Qualtrics to Acquire Clarabridge for $1.125 Billion

Qualtrics' acquisition of Clarabridge will enable companies to capture, analyze, and act on all forms of customer and employee feedback.

Local Advertising to Rebound As America Reopens, BIA Predicts

BIA Advisory Services has revised its local ad spending projections upward, with greater movement on digital platforms.

Gartner Says Few Customer Service Reps Are Engaged on the Job

Gartner survey reveals rampant agent disengagement, leading to poor customer experiences and economic costs. (Featured on SmartCustomerService.com.)

Marketing Budgets Have Plummeted in 2021, Gartner Finds

Gartner CMO Spend Survey reveals marketing budgets are just 6.4 percent of total revenue in 2021.

Panasonic's Marketing Focuses on a New Customer Cohort

A new crop of consumers, called BETAs, challenges the norms of traditional marketing, Panasonic's marketing VP explains.

Zoom to Acquire Five9

Zoom's communications platform will be augmented with Five9's intelligent cloud contact center software.

Colorado Passes Consumer Privacy Legislation

Colorado is just the third U.S. state to pass legislation that protects consumer data.

McDonald's Gets in the Loyalty Game

The real value for McDonald's is in the customer data it can collect through its mobile app.

Flexibility Will Be Key to Business Continuity, Genesys xPerience Speakers Stress

Companies will need agility in technology, staffing, and processes to deal with changes brought on by COVID-19, speakers said on day two of Genesys' xPerience virtual event.

Digital Customer Service Is Here to Stay, Genesys CEO Says at Xperience Event

Amid the pandemic and beyond, empathetic customer experience trumps everything else, Tony Bates, Genesys' CEO, said in his keynote at Genesys Xperience 21 virtual conference Wednesday.

Consumers Are More Demanding, Which Is an Opportunity for CX to Shine, CX Connect Keynoter Says

Consumers today will not hesitate to switch companies after a bad experience, so good experiences can be a real differentiator, executives from Kustomer told CX Connect attendees.

Data Is the Linchpin for Customer Experience, But Problems Persist, CX Connect Speakers Contend

As much as 70 percent of customer data that companies have could be flawed, but there are easy steps to address it, CX Connect keynoters say.

Modern Customer Experience Requires AI, CX Connect Speakers Stress

AI enables contact centers to handle the high volume of interactions and related data at scale, event participants repeated throughout day one of CX Connect.

Let the Platform Do the Work, SugarCRM CEO Says at Connected 2021 Event

CRM systems shouldn't require users to do all the heavy lifting, Craig Charlton maintains.

CX Rises in Business Importance, SAP Sapphire Now Speakers Urge

Companies today need to put customers at the heart of everything they do, SAP executives contend.

Forrester Outlines Six CX Priorities on Day 2 of CX North America

Customer experience leaders need to gather the right data to prove the value of CX initiatives, Forrester analyst says during opening keynote on the second day of Forrester's CX North America event.

Forrester Leaders Stress Customer Obsession at CX North America Summit

"Customer obsession is bigger than you, but it can't be done without you," Forrester CX North America keynoter maintains.

CRM Companies Line Up to Support Instagram Messenger

The Messenger API for Instagram allows companies to manage messages directly from the CRM platforms they're already using.

The Benefits of Automated IVR Training

Bespoken Chief Evangelist Emerson Sklar outlines the key advantages of automated IVR training, such as increased call center ROI, in this clip from his presentation at CX Connect 2021.

COVID Spawned a Next-Gen Consumer, NICE Speakers Warn

Companies must be prepared to serve customers who got things done digitally for the past year, speakers asserted on Day 2 of NICE Interactions 2021.