CCOOMMMMSS N NEEWWSS
Vonage launches Virtual Assistant
VONAGE HAS ANNOUNCED the
launch of its Contact Centre AI
Virtual Assistant to help
organisations respond to peaks
in call volumes as the COVID-19
health crisis continues.
Integrated with Vonage
Contact Centre, Vonage’s AI
Virtual Assistant adds
intelligence to any conversation
in a customer’s journey, making
the customer experience a true
competitive advantage by using
AI to deliver enhanced selfservice
BYTES... JOLA ADDS NEW
SHIPMENTS PLUNGE
Global smartphone shipments dropped
by 16.8 percent in the first quarter
as vendors struggled to manage
coronavirus-driven production
shutdowns, product-launch delays and
depressed consumer demand.
OLIVE
Olive Communications has launched
Connect4Teams, a suite of services
designed to deliver Direct Routing, PBX
integration, secure voice recording and
contact centre capabilities within a
Microsoft Teams environment.
CONVERSE360
Enghouse Interactive has signed
customer experience specialist,
converse360 as a member of its EMEA
partner programme. converse360
creates and develops software that
enables businesses to intelligently
automate interactions with their
customers
CALL PACKAGES TO
DIRECT ROUTING
O2 AND VIRGIN
MEDIA TO MERGE
AFTER NEWS BROKE regarding
merger talks between Liberty
Global and Telefonica it has been
confirmed that business units
Virgin Media and O2 will merge in
the UK. There are already calls
for the Competition and Markets
Authority to investigate the deal.
After allowing the BT/ EE tie-up in
2016 it would seem unlikely the
CMA would block a similar deal at
a time when businesses and
consumers are crying out for
connectivity.
Under the deal, O2 would be
valued at £12.7bn and Virgin
Media at £18.7bn, based on total
enterprise value.
Dominic Black, Senior Analyst
at Cavell Group commented “The
impending merger between
Virgin Media and O2 (Telefónica
answer every customer
immediately, facilitate a
conversation to understand
their needs and take the
appropriate action.
“Contact centres play a key
role in supporting customers as
they are often the first line of
defence. And in uncertain times,
it’s vital for businesses to stay
connected with customers
without disruption,” said Jay
Patel, Chief Product Officer for
Vonage. “Vonage’s AI Virtual
Assistant enables organisations
to easily manage high call
volumes while delivering the
best possible customer
experience.”
out FTTP beyond the 2.6m
premises they currently have to
try to reach 20m premises by
mid to late 2020’s. Hopefully,
this will drive better access for
consumers and businesses and
more competitive pricing,
helping to drive the growth of
cloud communications
applications in the UK.”
The agreement will see a
50-50 joint venture created and
a promise to spend more than
$10 billion on network
development over the next five
years.
RESELLERS PROVIDING DIRECT
Routing to businesses making
international calls can now buy
a 600-minute international call
bundle, covering 200 countries
for £7.65 per month.
In addition, end-users, with
offices in up to 30 countries,
can now buy unlimited local call
packages from Jola partners.
Prices range from £2.50 to £18
per month, reflecting different
countries’ local pricing policies.
Jola’s Direct Routing for
Teams is built on a Microsoft
approved platform, and offers
numbers in 167 countries with
every area code in the UK.
Jola’s unlimited wholesale UK
call package is priced for
resellers excluding VAT at £2.50
per month on a 30-day contract.
Andrew Dickinson (pictured),
Jola’s MD commented, “Some of
the early adopters of Teams for
their main telephone system are
large organisations that already
have Microsoft’s Phone System
included in their Office 365
licence. For many of these,
Microsoft’s own Calling Plan is
too crude for their needs. They
are ideal prospects for resellers
with a sophisticated Direct
Routing proposition in their
back pocket.”
interactions that engage
every caller in natural language.
Deployed through the voice
and messaging channels, an AI
representative has the ability to
UK) puts the largest mobile
network with the 2nd largest
broadband network. Fascinating
to see how this plays out in the
business communications
market and what synergies they
can drive together on a product
perspective, which platforms
they decide to take to market
post-merger and how they
integrate their mobile
capabilities into their cloud
communications product set.
(The deal) Puts a real
challenge to BT who today
announced that they were rolling
8 | Comms Business Magazine | June 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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