contact-center-as-a-service

Twilio unveiled Flex, its new call center product yesterday and it definitely lived up to the anticipation that has been building since the rumors started last month. Our two stories on it Twilio Shakes Up the Cloud Call Center World with Flex and The Twilio / Amazon ‘Stack’ Will Dominate the Next Call Center Era broke our traffic records, so we knew the interest level was red hot.

The big question we talked about in those posts was whether Flex would be a “formal” cloud call center offering, with per-agent / per-month pricing or some kind of upgrade to its existing call center related APIs. Turns out it’s neither. It’s something new: a call center platform. Fascinating.

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Last week was a big one for Avaya as they held their first customer conference since emerging from bankruptcy at the end of last year. The newly public company (NYSE:AVYA) was eager to show strength and forward momentum. By all indications, they stepped up to the plate and convinced analysts and partners that they are on track for success.

On day one, they blasted out of the gate with a major announcement: the acquisition of Spoken. This deal gives them a boost in their effort towards becoming a more cloud-oriented business.

The pivot-to-cloud was a pervasive theme throughout the show. For example, the company has a new “Cloud Business Unit” helmed by Mercer Rowe, who joined the company just a few weeks ago. But there are always two sides to a “pivot” – if you’re putting more weight on one foot, the other foot is getting less weight. What is Avaya willing to leave behind in its effort to accelerate towards cloud? I think I know… Continue reading →