.
For instance, Arrivia uses Virsae’s service management platform to save teams up to four hours on weekly troubleshooting tasks. The company has also been able to use real-time and historical data to identify trends and reduce issues proactively in the long term. According to the company, agents are up to 50% more productive, thanks to less downtime and fewer technical frustrations.
Accessing AI-Driven Root Cause Analysis
When UC performance issues do happen, AI-powered root cause analysis helps companies find the reason for those problems fast. AI tools can examine huge data sets to find the common cause of issues, and even suggest remediation strategies.
AI tools might correlate network QoS metrics, application performance logs, security patches, and user device statuses in seconds, tasks that would take human engineers hours. From there, they can implement or trigger automated fixes without human intervention.
For instance, if the system detects an unusual spike in bandwidth consumption causing call-quality dips, it can reroute traffic or reallocate resources immediately.
Embracing Automated Workflow Orchestration
Automation is the key to effective and proactive UC service management strategies. Platform vendors like Kurmi, VOSS, and Akkadian give companies the tools they need to automate countless tasks, reducing the need to “react” to employee needs.
For instance, you can add or remove hundreds of users to a system at once, and make sure they have all the right access levels as soon as they log into a new system. That reduces the time employees spending waiting around for new systems to be configured.
Some companies, like Kurmi, even handle things like “automatic deprovisioning” to reduce the risk of security issues emerging when employees who leave the company maintain access to a license. They can also provide access to self-healing scripts that allow AI systems to automatically repair common problems as they emerge.
Leveraging Unified Observability
Most enterprises today juggle multiple communication platforms (Cisco, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Avaya, etc.). Reactive management often means logging into separate admin consoles to see performance data. A single observability layer centralizes that view, enabling real-time cross-platform insights and proactive alerts.
For instance, if your IR Collaborate dashboard sees a certain server is nearing capacity, you’ll know early. You can add or shift resources before calls start dropping. In one large healthcare provider’s experience, the unified visibility offered by a UCSM service from IR helped to improve communication, reduce downtime, and improve patient experiences.
Additionally, a single pane of glass solution for monitoring all systems and potential technical issues means companies can create “continuous improvement loops”. Monitoring data from each usage pattern and fix can help organizations to constantly improve their proactive strategy.
Enabling Self-Service Portals
Giving employees the ability to run quick diagnostics, check their network speeds, or open a correctly routed help ticket can drastically reduce first-level support calls. This is one of the simplest proactive UC service management strategies companies can implement.
Because team members don’t have to wait for issues to be fully examined and fixed, they can dive back into tasks faster, minimizing downtime. Self-service portals integrated with AI can also suggest fixes or relevant knowledge-base articles and nudge users toward immediate solutions.
The great thing about intuitive UCSM solutions is they’re also incredibly scalable. One VOSS customer currently uses the UCSM platform to support and empower more than 400,000 users worldwide – seriously reducing workplace disruptions.
Successful UC Service Management Strategies in Action
Many innovative companies are already experimenting with the benefits of proactive UC service management strategies, finding new ways to enhance their operations.
BT and Integrated Research
One of the world’s leading communication service providers, BT, needed an effective way to deliver proactive, UCaaS performance management solutions to managed services customers. As BT clients started moving from on-premises enterprise solutions into the cloud, they needed an effective way to track the quality and health of their systems.
IR’s “Prognosis” platform gave BT an overarching system they could use to empower customers with insights into every element of their communication stack. Every user receives the same key health indicator dashboards, providing behind-the-scenes, always-on views into service availability, device status, and voice quality. The result was faster issue recognition, better insights into improvement opportunities, and less unexpected downtime.
Virsae and Monster
Global job-listing giant Monster was wrestling with an Avaya environment that included multiple data centers, physical/virtual servers, and a tangle of unused licenses. They suspected they were overpaying for capacity they didn’t actually need.
They invested in Virsae’s Configuration and Capacity Manager modules, which offered a holistic snapshot of Avaya usage. That data revealed precisely how many station licenses, trunk lines, and features were utilized. This helped the company to slash excessive licenses, remove unnecessary trunk lines, minimize support contract costs, and improve user experiences by enhancing end-to-end uptime.
Alpine Health Technologies and VOSS
Alpine Health Technologies, headquartered in Puerto Rico, excels in telecommunications, software development, and network systems, catering to the needs of healthcare organizations. The company wanted to move into the UCaaS space. Yet, with both Cisco and Microsoft technologies in the mix, administering large-scale deployments for multiple clients felt increasingly complex. They needed one centralized orchestration platform to manage and automate everything, so they turned to VOSS.
VOSS Automate provided the company with advanced workflow automation, cost-reducing custom configurations, and pre-integration with key UC apps. This was coupled with VOSS Insights, which replaced older monitoring tools and gave Alpine a panoramic view of performance metrics across its entire UCaaS portfolio. Now the team uses a single pane of glass for provisioning, analytics, and collaboration health checks.
The Power of Proactive UC Service Management Strategies
Today, simply “reacting” to UC issues as they arise isn’t enough. It’s wasting companies’ crucial time and money, causing them to fall behind the competition gradually. As the UC market continues to evolve, and companies invest in a wider range of tools, a proactive strategy is crucial to ensure everything consistently works smoothly.
Proactive UC service management strategies can improve your employees’ experience, technology ROI, and even your bottom line.
Learn more about the benefits of UCSM solutions in our ultimate guide to UC Service management, or discover how AI will change the landscape in this article.
 

 

Matthew Riley is Ready for the ‘Massive Opportunity’ in Daisy Group’s Virgin Media O2 Merger

Pop quiz: What do you get when you merge one major connectivity and communications business’s next-gen fibre and mobile infrastructure with another IT service business’s suite of platforms and leading customer service? A meteoric game-changer in the UK’s telecoms, communications and IT space.
That’s just what happened this week, with Daisy Group merging with Virgin Media O2 Business (VMO2) to form a £3 billion behemoth. It’s a seismic event in the UK B2B tech world. But how exactly did this happen? What attracted these two already-major players to one another to form one complementary titan?
“Why was I attracted? I was attracted to it because they’ve got over 500,000 customers,” a visibly (and understandably) delighted Matthew Riley, Daisy Group CEO (and now combined business Chairman), told UC Today. “That’s a really, really big customer base that’s predominantly been mobile and connectivity.”
What we bring with Daisy is a lot more cloud-based technology that we can sell to those customers, as customers want to digitalise. We see it as a great opportunity to help customers on that digital journey.”
“Basically, VM02, the business element of it, sat underneath the huge consumer brand that is Virgin Media 02, and it got lost in the numbers a little bit, I think it’d be fair to say, without being too disparaging,” Riley continued. “I think it was less than 10 percent of the revenue, less than five percent of the profit.”
“So it didn’t get the attention it’ll get from us, because all we do is B2B. We serve business customers up and down the country. That’s all we’ve done for 24 years. That’s what we do day in and day out. We don’t have a consumer business to worry about or even think about. So I think, first of all, it’ll give it, hopefully, some entrepreneurial flair, and a little bit of a different view on things.
Virgin Media O2 will hold a 70 percent stake in the newly formed venture, with Daisy Group retaining the remaining 30 percent. After onboarding the 500,000 VMO2 customers that Riley outlined, the merged entity will count an estimated customer base of around 700,000, illustrating a significant expansion of its footprint in the SME sector.
For Riley, the synergies between the two companies couldn’t be more perfect. These were two companies that promised a marriage made in product heaven.
“Virgin Media O2 has two amazing assets,” Rile elaborated. “One is the fibre network, which is second only to BT, and the other is their mobile network, which is 5G-ready and again only really rivalled by Vodafone and EE. So, it’s a massive opportunity from a product perspective.”
“We spend a lot of time speaking to business customers, and one of the things they say to us is, ‘We live in a more complex world than we did before COVID.’ But since COVID, people have been doing things like Teams calls every day. They’re also managing payments digitally. They have to have online purchasing, procurement, etc., so the UK B2B market is starting to digitalise.”
It’s trying to find someone you trust to help you on that path. I think that’s where we become that trusted advisor, really. We can take people from just having a plain old connectivity product right through the cloud, antivirus, spam, cloud hosting, etc.”
As Riley alluded, another key benefit from the merger from Daisy Group’s perspective is the enhanced product portfolios they can now offer customers, from AI-powered cloud communications and 5G private networks to sophisticated cloud storage solutions and advanced cybersecurity systems. That array of cutting-edge services is a significant market differentiator, with Riley keen to highlight the transformative potential of cybersecurity services, especially for SMEs.
“Every time you pick up the paper every week, there’s another huge cyber attack,” Riley said. “If you’re a small business, it’s really worrying because you don’t really know what to do. Most people aren’t that IT savvy, so they need some help.
“I’m an entrepreneur, I’ve built many different businesses over the years, and one of the things I’ve found quite difficult is managing my IT infrastructure. One of my first employees is still with us today. He used to laugh, saying, ‘I’m in control of anything with the plug on it,’ because I used to go to him and say, ‘You understand this stuff.’”
“But it’s really hard if you’re a small business, right? You can’t afford an IT director and things like that, so you’ve got to go somewhere where they’re trusted, they’ve got a broad range of skills, and a broad range of products, and that’s what we offer at Daisy.”
Even selling Microsoft will be an enormous boon for the combined entity because VMO2 didn’t really encompass that market, whereas Daisy is a “massive Microsoft house”, as Riley put it. “All these customers are still buying it; they’re just not buying it through us.”
The combined entity can now offer that single pane of glass, Microsoft’s suite included.
I always think of it as a from a customer’s perspective, they want one relationship, where they’re trusted and they go, ‘Well we’ve got this, can we now extend our cloud capability, we need some more storage, we’ve got a marketing campaign, can you help us?’ It’s more of a conversation; they know that we’re there and can turn that on or off when needed.”
Daisy Group and Riley are executing this on the back of what the customers are telling them: they want one supplier to be able to provide them with all their technology needs. “We think that’s the real deal; that’s where we see the future going,” he added.
With 700,000 customers, a joint £1.4 billion in annual revenue, high-quality customer service, and an extensively deep and diverse product portfolio, the combined business is well-positioned to become a serious competitor to BT Group, the UK’s dominant provider of IT and telecoms services for SMES. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t market opportunities in the large enterprise space.
“As the customers get bigger, they tend to have IT teams and things like that, but they’ve still got the same problems and need people to help them fix them,” Riley highlighted. “It’s just that they’ve got physical bodies on site to actually implement some of this stuff, whereas some of the smaller ones don’t have that, so we’ll provide that for them. But yeah, absolutely, the same issues still apply there. We supply large enterprise customers, and certainly, as part of the O2 and Virgin Media base, there are some huge enterprise customers in the public sector.”
The need for cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions in particular often transcends business size or scale: “You look at Marks & Spencers and go, ‘Wow.’ They’ve got an enormous IT division with CTOs and CIOs, and it can also happen to them, so I think it is a worry for everybody.”
This is all very exciting for the business itself, but what about existing Daisy Group employees, customers, and partners? What can they expect from this momentous news? For employees, Riley emphasised that the merger’s success is also tied to creating something that’s even more exciting and “gives our employees more of an opportunity to develop their careers”.
“In the short term, you shouldn’t see any difference in service,” Riley affirmed to customers.
In the longer term, we’re hoping you’ll see an improvement in service as we start to bring customers onto one platform, single bill, single log-on. We want to implement all the things that Daisy can do today into the customer base within Virgin Media O2, using our technology stack that we’ve built over the last 20 years to allow customers more flexibility.”
“What I rate the success of this merger on is what our customers think. Have we improved the experience that those customers now get? I think it will probably take 12 to 18 months to start seeing a real significant improvement in customer service, but that’s an absolute must.”
“It’s exactly the same again with partners,” he continued. “We know a lot of the channel partners in the UK. We’ve been in the market for a long time. Again, I think what we are really well known for is not only really good customer service but also a variety of products for our partners to be able to sell. I think, again, Virgin Media O2 have been great at selling connectivity and mobile, but missed a big part of the IT chain, and that’s where we think we can come in, and we can get our partners to resell that and earn commission out of doing it.”
In Riley’s mind, those areas are “probably the most important ones that aren’t financial”. But as he suggests, if you have happy customers, employees, and empowered partners, “the finances will take care of themselves”.
“Although,” Riley laughed, “because I’m not an accountant, I will always look at those things slightly differently!”

 

The Complete 8×8 Guide for Business Leaders

If you’re tired of running your business with a patchwork of complicated phone systems, messaging apps, and video conferencing tools, this 8×8 guide will introduce you to one of the most versatile ways to streamline your communication strategy.
First founded in 1987, under the name “Integrated Information Technology”, 8×8 has emerged as one of the most popular providers of cloud-based communication services worldwide. Offering companies an easy way to eliminate silos, connect teams, and even tap into powerful AI tools, 8×8 is changing the game for companies worldwide.
Whether you’re investing in streamlined unified communications, building an omnichannel contact center, or even using APIs to embed real-time communication features into existing apps, 8×8 offers the perfect range of scalable solutions.
Ready to find out if 8×8 is the right communication partner for your business? Here’s absolutely everything you need to know.
8×8 Guide: Products and Solutions
8×8 is a world-leading provider of communication tools, focusing on UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS solutions. Designed to give businesses the flexibility they need to stay agile in today’s world, 8×8 combines reliable technology, with end-to-end integrations, enterprise-grade security, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence.
Here’s a deep dive into the core components of the 8×8 ecosystem.
8×8 Work: Versatile Unified Communications
8×8 Work, previously known as the “X Series” platform, is 8×8’s answer to unified communications as a service (UCaaS). It blends a versatile VoIP solution, packed with enterprise-grade calling features like advanced routing, auto attendant, and voicemail features with a range of intuitive tools.
Teams get access to built-in HD video conferencing, with screen sharing, whiteboarding, and meeting transcription tools. You also get integrated SMS capabilities, and mobile and desktop apps, designed to address the needs of flexible workers.
Plus, staff can stay connected through team chat solutions, enhanced by artificial intelligence. You can explore AI features for meeting summaries, noise suppression, automated polls and transcripts, and more. All that, and 8×8’s machine learning powered “Global Reach” tech ensures employees get a high-quality, reliable connection, wherever they are.
8×8 Contact Center and 8×8 Engage
For flexible customer communications, 8×8 offers an omnichannel cloud-based contact center solution (which can also integrate seamlessly with its UCaaS platform). This intelligent contact center supports omnichannel routing, making it easy for teams to manage customer queries across SMS, chat, social media, voice, email and more.
Teams can create AI-powered self-service solutions, with versatile agents that can manage everything from customer queries, to secure payments. There’s also the option to enable skills-based routing, and access both real-time and historical insights from every conversation. Real-time dashboards can even offer guidance on customer sentiment, throughout the buyer journey.
Speaking of AI, as we’ll explore throughout this 8×8 guide, companies get the freedom to fully customize their intelligent solutions, with “bring your own language model” capabilities. Additionally, 8×8 helps to unify companies around exceptional customer experiences with its 8×8 Engage system, that extends AI tools beyond the traditional contact center environment.
This solution gives non-contact-center employees, like sales teams and service reps, access to the intelligent data they need to collaborate on new ways to enhance conversion and retention rates.
8×8 for Microsoft Teams
8×8 has been helping companies extend the value of their Microsoft Teams collaboration platform with a while now. Recognized as one of the top Microsoft partners, 8×8 offers both direct routing, and Operator Connect solutions to bridge the gaps in Teams’ telephony features.
In fact, it’s one of the few companies certified for Operator Connect that also offers a native contact center. Companies can access global PSTN coverage (in over 50 regions), as well as built-in compliance and call recording tools. There’s even a native 8×8 Phone app for Microsoft Teams, that offers cost-effective calling without Teams phone licenses.
On top of that, 8×8’s solutions don’t just integrate with Microsoft Teams – the company offers comprehensive connectivity for solutions like Salesforce, Zendesk and ServiceNow, as well as Google Workspace, and various other business apps.
8×8 Communication APIs: CPaaS Solutions
If you came to this 8×8 guide looking for a vendor that offers companies the freedom to bake real-time communications capabilities into heir existing apps and workflows, you’re in luck. 8×8’s communication APIs enable users to set up custom workflows for things like two-factor authentication via SMS, appointment reminders, and fraud detection.
Teams can experiment with omnichannel messaging, with connectors for SMS, WhatsApp, and beyond. Plus, you can add voice to virtually any workflow, with flexible features like text-to-speech, voice IVR systems, and custom notifications.
8×8 is also one of the few CPaaS providers to offer video APIs, allowing companies to experiment with new strategies for KYC security, virtual consultations, and troubleshooting.
8×8 Guide: The Core Features & Benefits of 8×8
If you’re looking for a vendor that addresses all aspects of the communication landscape, from unified communications, to CPaaS, 8×8 is hard to beat. The company has become a market-leading partner for organizations in search of a scalable, truly unified platform, that offers extensive access to flexible AI and automation tools, and a robust global infrastructure.
After all, as 8×8’s Sam Wilson said in 2025, the company’s “north star” is ultimately “customer-centric” innovation. That means giving businesses the tools they need to create seamless communication experiences anywhere, without the stress of disconnected modules.
Let’s dive into some of the top features and benefits of 8×8’s ecosystem:
Scalable, Cloud-Based Communications
Like most market leaders in the communication space, 8×8 is a cloud-first organization, promising businesses an easy way to leave clunky, on-premises technologies behind. The company’s cloud-based voice and video services offer enterprise-grade reliability – worldwide.
Whether you making calls from your desktop in New York or hopping on a video conference from your smartphone in Tokyo, 8×8’s infrastructure ensures high-quality, low-latency performance. 8×8 goes beyond the basics of simple cloud-based voice, with end-to-end solutions for everything from HD video conferencing, to SMS.
If you’re looking for omnichannel UCaaS, or CCaaS – or you just want to add real-time communication capabilities to your existing workflows, 8×8 delivers everything you’ll need.
Versatile Collaboration Tools for Hybrid Workers
For companies struggling to keep hybrid and flexible teams connected, 8×8 is an incredible partner. Aside from offering some of the best Microsoft Teams solutions in the market, 8×8 has built a robust collaboration suite with persistent chat channels, file sharing, archiving, and presence indicators.
The company even upgraded its collaboration suite recently with AI assistants that can help foster team collaboration, track action items, summarize calls, and answer questions in seconds. Plus, as well as giving companies fantastic global coverage (with minimal latency), 8×8 also ensures team members get a consistent experience on any device.
There’s a dedicated mobile app that allows teams to access all the features and tools they need from anywhere, without having to deal with clunky desktops.
Intelligent Contact Center Solutions
The 8×8 contact center is more than just an innovative solution for managing inbound and outbound calls. It’s a smart, AI-infused omnichannel platform that makes it easier to manage comprehensive customer journeys. Companies can deliver support, and proactively serve customers across channels from voice and chat, to social media, SMS, and video.
The AI-driven routing engine allows businesses to connect callers with agents based on factors like skills, availability, and previous call history. Teams can even use AI to deflect calls, by sending customers with common queries to chatbots or virtual assistants.
Plus, 8×8’s contact center comes with customizable agent workspaces, secure payment systems for financial teams, and even dedicated solutions for specific industries, like healthcare. On top of that, with 8×8 Engage, business leaders can access the tools they need to align various different departments around customer-focused workflows.
Advanced Analytics and Dashboards
Every interaction – phone call, chat transcript, or video meeting – generates valuable data for businesses. 8×8 consolidates that information into real-time dashboards with in-depth reporting options for a range of use cases.
Companies can tap into customizable dashboards that show valuable metrics like call volumes, wait times, and even customer sentiment. You can even create separate dashboards for agents and supervisors – focusing on the metrics that matter most to each user.
Plus, 8×8 offers workforce engagement management solutions, such as AI-powered forecasting and scheduling tools, and systems for collecting feedback through surveys. You can even use predictive analytics to intelligently identify future staffing needs.
Security & Compliance: Peace of Mind, Built In
As mentioned earlier in this 8×8 guide, maintaining security and compliance with this world-leading communications vendor couldn’t be easier. 8×8 is HIPAA compliant, and offers intuitive payment processing solutions to reduce risks for financial companies.
The company promises end-to-end encryption for all communications, powerful tools for securing voice recordings, and comprehensive access controls. For digital-first companies, 8×8 also strives to adhere to data archiving standards.
Plus, the 8×8 platform comes with built-in tools for fraud detection, and the company promises business leaders exceptional reliability too, with a 99.999% uptime guarantee.
Integration Capabilities: Flexible Connectors
One thing you’ll notice throughout this 8×8 guide is that the vendor puts a premium on flexibility. Although 8×8 has attempted to build an all-in-one platform that gives businesses everything they need in a unified place, it still supports integrations with various other business tools.
Aside from Microsoft Teams, companies can leverage connectors for popular CRM platforms, like Zendesk, ServiceNow, and Salesforce. There are also plenty of dedicated apps and solutions available for companies in specific industries. For instance, healthcare companies can take advantage of “SpinSci Patient” assist, for AI-powered patient management.
Plus, as mentioned above, 8×8’s flexible communication APIs mean you can easily add the functionality offered by 8×8’s technologies into virtually any app or workflow.
8×8 Guide: The Top Use Cases for 8×8 Technologies
Throughout this 8×8 guide, we’ve drawn attention to just how versatile 8×8’s solutions really are. Whether you’re running a lean startup or a sprawling global enterprise, 8×8 makes it easy to build the technology stack that suits your specific needs.
That being said, 8×8’s technologies may be particularly appealing to:

Small Businesses: For small businesses, communication tools need to be simple, affordable, and reliable, 8×8’s flexible, modular tools make it easy to keep costs low. The solutions area easy to set-up and use, regardless of whether you’re designing a small informal contact center, or adding voice capabilities to tools like Microsoft Teams.
Remote and Hybrid Teams: 8×8’s flexible collaboration tools, and versatile options for Microsoft Teams voice enablement make it excellent for hybrid and remote teams. The tools make it easy to keep staff members connected, with intuitive mobile apps, and solutions for chat, video and audio conferencing, and file sharing.
Enterprise Deployments: For larger enterprise companies, 8×8 offers a fantastic combination of global reach, powerful compliance features, and admin dashboards for managing thousands of users, locations and policies. Plus, it’s easy to scale your systems to new regions, and access advanced features as your business grows.
Specific Industries: With specialized solutions and integrations for healthcare, finance, and other highly regulated industries, 8×8 could be the perfect option for companies with specific communication requirements. Plus, 8×8 partners with a range of market leading implementation experts, who can help you build a custom solution.

8×8 Guide: Pricing Options and Plans
Pricing for 8×8’s solutions really depends on the type of technology you want to access. There’s no one-size-fits-all plan – instead companies can mix and match various offerings, from 8×8 Engage and contact center tools, to unified communications applications.
Since the price you pay is based on the specific features you need, you’ll need to contact 8×8’s sales team for a custom quote. However, the good news is that 8×8 supports pay-as-you-go pricing, ensuring you only pay for the tools you actually use.
You can explore demos of 8×8’s software solutions for free, however, and “add-on” extra functionality whenever you like. Keep in mind, of course, extra add-ons, and access to communications APIs may incur additional costs.
8×8 Guide: Getting Started with 8×8
At this point in our 8×8 guide, you might be wondering how easy it is to get started with the platform. Fortunately, after you get past the initial stages of contacting the sales team and requesting a quote for the features you actually need, getting your system up and running is pretty seamless.
All you need to do is select the features you want for your UCaaS, CCaaS, or CPaaS initiative, and use the intuitive admin console to add users, set up permissions, and design call flows.
If you have more advanced requirements or want to take advantage of custom integrations and APIs, there are plenty of “8×8 partners” that can help you with the configuration process. Once you’ve gotten your system ironed out, here are some top tips to help you make the most of 8×8:
Optimize Call Quality Like a Pro
First – your VoIP setup is only as good as your internet. Use 8×8’s Network Quality Manager and built-in QoS (Quality of Service) tools to monitor jitter, latency, and packet loss in real time. Enable adaptive audio codecs, prioritize voice traffic on your network, and ensure devices are using wired or high-bandwidth Wi-Fi for the best performance.
Leverage Analytics to Boost Results
8×8’s real-time dashboards and historical reports are fantastic for discovering ways to constantly optimize your communication strategy. Track KPIs like average handle time, missed call rate, agent availability, and CSAT scores. Use this data to coach underperformers, identify busy times, and adjust staffing accordingly. Make sure you’re taking advantage of 8×8’s advanced speech analytics tools too, for insights into customer sentiment, and call trends.
Prioritize Security
As mentioned previously in this 8×8 guide, the company’s tools and technologies are designed to enhance compliance and security. However, it’s still up to you to make sure you’re not exposing your business to unnecessary threats. Use role-based access controls, enforce MFA (multi-factor authentication), and keep all user endpoints up to date. Remember to provide teams with comprehensive security and compliance training too.
Develop a Strategy for Scaling
As your business grows, 8×8 grows with you. Use auto-provisioning tools, centralized user management, and global number provisioning to onboard new teams quickly. Whether you’re expanding to a new office or launching internationally, 8×8 keeps your comms unified and consistent – no IT headaches required.
Stay Up To Date
8×8’s technologies are constantly evolving, introducing new solutions like options for building AI-powered agents, and advanced analytical tools. Stay up to date with the latest features and tools the company has to offer. You can learn all about the latest capabilities offered by 8×8 for UCaaS and CCaaS here on UC Today.
8×8 Guide: The Ultimate Flexible Communications System
8×8’s versatile range of unified communication, contact center, and CPaaS solutions offer companies an incredible way to dive into the next era of business communications. If you’re looking for reliable cloud-based voice and video, omnichannel customer service solutions, and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, 8×8 is a fantastic partner.
Unlike patchwork setups or bolt-on solutions, 8×8’s unified architecture simplifies management, reduces costs, and gives you full visibility into performance and engagement. And with compliance, analytics, and AI baked in, you can stay one step ahead of the competition.
Still unsure? Check out our other comprehensive guides to discover the benefits of communication tools from leaders like Zoom, Dialpad, and AWS.

 

The Ultimate Dialpad Guide: AI-Powered Communications

Welcome to the ultimate Dialpad guide – covering everything you need to know about one of the vendor revolutionizing business communications, and customer service workflows. Founded in 2011 by a team crew of ex Google voice engineers, Dialpad started life as a scrappy startup with a mission to transform cloud-based voice experiences.
Today, Dialpad offers companies powerful tools for communication, collaboration, sales, and customer service, all infused with native AI capabilities. Whether you’re looking for flexible meeting tools, a scalable omnichannel contact center, or dedicated apps for automating sales strategies, Dialpad has it all.
The company even recently acquired Surfboard (the workforce management business), to bring intuitive WFM solutions into its toolkit. For companies keen to innovate, cut costs, improve customer satisfaction scores, and maximize productivity, Dialpad offers a suite of resources that are sleek, intuitive, and inherently agile.
Wondering whether Dialpad might have the communication solution you’ve been searching for? Here’s everything you need to know.
Dialpad Guide: Platform Overview
If you’re not already aware, Dialpad is an AI-powered cloud communications platform, offering businesses a comprehensive suite of tools for meetings, internal communication, and customer support. It’s one of the most impressive platforms for companies investing in cutting-edge AI solutions for analytics, self-service, and agent assistance.
Here’s a closer look at the core components of the Dialpad ecosystem:
Dialpad Connect (Business Communications)
Dialpad Connect is the intelligent business communications solutions designed to bring teams together, streamline workflows, and align critical data. This “unified communication” platform allows teams to connect through calls, video and audio meetings, messaging tools, and more.
Plus, it comes with a built-in intelligent assistant that can transcribe and translate conversations, surface information for employees in an instant, and eliminate the need for manual note-taking. You can even use the “AI Recap” tool to dive into the details of meetings you might have missed.
One great thing about Dialpad is that it ensures all of your team members (including hybrid and remote staff) get the same streamlined experience across web and mobile apps. Companies can also easily integrate Dialpad with the tools they use, such as Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and Zendesk.
Plus, you get DialpadGPT – a specialized large language model that you can configure to meet the needs of individual teams, and infuse with industry-specific data.
Dialpad AI Contact Center
If you’re looking for a way to upgrade and augment your omnichannel customer service strategy, Dialpad’s AI-powered cloud contact center technology has a lot to offer. This end-to-end customer experience command center gives teams an easy way to reach customers wherever they are, with inbound and outbound solutions for various channels, from social media, to voice and video.
Infused with DialpadGPT, the contact center is brimming with intelligent tools. You can design and use AI-powered agents to support team members with real-time suggestions, next-best action guidance, and intuitive screen pops. Team members can even use AI-powered transcription, intelligent quality scores, and AI-enhanced CSAT solutions.
Alongside AI solutions, “Dialpad Support” also offers access to quality assurance management tools, customizable dashboards and reports, and workforce management tools, such as forecasting and scheduling solutions for your hybrid teams. Plus, there are enterprise coaching solutions designed to help companies take a personalized approach to upskilling staff members.
Dialpad AI Sales
Dialpad “Sell” offers companies a comprehensive suite of tools intended to turbocharge sales team performance. This platform takes everything sales reps and managers hate about their workflows (manual note-taking, follow-ups, and performance tracking) and automates it with AI.
Companies can use Dialpad Sell to automatically evaluate conversations, improve consistency and script alignment with real-time AI prompting, and even upgrade individual rep performance with coaching. Plus, you can set up workflows that give supervisors and agents instant insights into a caller’s intent, purchasing history, and sentiment too.
There are even various tools to help businesses save time on prospecting and outreach. For instance, you can use AI-powered voicemail drop and the Dialpad power dialer to reach more leads quickly. Plus, Dialpad’s AI doesn’t just listen – it learns. With over 5 billion minutes of conversation data, it gives sales orgs the insights they need to shorten deal cycles and scale faster.
Dialpad Meetings and Collaboration Tools
Need help aligning your employees? Dialpad offers intuitive meeting and collaboration tools tailor-made to address the needs of modern businesses. There are tools for video and audio conferencing (With virtual backgrounds and recording features). Plus, on paid plans, you’ll get automated post-meeting summaries, AI meeting transcription, and one-click calendar integrations.
The great thing about Dialpad’s meeting and collaboration tools is they all come infused with the same cutting-edge artificial intelligence that powers Dialpad Connect, Support, and Sell. They also integrate seamlessly with these tools, allowing companies to bridge the gaps between back-end and customer-facing teams.
Plus, with intuitive mobile and web-based applications, your teams can stay connected with colleagues wherever they are – even if they don’t have access to a desktop.
Dialpad Guide: Key Features and Benefits of Dialpad Tools
What makes Dialpad stand out as leader in the communications technology industry isn’t just its innovative approach to infusing AI into all of its tools. It’s the fact that this company develops solutions specifically intended to address the challenges that modern businesses face – particularly when it comes to unifying teams and unlocking scalability.
Here are just some of the most significant stand-out features of Dialpad’s technologies.
Fully Unified Communication Channels
Whether you’re trying to bridge the gaps between different teams, or you’re build a next-gen customer support strategy, Dialpad makes it easy to connect all of the channels you need, from voice and video, to chat, email, and instant messaging.
Your team gets one inbox for all communications, and can move smoothly between chats and calls without jumping between apps. Plus, Dialpad’s extensive app marketplace ensures you can connect all the tools your team already uses, from Miro to Microsoft Outlook.
Dialpad AI: Intelligence Everywhere
As we mentioned earlier in this Dialpad guide, this vendor hasn’t just “bolted” AI capabilities onto existing tools. Artificial intelligence is at the heart of Dialpad’s platform, powering cutting-edge copilots for sales teams and customer service agents, self-service solutions, and analytics.
The full “Dialpad AI” kit unlocks access to real-time transcription and translation services. There are live call coaching systems, built to boost agent productivity, and even in-depth sentiment analysis solutions. Plus, companies can use DialpadGPT – the proprietary LLM, to develop specialist chatbots and assistants tuned to the needs of different enterprise employees.
Plus, the “AI Recaps” feature helps to keep global teams connected and on the same page, with intuitive summaries of previous meetings and customer conversations.
Intelligent Routing and IVR Solutions
Dialpad’s contact center platform doesn’t just use artificial intelligence to streamline voicemail transcription, or enable self-service. Companies get comprehensive tools they can use to build natural, flexible IVR menus too. Instead of asking customers to “press 1 for sales, ” Dialpad’s AI-powered IVR makes navigating menus with natural voice prompts simple.
The AI tools can even detect customer intent, and use insights into previous conversations to route customers to the right agent. Speaking of routing, you’ll also have access to solutions for intelligent skills-based routing, minimizing the need for time-consuming call transfers.
Comprehensive Analytics and Dashboards
Do you need to dive deeper into your customer service or performance data? Dialpad’s custom dashboards ensure you can monitor important metrics in real time. Teams can track everything from average handling times to customer sentiment trends.
Companies can build custom reports to uncover insights into common customer issues, or performance bottlenecks. Plus, thanks to integrated workforce management solutions, you can use the data you gather to forecast future staffing needs and optimize resource allocation.
Tools like Dialpad Sell can even use AI to help companies identify upskilling and training requirements for teams – boosting revenue and simplifying coaching strategies.
Global Accessibility on Any Device
Dialpad has adapted to the needs of evolving hybrid and remote teams. It offers a flexible all-in-one solution teams can access anywhere, through a mobile or web-based app, or even their browser.
You can manage calls and access data on any device without worrying about the headaches involved in using multiple disconnected tools. Plus, Dialpad’s technologies are available in regions worldwide, with local and toll-free numbers in more than 70 countries.
Dialpad also offers 24/7 global support, so whether your team is in New York, London, or Sydney, help is always just a click or call away.
Dialpad Guide: Integration Options
As companies worldwide prioritize “technology consolidation”, Dialpad stands out. The Dialpad app marketplace comes with one-click connectors for various business tools, from CRM platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zendesk, to collaboration tools like Slack.
The platform also works seamlessly with productivity suites, like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. Plus, Dialpad’s open APIs and webhooks are great for development teams that need to build custom workflows and connections with niche-specific tools.
Developers can access a full suite of intuitive API solutions, and even work alongside Dialpad partners to build a custom communication suite.
Dialpad Guide: Security and Compliance
Struggling with complex compliance requirements? Dialpad goes above and beyond to ensure your data remains safe, and within your control. Like many leading UCaaS and CCaaS vendors, Dialpad offers end-to-end encryption for data in transit and at rest.
The company also checks a lot of the compliance boxes that matter in specific industries. For instance, Dialpad’s tools are SOC 2 Type II certified, GDPR-compliant for European users. They’re also HIPAA compliance ready – for healthcare companies.
Beyond that, Dialpad’s sales, customer service, and communication solutions come with robust access controls. You can create dedicated user roles with specific permissions for certain team members. Plus, admins can enforce password policies, use single-sign-on solutions, and enable multi-factor authentication.
If you need to collect and store communications data, you can also maintain complete control over data storage, and set up custom retention policies.
Dialpad Guide: Pricing Options
One of the great things about Dialpad, is how it addresses the needs of countless companies. Part of how it does this is by giving companies access to a range of flexible pricing plans that allow them to mix and match the features they need. There are numerous plans available for:

Dialpad Connect: Plans start at $27 per user, per month, with unlimited calling, AI meetings for up to 10 participants, SMS, MMS, team messaging, and real-time analytics. More expensive plans come with more integration options, and specialized features like local number support in 70+ countries, and access to open APIs.
Dialpad Meetings: Teams can host meetings with up to 10 participants for up to 45 minutes for free (similar to what you’d get from the free versions of Microsoft Teams and Zoom). Advanced plans start at $20 per month, per user, with AI transcriptions, unlimited video recordings, and action item capture tools included.
Dialpad Support: The “Essentials” plan for Dialpad’s contact center technology starts at $95 per month. However, to access omnichannel communication features, you’ll need the more expensive “Premium” plan, which starts at $170 per month per user.
Dialpad Sell: Dialpad’s sales tools start at $49 per month per user for the “Essentials” plan. More expensive plans, like the $170 Premium plan come with access to AI scorecards, and AI-powered customer satisfaction score insights.

Although some vendors offer cheaper tools, Dialpad offers more built-in AI features in its plans than most. You also get the option to cut your annual costs by paying for an “annual” plan, rather than a monthly subscription.
Dialpad Ease of Use and Setup Tips
As we’ve noted throughout this Dialpad guide, one of the best things about Dialpad’s technologies is that they’re straightforward. Dialpad makes setup smooth and simple, regardless of whether you’re designing omnichannel customer support strategies, or just aligning distributed teams with AI-powered meetings.
Once you’ve chosen the plan you want, the Dialpad platform will guide you through provisioning numbers to individual users, importing contacts from external apps, designing call routing and IVR systems, and even integrating CRM platforms.
Quick Best Practice Tips:
Here are a few quick tips to help you make the most of your Dialpad ecosystem:

Make Security a Priority: Dialpad makes it easy to secure your teams and your data – but you’ll still need to ensure you’re taking advantage of the compliance features available. Set up specific roles (with unique permissions) for each user, and make sure you switch on multi-factor authentication.
Double-Down on AI: Dialpad’s tools are packed with intuitive AI features your company should be experimenting with. Take advantage of real-time transcription and summarization tools. Upskill your teams with Dialpad’s AI-powered coaching tools, and use real-time insights to empower and augment your workforce.
Track Performance Data: Don’t underestimate the benefits of Dialpad’s real-time dashboards and reporting tools. Use these features to monitor everything from call volumes, to agent performance and sentiment analysis trends. Consider using AI-powered scorecards for insights into where you should be training your team members.
Take Advantage of Dialpad’s Customer Support: Dialpad’s support team gets solid reviews, and they’re available 24/7 via chat or web ticketing. Plus, there are plenty of help center resources on the website. You can access guides and videos, live training sessions and webinars.

One other pro tip: Stay up-to-date on Dialpad’s new features and innovations. In the last couple of years, the company has significantly upgraded its AI assistants, sales coaching solutions, and reporting tools. Check out our Dialpad reports and stories for the latest news.
Dialpad Guide: Ideal Use Cases
So, what kind of companies have the most to gain from Dialpad’s technology? Overall, Dialpad offers a fantastic suite of solutions perfect for businesses of any size, in just about any industry.
Still, Dialpad may be particularly appealing to:

Startups and SMBs: For smaller companies and startups, Dialpad’s flexibility, affordability, and ease of use makes it incredibly compelling. It’s also a great option for companies that need to manage sudden seasonal or contact volume surges. If you want versatile, AI-powered tools that don’t cost a fortune, Dialpad is a great pick.
Remote and Hybrid Teams: If your team is spread across different time zones and schedules, Dialpad is a brilliant choice. You’ll get an all-in-one solution for calls, meeting, and messaging that teams can access through any device. Plus, you’ll have no problem aligning your communication tools with existing productivity apps.
Large Enterprises: Dialpad offers a fantastic blend of reliability, security, and cutting-edge technology for large enterprises. It can scale easily to support global workforces. Enterprise customers also get access to comprehensive 24/7 phone support for peace of mind. With Dialpad, companies can stay agile and connected no matter how much they grow.

Dialpad: The Ultimate Solution for AI-Powered Communications
So, is Dialpad the perfect partner for your business communication needs? If you’re looking for end-to-end AI innovation, an intuitive user experience, and highly scalable software, the answer is probably “yes”.
There are some downsides to Dialpad’s tools. For instance, many of the solutions rely heavily on solid internet connections. Plus, some premium features are locked into more expensive plans. Still, Dialpad offers an innovative selection of solutions at a reasonably affordable price.
For businesses in search of a fantastic blend of power and simplicity, Dialpad is hard to beat. However, you can always check out our other guides to companies like Zoom, Microsoft, and 8×8 if you’re unsure.
Alternatively, why not visit Dialpad’s website and request a free demo of its sales, communication, or contact center tools?

 

Zoom, ServiceNow Elevate Employee and Customer Experiences With AI Integration

Zoom and ServiceNow have announced a new integration that brings together Zoom CX with ServiceNow’s CRM and IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions.  
The announcement, made during ServiceNow’s Knowledge 2025 event, aims to elevate customer support capabilities through enhanced automation and intelligence.  
“This integration unites the power of Zoom’s AI-first omnichannel contact centre platform with ServiceNow’s CRM and Industry workflows, bringing voice, video, and digital interactions directly into the flow of work for service teams, making the experience more seamless and robust,” said Kentis Gopalla, Head of Product for Zoom CX.  
“This partnership underscores our commitment to providing solutions that drive business success and simplify customer and employee interactions.” 

Zoom Launches AI-Powered ‘Tasks’ Capability to Supercharge Productivity
Zoom Says Custom AI Companion is Now Generally Available and More in Seismic AI-Oriented Update

What are the benefits, and how will it work?
Zoom says the integration will allow ServiceNow Workspace agents to manage every interaction (voice, video, or chat) without leaving the platform.  
Instead of toggling between systems, agents can focus on the customer, supported by real-time access to CRM data, interaction history, entitlements, and open cases. 
“Customer experiences should be easy, personalised, and fast—not stalled by disconnected systems or unhelpful bots,” said Michael Ramsey, GVP, Product Management, CRM and Industry Workflows at ServiceNow. 
“With ServiceNow CRM and Zoom CX coming together in one unified experience, we’re eliminating the need to swivel between tools and giving CX teams the context, data, and AI they need to resolve issues faster and create deeper customer connections.” 
Zoom’s AI-first quality management can automatically score every customer interaction and generate coaching opportunities for continuous optimisation. 
Combined with ServiceNow’s Industry workflows, agents can contextualise their work, trigger the right processes, resolve issues faster, and deliver a more tailored experience, whether it’s helping a patient reschedule an appointment, a banking client check on a loan application, or a retailer process a return. 
The integration will be available later this year through the ServiceNow Store. 
Wider industry trends
Adopting AI-first strategies in customer service has gained significant traction in recent years, with several big names investing heavily in the technology.  
Last week, the BBC announced a £40 million contract with Serco to incorporate AI in handling viewer complaints. The aim is to improve efficiency while maintaining human oversight.  
Zurich Insurance Group also implemented an AI-powered CRM system that centralises customer data and provides agents with tailored product recommendations. The company says this has reduced service times by over 70 percent. 

 

Michels on Europe’s Blackout, On-Prem AI, Neat & Google Meet & Avaya’s Infinity

In this interview with Dave Michels of TalkingPointz, David Dungay seeks to delve into the latest TalkingPointz Insider Report. From the personal — being caught in a full-scale power outage in Portugal — to the strategic — why Shopify is mandating AI fluency across its workforce — this discussion dives deep into resilience, innovation, and the inevitable AI-powered future of work. Plus, hear expert takes on AudioCodes’ on-premise AI, Neat’s big Google Meet move, and the long-awaited return of Avaya as an innovation player with Infinity.
What do a European blackout, CCaaS innovation, and AI-first workforces have in common? They’re all signals of seismic shifts across enterprise comms and collaboration. Join David Dungay and Dave Michels as they break down the big stories from April:
Surviving Without Connectivity: Dave’s personal account of Europe’s mass outage — and why resilience is non-negotiable for today’s enterprises.
AudioCodes Goes Local with AI: On-prem transcription and AI services for regulated industries — why “AI without cloud” matters.
Neat + Google Meet Integration: New partnerships, premium hardware, and a push towards BYOD rooms.
Avaya Infinity is Here: What the rebirth of Avaya means for UC and contact centers — and what questions still remain.
AI Mandates in the Workplace: Shopify’s controversial move to make AI knowledge mandatory — a taste of what’s to come for all of us.
Missed the last episode? In that episode Michels delved into the BIG market movements from March which included Zoom’s Agentic AI story, his thoughts on Slido, Teknowledge’s targeting of the Avaya base and how RCS is finally having an impact on the business world.
 

 

UC Awards 2025: 21 Ways to Win

As someone who’s spent countless hours witnessing how the right UC technology can transform entire organizations, I’m absolutely buzzing with excitement today. The UC Awards 2025 applications are officially open, and this year, we’re not just celebrating the future of work—we’re recognizing the modern workplace innovations that are already revolutionizing how teams collaborate, communicate, and thrive.
A Digital Red Carpet for True Innovation
This year’s theme, “Powering Modern Workplace Innovation,” isn’t about distant possibilities—it’s about the tangible, transformative solutions that are making teams more productive, engaged, and connected right now.
We’ve expanded to 21 categories, including exciting new additions like Best Project Management Solution and Best Workplace Management Tool. Why? Because as the UC landscape evolves, so must our recognition of what truly drives workplace excellence.
VIEW 2025 CATEGORIES →

What Makes This Year Different
If you’re a vendor, service provider, or technology innovator working to solve the real challenges of modern work, this is your moment to shine. The UC Awards aren’t just about winning an accolade (though that shiny award does look great on your shelf)—they’re about joining a movement that celebrates how technology enhances human collaboration.
This could very well be the most exciting UC Awards yet. We’re witnessing a seismic shift as AI transforms everything we thought we knew about workplace communication. From intelligent meeting assistants that actually understand context to CX platforms that predict customer needs before they’re even expressed, we’re entering an era where technology doesn’t just connect us—it anticipates, adapts, and amplifies our collaborative potential. The solutions entering this year’s awards aren’t just incremental improvements; they’re revolutionary leaps that are redefining what’s possible when humans and AI work in harmony.
Imagine having your solution recognized as the best of the best, standing alongside industry leaders who are truly making a difference in how people work together. That’s the power of the UC Awards.

Your Roadmap to Success
Ready to dive in? Here’s how to make your mark:
Start with the categories: Browse all 21 categories on our dedicated UC Awards microsite at UCToday.com. Each category has been carefully crafted to reflect today’s UC landscape, from AI-powered collaboration tools to hybrid work solutions.
Download the application form: Get familiar with what judges are looking for. We’ve designed the process to showcase your innovation clearly and compellingly.
Know your judges: Our judging panel includes industry veterans and forward-thinking leaders. Follow them on social media for insights, tips, and inspiration that could give your application the edge.

Mark Your Calendar

Entries open: Today
Entries close: June 20, 2025

Don’t let this opportunity slip by. Every week between now and the deadline, I’ll be sharing insights and tips to help you craft an application that truly stands out.

Beyond Awards: Building the Future Together
As we navigate an era where workplace efficiency, team collaboration, and employee experience are paramount, the UC Awards spotlight the innovators who are making it all possible. Your breakthrough solution could be the one that inspires the next wave of workplace transformation.
Ready to join the revolution? Visit the UC Awards 2025 microsite today, explore the categories, and let’s work together to celebrate the innovations that are truly powering modern workplace excellence.
Because the future of work isn’t coming—it’s already here, and it needs to be celebrated. 

 

Why AI Voice Could Get Companies the Coveted ROI on Their AI Investment

The enterprise landscape is abuzz with AI. However, unlike the initial adoption stage, enterprises are now moving to the implementation and consolidation period.
Indeed, a new industry Revelate Survey from AI company Domino Data Lab shows that while enterprises are advancing from AI experimentation to full-scale production, measurable returns on investment (ROI) remain limited for most organizations.
The survey states 88 percent of enterprises have improved their ability to deploy AI at scale, but nearly 60 percent expect less than 50 percent ROI from machine learning and generative AI initiatives.
Yet at the same time, communication solutions provider Vida released an SMB AI Voice Agent Adoption & Impact Survey revealing that 97 percent of adopters of AI agents are reporting increased revenue.
“The future of AI agents will be about more than efficiency, but a new opportunity to transform customer engagement and maintain a competitive edge,”
Akshay Srivastava, EVP and GM at RingCentral, told UC Today.
Thus, in this new business landscape that is now looking to receive ROI from AI, should businesses look to Voice AI as the obvious answer?
AI’s Use in Calls
AI is rapidly transforming the calling capabilities of businesses.
Generative AI tools now automate post-call processing by summarizing conversations and updating CRM records, saving valuable time for human agents and standardizing documentation for future reference.
Equally, AI-driven quality assurance solutions analyze interactions to help drive back-office decisions on things like staffing numbers during peak hours or script changes.
However, recently, companies have been focusing less on AI assistance and more on agent-centric AI solutions that can take over some workload for agents.
The AI Voice Ecosphere
In February, RingCentral became one of the first major UCaaS providers to launch its AI Receptionist (AIR) solution.
Built directly into the RingCentral business phone system, AIR can absorb customer questions, answer them with the correct business-related information, and even transfer callers to the right place, much like traditional full-time receptionists do.

Targeted at SMBs and currently seeing an initial controlled release in the US, RingCentral has announced the solution has already achieved 1,000 customers.
“As businesses grapple with inflation, rising taxes, and reduced consumer spending, many are reassessing their strategies to ensure long-term viability,” Srivastava said.
Despite the industry debating whether voice has a future, a recent survey from Transaction Network Services showed 64 percent of consumers still prefer to talk via voice call when engaging with certain industries.
Where AI voice is seemingly providing a clearer return compared to AI assistants is through the creation of a new ‘agent’ rather than the augmentation of the workflow of one.
“A security company that trialed RingCentral AI Receptionist now automates 50 percent of its calls, freeing staff for revenue-generating tasks,” Srivastava explained.
“This reflects a growing trend where AI-powered solutions take over routine tasks.”

AI Voice Solutions Catching On
Hot off the heels of RingCentral’s AIR announcement, UCaaS GoTo released its own AI voice solution the GoTo Connect AI Receptionist.
A solution that can handle customer calls with voice responses, GoTo solidified the direction of travel the industry was taking when it comes to AI voice applications.

AI tools that assist receptionists or call agents typically enhance productivity and service quality but do not directly replace headcount, making their financial impact less immediately visible and often dependent on incremental improvements in efficiency or customer experience.
In contrast, an AI receptionist can directly replace the traditional front-desk role, leading to substantial cost savings and operational efficiencies.
By automating routine call handling, appointment scheduling, and basic inquiries, an AI receptionist can reduce or eliminate the need for a full-time human receptionist, whose annual salary often far exceeds the monthly cost of an AI solution.
Equally, the AI voice solution can not only replace the agent, but bring with it expanded capabilities.
“Due to resource constraints, providing around-the-clock customer support can be challenging,” Srivastava said.
“Yet if customers experience not being able to get through, they may turn to a larger competitor for the service needed.”
RingCentral’s AI Receptionist provides 24/7 customer support, meaning companies can become always-on for customers wishing to engage with them via voice.
Equally, because it can do things like appointment scheduling, that AI voice solution is not just saving that work for a human to pick up tomorrow; it’s actively working out of hours.
“Beyond answering calls, RingCentral AI Receptionist automates routine tasks, such as providing business details and sending SMS follow-ups. This automation allows SMEs to optimize their workforce by reducing manual workloads while maintaining a high-quality service,” Srivastava said.
What About Adoption?
As RingCentral has demonstrated, customers clearly see the savings that an investment in AI voice can bring.
Yet customer sentiment may still require some catching up.
The Vida survey highlighted how only 22 percent of SMBs currently use AI voice agents for their business.
The data highlights key adoption barriers like the perceived complexity of implementation and customer preference for human agents.
“There’s clearly a gap between perceived tech-savviness and actual readiness to adopt these tools,”
Vida CEO Lyle Pratt said.
“While SMBs recognize the value of emerging technologies, they often lack the resources or expertise to effectively put them into practice.”
Yet solutions such as RingCentral’s have built their AI Receptionist with that in mind.
“No complex IT support is needed for setup, making it extremely easy to use right out of the box,” Srivastava explained.
Such ease of use, allowing businesses to actually deploy the solutions, is what Pratt thinks will speed up their adoption.
“Businesses using them are seeing real gains, and we expect adoption to rise quickly as more SMBs recognize the opportunity and understand the real-world use cases,” he said.
AI Voice: The Tipping Point for Measurable ROI
As companies push past the experimentation phase and into AI deployments, AI voice stands out as a catalyst for this transition.
The utility of AI voice agents is increasingly making the financials clear.
Although the Vida study shows only 22 percent of SMBs currently use AI voice agents for their business, it also highlighted how nearly one-third-31 percent-plan to invest in AI-powered voice solutions within the next 12–24 months.
That’s because by automating routine call handling, appointment scheduling, and basic inquiries, AI voice agents can directly replace traditional roles and enable 24/7 customer engagement.
As more companies realize these benefits and overcome adoption barriers, AI voice will become a linchpin in the quest for the coveted ROI on AI investments, delivering not just efficiency but real, quantifiable business growth.

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AI voice is proving to offer ROI, will that influence what AI solutions you invest in?
byu/Kris_The_UC_Scribe inuctoday