Cloud Communications News & Updates

Zoom is advancing its AI capabilities by introducing agentic AI features across its platform, enabling the AI Companion to perform tasks on behalf of users, such as scheduling meetings, generating documents, and creating video clips. These enhancements aim to streamline workflows and boost productivity within the Zoom ecosystem.

Additionally, Zoom is expanding AI functionalities across its services, including Zoom Meetings, Team Chat, Docs, Phone, Whiteboard, and Contact Center. The AI Companion now features skills like calendar management, clip generation, and advanced writing assistance. Furthermore, specialized agents like the Zoom Virtual Agent are being introduced to deliver empathetic, contextual conversations and resolve complex issues autonomously, enhancing customer self-service experiences. ​Learn more at UC Today.

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Genesys has unveiled its most comprehensive Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) bundle to date, priced at $240 per user per month. This offering encompasses all of Genesys's core CCaaS solutions, providing businesses with a unified platform to enhance customer interactions and streamline support operations. By consolidating essential contact center tools into a single package, Genesys aims to deliver exceptional value and simplify the deployment of advanced customer experience technologies. Learn more at CX Today.

Zendesk has introduced "Zendesk for Contact Center," a new Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) platform aimed at redefining the contact center landscape. This launch follows Zendesk's recent acquisition of Local Measure, a customer experience platform, indicating a strategic move to enhance its offerings in the customer service sector. The new platform is designed to provide businesses with advanced tools to improve customer interactions and streamline support operations. More information is at CX Today.

Microsoft has rebranded its contact center workspace to “Copilot Service workspace" in an effort to better align with modern customer experience trends. As part of this shift, the company has stopped using the term "agent" for live representatives, opting for terminology that reflects a more dynamic and customer-centric role. This change likely stems from the growing integration of AI-driven automation, which is reshaping traditional contact center functions. By repositioning its workspace and language, Microsoft aims to create a more seamless and intelligent environment where human representatives work alongside AI to enhance customer interactions and improve efficiency. More information at CX Today.

GoTo has launched the GoTo Connect AI Receptionist, an AI-driven call-handling solution designed to enhance customer interactions for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). This 24/7 virtual assistant automates routine tasks, provides immediate responses to common inquiries, and intelligently routes calls to the appropriate departments or personnel. By integrating with existing knowledge bases and FAQs, the AI Receptionist ensures accurate and efficient customer service, reducing operational inefficiencies and ensuring that no customer inquiries are missed. The system supports over 10 languages and allows businesses to customize its voice and personality to align with their brand identity. Notably, the AI Receptionist requires minimal setup, offering immediate value to businesses without extensive configuration.

This launch signifies GoTo's commitment to integrating practical generative AI technologies into their services, aiming to complement human employees and enhance overall customer experience. By handling peaks in call volume and supporting agents during off-hours, the AI Receptionist allows staff to focus on more complex tasks, thereby improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.

In a similar move, RingCentral recently introduced its own AI Receptionist, reflecting a broader industry trend towards incorporating AI to transform business call handling.

To read more, visit UC Today.

Zoom is set to enhance its AI Companion with new "agentic" capabilities, enabling it to autonomously identify and execute tasks on behalf of users. This upgrade allows the AI Companion to schedule follow-up meetings, generate meeting-related documents, and create video clips, all accessible through a new "Tasks" tab in Zoom Workplace.

Additional features include a voice recorder in the Zoom Workplace mobile app, which can record, transcribe, and summarize in-person meetings, and live notes that provide real-time summaries during meetings and calls. These enhancements aim to streamline workflows and boost productivity for Zoom users.

Furthermore, Zoom plans to introduce a Custom AI Companion add-on, allowing users to personalize their AI experience with custom avatars and integrations with third-party tools. This move underscores Zoom's commitment to integrating AI across its platform to enhance user experience and efficiency. Learn more at CX Today.

The GSM Association (GSMA) has updated the Rich Communication Services (RCS) specifications to include end-to-end encryption (E2EE) between Android and iOS devices. This enhancement aims to provide secure messaging across these platforms.

Apple plans to support this feature in upcoming software updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS. Google's Messages app already offers E2EE for RCS texts between its users. The new RCS standard incorporates E2EE based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, enabling secure, interoperable encryption between different platforms.

This development signifies a collaborative effort between Apple and Google to enhance messaging security, ensuring that messages exchanged between iPhone and Android users remain private and protected. Read more at Engadget.

​Mitel, a global business communications provider, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. This strategic move aims to optimize the company's capital structure, reduce its debt by approximately $1.15 billion, and decrease annual cash interest expenses by about $135 million.

The company has secured $60 million in debtor-in-possession financing to support operations during the restructuring process and an additional commitment of $64.5 million in exit financing to bolster future operations. Mitel's operations outside the U.S., Canada, and select U.K. business segments are not included in the filing, allowing its global business to continue functioning as usual.

CEO Tarun Loomba expressed confidence that these steps will strengthen Mitel, enabling it to invest in long-term strategies and continue supporting customers and partners with innovative solutions. This restructuring is expected to be swift and minimally disruptive, with Mitel maintaining regular operations and fulfilling commitments to stakeholders throughout the process. Read more at UC Today.

Talkdesk has introduced "AI Agents for Healthcare," autonomous tools designed to handle patient interactions and address healthcare-specific inquiries without prior training. Unveiled at HIMSS 2025, these agents enable healthcare organizations to automate tasks such as appointment scheduling, authorization checks, and prescription refills. Users can define tasks in natural language and link the AI agents to trusted knowledge bases, data sources, and APIs for immediate deployment. This modular approach allows contact centers to incrementally implement automation, ensuring a controlled integration of AI into their operations. ​

Talkdesk's strategy of developing industry-specific AI agents differentiates it in the contact center market, following the earlier release of AI Agents for Retail in January 2025. This sector-focused innovation underscores Talkdesk's commitment to enhancing customer experience through tailored AI solutions. Learn more at CX Today.

Avant’s analysis reveals that while Microsoft Teams has around 320 million active users, only 80 million (25%) use its voice calling features, and just 20 million are PSTN-enabled—meaning they have both a Microsoft Phone System license and a calling plan. This suggests that many organizations using Teams are not fully leveraging its enterprise-grade voice capabilities.

The report highlights that Microsoft Teams Voice, while popular, often lacks the advanced telephony features that businesses need, such as call center functionalities, compliance requirements, and global coverage. As a result, many companies seek third-party integrations or alternative UCaaS solutions to enhance their Teams calling experience.

Avant recommends that businesses looking for a more robust voice solution explore Direct Routing or Operator Connect, which enable them to integrate Teams with external voice providers, offering better call quality, cost savings, and enhanced features. The findings underscore a growing opportunity for solution providers to help businesses optimize their Microsoft Teams Voice experience. Read more at Channel Futures.

Gartner predicts that by 2029, agentic AI will autonomously resolve 80% of common customer service issues, improving efficiency and reducing costs. Companies like Johnson & Johnson, Moody’s, eBay, Deutsche Telekom, and Cosentino are already integrating AI agents for tasks like drug discovery, financial analysis, marketing, and customer service. While promising, these advancements require strong oversight to mitigate cybersecurity risks and biases. Learn more at Gartner.

Companies using Microsoft 365 are advised to exercise caution, as the default Teams configuration allows external individuals to contact internal staff, a feature exploited by these attackers.

Hackers are impersonating remote IT support staff on Microsoft Teams to infiltrate company networks and deploy ransomware. Their method involves overwhelming employees with up to 3,000 spam emails within an hour, then contacting them via Teams, posing as IT personnel offering assistance. Once granted remote access, they install ransomware that freezes the network and extracts data, demanding cryptocurrency payments for restoration. UK-based cybersecurity firm Sophos has identified 15 such incidents in the past three months, attributing them to Russian cybercrime groups Fin7 and Storm-1811. More information at The Times.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced plans to discontinue its unified communications service, Amazon Chime. The service will cease accepting new customers on February 19, 2025, and full support will end on February 20, 2026. Existing users can continue to utilize Chime's features, including Business Calling, meeting scheduling, and user management, until the termination date. AWS recommends that customers transition to alternative collaboration solutions such as AWS Wickr, Zoom, Cisco Webex, or Slack. Notably, this decision does not affect the availability of the Amazon Chime SDK service. Details are available via an AWS Blog post.

This move reflects a broader trend of consolidation within the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market. The discontinuation of Chime underscores the increasing commoditization of UCaaS platforms, where enterprises are gravitating towards solutions offering deep integrations, AI-powered enhancements, and comprehensive ecosystems. Providers like Microsoft and Zoom have gained traction by embedding advanced capabilities such as AI assistants, workflow automation, and robust third-party integrations—areas where AWS did not heavily invest for Chime.

For businesses and IT leaders, AWS's decision signals a potential shift towards more integrated and feature-rich UCaaS platforms, prompting a reevaluation of current communication tools to align with evolving market offerings. More information is available at UC Today.

RingCentral has introduced the AI Receptionist (AIR), an integrated AI phone agent designed to automate customer interactions and ensure businesses never miss a call. Built directly into RingCentral's business phone system, AIR offers features such as instant call answering with natural conversations, handling routine inquiries without human intervention, intelligent routing of complex calls based on context, and appointment scheduling with SMS follow-ups. This seamless integration allows for quick setup without the need for additional software. Businesses adopting AIR have reported significant improvements, including a 50% reduction in time spent on inbound calls and a 20% decrease in calls requiring human assistance. Learn more.

NICE has introduced the "AI Value Calculator," an online tool designed to help contact centers estimate potential cost and time savings achievable through AI integration. Users input data such as location, team size, average call/chat duration, interaction volumes, wrap-up time, agent hourly wages, and industry type. The calculator then projects savings based on industry averages, allowing users to set automation targets for their interactions. While actual results may vary, the tool provides a foundational understanding of AI's potential impact on metrics like first contact resolution, customer satisfaction, agent attrition, average handling time, agent satisfaction, and onboarding duration. Stephen Davies, NICE's VP of International Marketing, emphasized the tool's role in demonstrating tangible AI benefits, moving beyond generic solutions to showcase real value.

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