Cloud Communications News & Updates

Zoom Video Communications (Zoom) has entered into a deal to acquire Bonsai, a business-management and client-engagement platform geared primarily toward solopreneurs and small service-based firms. The acquisition reflects Zoom’s strategic aim of expanding beyond its core collaboration and meeting tools by adding capabilities that serve the full client lifecycle—from initial contact, through delivery, to invoicing and payment. Bonsai’s platform simplifies management for small businesses that otherwise juggle multiple tools for contracts, proposals, payments and client communications.

The move also highlights a broader shift in the market toward convergence between collaboration, productivity and customer-experience technologies. By embedding Bonsai’s tools into its broader “Workplace” ecosystem (with items like Zoom Meetings, Chat, AI-assistant, Docs), Zoom aims to give small businesses a more unified, streamlined environment—with AI-driven automations helping with tasks like follow-ups, proposals and scheduling. For CX professionals, the deal underscores how tools for the small business segment are being empowered to deliver near-enterprise quality customer-experience features, but in a simpler, more accessible form. Learn more at CX Today

A new cybersecurity threat has emerged targeting collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams. Attackers can steal authentication tokens stored on a user’s computer, allowing them to impersonate the user and gain access to sensitive information such as chats, emails, and files—without needing passwords or triggering traditional login alerts. This method exploits weaknesses in how authentication data is stored locally, making it possible to bypass many of the standard security controls that organizations rely on to protect cloud communication environments.

For business and IT leaders, the incident underscores the growing risk of identity-based attacks that exploit endpoints instead of networks. Protecting against this type of threat requires a layered security approach that includes stronger endpoint protection, stricter conditional access policies, shorter token lifetimes, and close monitoring of API activity. Employee awareness is also critical—recognizing unusual device behavior or unexpected session changes can help detect compromises early and prevent broader breaches. Learn more at UC Today.

An experiment by Cyber News revealed vulnerabilities in Snapchat’s chatbot, My AI, that underscore the broader risks of relying on chatbots to run customer support independently. Researchers probed the bot with prompts disguised as historical storytelling and succeeded in coaxing it into narrating how incendiary devices were made—despite safeguards against direct queries about weapons. This highlights that even platforms with large user bases and claimed safety features can still be manipulated into producing harmful or misleading content.

Beyond the specific incident, the article argues that customer-facing organizations should treat chatbots as assistants rather than autonomous support agents. It notes other examples of AI models giving false policies or exposing sensitive data, emphasizing how trust, accuracy and oversight matter deeply in customer experience (CX) contexts. The main takeaway is that AI can aid support by handling repetitive or low-risk tasks—but leaving machines alone to deal with complex or high-stakes interactions is still too risky without human oversight. Learn more at CX Today.

On October 20, 2025, the AWS US-East-1 region experienced a significant outage beginning around 03:11 EST, during which internal DNS failures triggered cascading problems across a wide range of services — from social media and messaging apps like Snapchat, Signal and Reddit, to banking systems (e.g., Lloyds Banking Group and Halifax) and smart-home devices such as Ring doorbells. The disruption underscores how deeply intertwined modern digital services have become with a handful of cloud infrastructures, and how quickly user trust can erode when standard digital flows are interrupted.

Beyond the immediate chaos, the outage is a cautionary tale for enterprises about the fragility of underlying infrastructure dependencies. The article highlights that even when the initial failure lies deep in the cloud stack (DNS, region availability zones, mis-configurations), the visible impact for customers is “service unavailable” — which damages reputations even for organisations whose own systems weren’t directly at fault. It further notes that clear, timely communication, awareness of indirect dependencies, and robust disaster-recovery planning are essential in mitigating both the impact and the customer-trust fallout of such outages. Learn more at CX Today.

According to a survey sponsored by Sprinkr and Metric Sherpa, there is a large discrepancy between the view of customer service by business leaders vs. consumers. According to the report, 91% of business leaders believe they deliver consistent customer experiences. However, only 36% of consumers agree. There’s a similarly large gap when it comes to trust and brand alignment: while 86% of leaders believe customers have a valuable amount of trust in their brand, only 44% of consumers feel that way. The study found that 79% of customers frequently feel ignored or forgotten by brands they’ve dealt with, indicating a disconnect not just of perception but of actual experience.

The article highlights the risks this disconnect poses for loyalty, reputation and revenue: 59% of consumers admitted they’d abandon a brand after just one poor service interaction, while only 42% of business leaders accepted that reality. To bridge the gap, the report recommends businesses reassess how they measure customer performance, unify operations across silos, and ensure transparency—especially around AI-use in customer interactions (e.g., 72% of customers expect to be informed when interacting with AI). Learn more at CX Today.

Vonage has introduced AI-powered Fraud Detection and Identity Insights for Salesforce Agentforce contact centers, combining Vonage’s network APIs with real-time intelligence to help agents detect fraud and verify customer identities without disrupting workflows. The solution offers features such as SIM swap detection, phone number validation, and lead-quality assurance, allowing agents to confirm number legitimacy, identify risky interactions, and ensure accurate contact data—all within the Salesforce environment.

This integration addresses one of the contact center industry’s biggest challenges: balancing security with a smooth customer experience. By embedding fraud detection directly into Salesforce workflows, Vonage reduces the need for extra verification steps that can frustrate customers while giving agents actionable insights. Leaders from both companies emphasized that the solution empowers agents with trusted, AI-driven data, reflecting a broader shift toward embedding telecom and identity intelligence into core CRM and contact center platforms. Learn more from UC Today.

The UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) market is maturing and evolving rapidly, according to Gartner’s 2025 Magic Quadrant review, with AI, collaboration, and cloud-native telephony driving adoption. The article notes that Cisco, Microsoft, RingCentral, and Zoom lead the market, while vendors like 8×8, Dialpad, and GoTo are recognized as Visionaries, and Google, Vonage, Wildix, and Sangoma occupy niche spaces. Key buying drivers include simplified management, lower total cost of ownership, and tighter integration across messaging, meetings, and telephony. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 90 percent of organizations will rely on cloud office platforms for enterprise telephony (up from about 30 percent in 2025), and spending on traditional telephony systems will decline by half.

Gartner highlights emerging trends shaping the future of UCaaS, including a shift toward collaboration-centric usage (over traditional telephony), deeper AI-enabled features (such as transcription, translation, sentiment analysis, and agentic assistance), and the blurring lines between UCaaS, CCaaS (contact center) and CPaaS (platform services). Vendors are increasingly focusing on extensibility through APIs and app marketplaces, while transparency in pricing and licensing is becoming a crucial factor in vendor selection. As hybrid and remote work settle in as standard, UCaaS platforms are expected to become central to enabling seamless communication and productivity across dispersed teams. Learn more at UC Today.

Learn more about UCaaS in our UCaaS Buying Guide. Learn more about our partner providers at our Featured Partner Overview.

The 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) highlights the evolving landscape of customer service technology, categorizing vendors into Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Players based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision. NiCE and Genesys continue to lead, recognized for their robust enterprise deployments and strong AI and analytical capabilities. AWS, Five9, and Talkdesk join them in the Leader quadrant, with Talkdesk notably advancing from its Visionary position last year. Content Guru has also made significant progress, moving from Niche Player to Challenger, while Cisco has experienced a decline in its positioning. Notably, 8×8 has been removed from the evaluation, and Zoom enters as a Niche Player, reflecting shifts in market dynamics.

The report underscores the growing importance of integrating AI and analytics into CCaaS platforms, with vendors like NiCE leveraging partnerships with AWS, ServiceNow, and Snowflake to enhance their AI strategies. Genesys’s collaboration with Salesforce and ServiceNow further exemplifies the trend of converging CCaaS and CRM solutions. Additionally, the evaluation considers factors such as pricing models, support services, integrations, and verified customer feedback, providing a comprehensive overview for organizations seeking to navigate the complex CCaaS market. Learn more at CX Today.

Learn more about CCaaS with our CCaaS Buyer’s Guide. Learn more about providers at our Featured Partner page.

RingCentral has acquired CommunityWFM, a cloud-based workforce management (WFM) technology provider, to enhance its RingCX contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) offering. RingCX has gained over 1,000 customers, largely due to its strong integration with RingEX for unified communications. By bringing CommunityWFM into the fold, RingCentral fills a key gap in RingCX’s capabilities, introducing AI-driven workforce management features—now branded as “RingCentral AI Workforce Management (WFM)”—available as an add-on starting at $20 per agent per month.

The acquisition adds a robust suite of AI-powered tools—forecasting, scheduling, intraday management, real-time adherence tracking, agent portals, and shift swap features—under a unified platform, combining quality assurance and workforce optimization capabilities. RingCentral’s leadership highlights that this integration not only streamlines operations but also enhances agent empowerment and customer experience. While this move strengthens RingCentral’s product portfolio and brings in new customers, it also reflects a broader consolidation trend in the WFM market, raising questions about the future of independent vendors and innovation in the space. Learn more at CX Today.

Twilio has officially launched its Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging platform for general availability worldwide, enabling modernized SMS communications across its entire customer base. Following a public beta debut in September 2024, the RCS platform is now accessible to all of Twilio’s 349,000-plus active customer accounts— those generating at least $5 in monthly revenue—via both its Programmable Messaging and Verify APIs. RCS brings upgraded capabilities to traditional SMS, including group chats, interactive carousels, branded experiences, and verified sender information, creating a richer, more trustworthy messaging experience.

The U.S. market is a key focus for Twilio’s RCS rollout, where approximately 85% of the company’s messaging traffic originates. Major carriers like T-Mobile, Verizon, and US Cellular are already live with RCS Business Messaging through Twilio, and AT&T is expected to come online within the next few weeks. The phased expansion reflects Twilio’s strategy to enhance customer engagement with richer, interactive messaging experiences that require no additional code changes for existing customers and can integrate seamlessly for new ones. Learn more on No Jitter.

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has agreed to acquire Verint Systems in a $2 billion all-cash deal, valuing shares at $20.50 each, an 18% premium over Verint’s pre-announcement trading price. The acquisition is expected to close before the end of Verint’s fiscal year and continues Thoma Bravo’s aggressive investment strategy in enterprise software following its $12 billion purchase of Dayforce earlier this year. The deal positions the company for accelerated growth under private ownership.

At the conclusion of the transaction, Verint will be combined with Calabrio, another Thoma Bravo-owned company specializing in workforce engagement and analytics. Together, the two will form a stronger AI-driven customer experience (CX) automation powerhouse, uniting Verint’s contact center and customer engagement tools with Calabrio’s workforce optimization capabilities. The combined entity aims to deliver enhanced customer insights, automation, and efficiency, positioning itself as a leader in the evolving CX software market. Learn more at Yahoo Finance.

Sangoma is expanding its partnership with AWS to enhance its UCaaS and contact center offerings, providing a more scalable, secure, and resilient cloud communications platform. By leveraging AWS infrastructure, organizations can centralize voice, messaging, and call routing, benefit from elastic scaling, and reduce on-site PBX maintenance. This move aligns with the broader industry trend toward cloud-first communications, supporting seamless collaboration across office, home, and mobile environments. Learn more on UC Today.

Zoom recently addressed a critical security vulnerability in its Windows client which scored 9.6 on the CVSS severity scale. The flaw stemmed from how Zoom’s application loaded dynamic-link libraries (DLLs), relying on Windows’ default search order rather than specifying explicit file paths. This allowed attackers to place malicious DLLs in directories where Zoom would execute them, potentially granting full system control. Exploiting this vulnerability could lead to privilege escalation, data exfiltration—including access to recordings, contact lists, and credentials—and network compromise, with attackers potentially reaching domain controllers. The exploit was notably low in complexity, posing a significant risk even from relatively unsophisticated actors. Learn more at UC Today.

Microsoft is rolling out security upgrades to Microsoft Teams aimed at mitigating long-standing vulnerabilities. The new features will automatically block executable files—such as .exe attachments—that are commonly weaponized by hackers. Additionally, Teams will now detect and warn users about malicious URLs shared within chats and channels. These enhancements are intended to reduce the human factor in malware and phishing attacks.

Complementing these protection mechanisms, Teams has integrated with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Tenant Allow/Block List, enabling administrators to block or delete communications from specified domains directly from the Defender portal. These combined measures see Teams taking a more proactive and platform-level stance on security, reflecting a shift toward treating unified communications as central to enterprise cybersecurity, not a peripheral concern. Learn more on UC Today.

NiCE, a global leader in AI-driven customer experience solutions, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Cognigy, a conversational and agentic AI specialist, in a transaction valued at around $955 million. This acquisition will merge NiCE’s CXone Mpower platform with Cognigy’s enterprise-grade AI agents, enabling automation of customer service workflows across both front- and back-office functions. Cognigy’s AI, available in over 100 languages and deployed at brands like Mercedes‑Benz, Nestlé, and Lufthansa, is expected to continue strong growth—projected at roughly 80% ARR increase in 2026. The deal includes a time‑bound holdback component (~$50 M holdback with $25 M in cash and 158,000 American Depositary Shares) and is slated to close in Q4 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.

NiCE CEO Scott Russell described the move as a strategic leap forward in accelerating its AI innovation roadmap and expanding global AI adoption in enterprise customer experience. Cognigy Co‑Founder Philipp Heltewig echoed the excitement, highlighting the value NiCE’s scale and reach will bring to customers and partners. Industry analysts—reported by CX Today—view the acquisition as a catalyst for broader consolidation in CX AI, reinforcing NiCE’s control over orchestration layers, while extending its footprint in Europe via Cognigy’s roots in Germany. Integration aims to deliver seamless, AI-first CX experiences at scale for existing and new clients.

Learn more at Business Wire.

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