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Verint Vaults into AI with Next IT Acquisition

  By Maurice Nagle, Web Editor

Technology is changing the face of customer service. With the growing presence of speech analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), chat bots and the like, innovation is serving to steer the contact center ship. As a result, the market is seeing much in the way of mergers and acquisitions, with players in the space seeking to create more comprehensive contact center solutions, and put these burgeoning areas of development to work.

Recently, Verint (News - Alert) announced the acquisition of Next IT – A Spokane-based company that specializes in the development of conversational artificial intelligence-powered intelligent virtual assistants. The purchase is certainly a strong step for Verint, signaling a commitment to augmenting this up-and-coming technology’s presence in the contact center.

Next IT is known for its focus on AI, and in joining the Verint portfolio of future-forward solutions it will become a key cog in the product suite. While Verint already offers a robust set of workforce optimization, Voice of the Customer and other customer service tools, it can now offer a richer customer portrait, proving to bring additional insight and context for each interaction.

John Hibel, senior director of marketing for intelligent self-service at Verint, notes that Verint customers will benefit from the integration’s bolstered intelligence. “If you look at our offering today, we have an intelligent self-service offering focused on the voice channel; Next IT has an intelligent offering focused on digital channels, and this gives customers an opportunity to invest in a shared intelligence that can drive interactions across a spectrum of voice and digital channels,” Hibel says.

Verint is now incorporating solutions used by Alaskan Airlines, the United States Army and SWBC into its comprehensive cornucopia of customer-centric offerings. The contact center is in the midst of renovation, and omnichannel AI, analytics, and workforce optimization solutions are a prerequisite for the modern era.

What’s in your contact center?