Movers and Shakers – June 2014

This month we bring you news from Noble Systems, Genesys, Aspect Software, mplsystems, Azzurri, Calabrio, Webhelp UK, Interactive Intelligence and inContact.

Genesys and IBM Watson announce partnership

Genesys and IBM have partnered to develop a learning system that combines the Watson Engagement Advisor with the Genesys Customer Experience Platform.

This is expected to transform how organisations worldwide engage with their customers across customer experience touchpoints and channels of communication.

“This combined solution delivers sophisticated yet simple to manage knowledge capabilities to transform self-service systems and human interactions into positive brand impressions,” said Paul Segre, President and CEO at Genesys. “With Watson, our new solution provides a transformational customer experience with a natural and informed transition from self-service to agent assistance to yield better business outcomes.”

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Noble Systems expands sales team to drive UK growth

Noble Systems has appointed two senior members to its UK sales team.

The new recruits – Julian Degg and David Cooke – will be Sales Account Managers based in Manchester. Both have been responsible for significant blue chip new business wins in the past, as well as providing exemplary senior account management.

“Noble Systems is delighted to welcome these senior appointments to our existing sales force; their depth of knowledge and wealth of sales experience will be a great asset for further growth,” said Colin Chave, General Manager of Noble Systems EMEA. “The addition of these highly experienced individuals to the excellent enterprise sales people that we already have greatly improves the strength of Noble Systems. I am certainly proud to have such a team to help move our business forward.”

In addition, Chris Brown has followed the graduate programme championed by Noble Systems and has now been promoted from Business Development Manager to Sales Account Manager.

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Aspect Software becomes the latest member of CIF

Aspect Software has become the latest member of the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), which provides transparency through certification to a Code of Practice for credible online cloud service providers (CSPs), and assists end users in determining the necessary information to enable them to adopt cloud services.

“We are proud to be able to call ourselves Cloud Industry Forum members. As businesses look to progress with cloud-based technology,” said Mark King, Senior VP Europe & Africa at Aspect Software, “it is important that the industry adheres to guidelines and rules in order to educate users and create a better and safer cloud for everyone.”

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mplsystems has joined The Building Futures Group

mplsystems has joined The Building Futures Group – the newly formed facilities management association created from the merger of Asset Skills, the Cleaning & Support Services Association (CSSA) and the Facilities Management Association (FMA).

The company’s field service management approach will help organisations directly address the disconnect between the service desk, planning and what’s actually going on in the field.

As a member of The Building Futures Group, they will play an active role in helping other members to optimise their field service management efficiency.

“We recognise The Building Futures Group as an important new voice across the housing, property, cleaning, parking and facilities management sectors. These are all key markets for mplsystems, and we look forward to sharing our distinctive, next-generation field service management vision with group members,” said Paul White, CEO at mplsystems. “Working closely with organisations such as The Metric Group, Balfour Beatty Workplace and Statutory Support Services, we’ve shown how the deployment of a true, end-to-end field service management solution can unlock deliverable business benefits. We’ll be taking advantage of The Building Futures Group’s strong networking opportunities to help ensure that today’s FM specialists have both the real-time information and dynamic planning tools they need to deliver best practice performance.”

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Azzurri announces interim CEO

Azzurri Communications has announced that its Chairman, Steve Andrews, has taken on the role of interim Chief Executive. In this new role, he will lead the implementation of Azzurri’s new three-year growth strategy, including a programme of operational restructuring.

The restructuring planned as part of the three-year growth strategy will result in the closure of Azzurri’s High Wycombe office and a logistics centre in Aldridge. The company will also be consolidating into a single building in Weybridge and reducing overall headcount by around 4% (24 positions) across the business.

“Azzurri is renowned for its expertise in delivering competitive enterprise communications solutions and understanding its customers’ needs, both today and for the future,” said Steve Andrews. “I am looking forward both to my time as interim CEO and to announcing my full time replacement in the very near future.”

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Calabrio positioned as “Visionary vendor” in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant

Calabrio has been positioned as the only Visionary vendor in the Magic Quadrant for Contact Centre Workforce Optimisation, which evaluates vendors based on their completeness of vision and ability to execute.

The Calabrio ONE software suite offers integrated Workforce Optimisation (WFO) and analytics elements that simplify deployment, adoption and use.

The solution provides contact centres with solutions to improve operational efficiency and agent performance, as well as delivering valuable insights to help drive customer loyalty, grow revenue and improve the overall bottom line.

“To be effective in today’s dynamic customer service environments, contact centres need to work smarter while continuing to move ever faster,” said Neil Griffiths, VP EMEA for Calabrio. “Our vision is to help contact centres better leverage everything from their people to their customer data to become a strategic asset for the business, and we believe this recognition acknowledges the significant progress we have made in delivering a unique workforce optimisation solution that delivers ease-of-use and effectiveness.”

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EE partners with Webhelp UK to create 300 new roles in Derby

EE is partnering with Webhelp UK to create 300 new jobs in Derby, as part of their strategy to become number one for customer service in the telecoms sector.

Earlier this year, EE committed to drive up customer service levels with the return of over 1,000 service roles to the UK from overseas call centres. The creation of the new roles in Derby marks the second stage of this plan to deliver industry-leading call centre support, and closely follows the opening of a new customer centre in Derry/Londonderry in May.

“This is a significant opportunity for Webhelp UK as we continue to grow as a business, and this new partnership with EE will also allow us to create a large number of new team member roles in Derby,” said David Turner, CEO at Webhelp UK. “We are committed to delivering the best possible service to our clients and an excellent customer experience for their customers, and remain dedicated to creating new employment opportunities for talented people across the UK.”

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Interactive Intelligence announces growth plans

Interactive Intelligence plans to add more than 300 jobs in Indiana by the end of 2014. The growth follows the addition of more than 170 Indiana-based employees last year.

Additionally, the company is in negotiations to lease a new 112,000 square-foot building at its North-side Indianapolis Campus, with an anticipated occupancy date of the third quarter of 2015.

“With our cloud business growing at an exceptional rate, we anticipate continued expansion with an even greater positive impact on the Indiana economy,” said Dr. Donald Brown, Founder and CEO at Interactive Intelligence. “Our planned job additions would result in more than 1,300 Indiana employees by the end of 2014.”

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inContact acquires Uptivity

inContact has acquired workforce optimisation provider ‘Uptivity’.

Uptivity brings approximately 700 customers to the growing inContact family. The combined customer base will benefit from broader, complementary solutions and rapid cloud innovation, with continued support for a variety of telephony infrastructures.

“We believe that there is a tremendous opportunity for SaaS innovation in the WFO market,” said Paul Jarman, CEO at inContact. “We are excited about the promise of the Uptivity acquisition and the value it will deliver to the market, to our joint customers and to our shareholders as well.”