Blair Pleasant

1 month ago | nojitter.com | Blair Pleasant

While large, formal contact centers often dominate vendor focus, there’s growing recognition of the unique needs of non-traditional contact centers and customer-facing employees. Whether it’s a 10-person contact center at an SMB, an internal IT help desk, or sales staff at a gym franchise, these “engagement workers” regularly interact with customers and need the right tools to succeed.

1 month ago | nojitter.com | Blair Pleasant

There’s no doubt AI has potential to improve CX. Have customers begun to see it? Consultants and vendors share their thoughts. There’s no denying that AI—especially today’s agentic AI—can bring real benefits, particularly in customer experience (CX) and engagement. But let’s be clear: it’s not a silver bullet for every CX challenge. Right now, we’re in a phase of both hope and hype—hoping AI will deliver on high expectations fueled by media coverage. It’s time to take a step back from the AI frenzy.

2 months ago | bcstrategies.com | Blair Pleasant

While AI and AI agents got most of the attention at Google Cloud’s customer event, Google Cloud Next, it was great to see a bigger focus on customer engagement offerings than ever before. Google isn’t new to the contact center/customer experience (CX) space, as its Contact Center AI (CCAI) offering is used by many contact center vendors and deployed in thousands of contact centers.

2 months ago | bcstrategies.com | Blair Pleasant

Avaya has been sharpening its focus for the future of customer and employee experiences. In this conversation, Blair Pleasant catches up with Pete Lavache, CMO of Avaya, to discuss where the company is focused, what’s different in the contact center space today, and how Avaya is approaching AI. Blair: “You joined Avaya as CMO last November.

2 months ago | bcstrategies.com | Blair Pleasant

The messages at the 8x8 Analyst Summit in Southampton, U.K. were almost as loud as the Southampton Football Club fans when the Saints scored a goal. During the summit, analysts heard from 8x8 execs and product leaders about the company’s vision, strategy, and product updates, and were also treated to a Premier League football (soccer) game at the event venue, St. Mary’s Stadium, the home of 8x8 customer, the Southampton Football Club.