News
Industry news
Independent coverage of what is happening across customer support, live chat, and AI support software - curated from other publications, each linking back to the original report.
What's making headlines?
47 storiesZendesk Introduces Specialized AI Agents Purpose-built for Your Business
Zendesk's new purpose-built AI agents let businesses automate customer support without sacrificing the brand voice or context that matters.
The National Law Review Sep 14, 2026 ReadQuiq launches Voice Assist: agentic AI that acts during live calls
Quiq's Voice Assist goes beyond transcription — it takes actions while calls are still in progress, a meaningful shift for live-agent and deflection workflows.
CustomerThink Sep 7, 2026 ReadPhonely Launches Alma, a Voice LLM That’s 63% Faster and 84% Cheaper Than OpenAI
Phonely's Alma cuts voice-AI latency and cost dramatically versus OpenAI, lowering the barrier to deploying AI phone agents at scale in support operations.
CustomerThink Sep 7, 2026 ReadSoundHound Closes LivePerson Deal, Integrates It Into OASYS AI Stack
SoundHound's acquisition of LivePerson is complete and the platform is being folded into its OASYS AI stack, reshaping the enterprise AI support market.
CMSWire Sep 4, 2026 ReadGenesys: AI Alone Won’t Fix Broken CX
Genesys argues that AI cannot paper over broken customer experience foundations, urging support leaders to fix process and data problems before deploying AI.
CX Today Sep 1, 2026 ReadThe End of Per-Seat SaaS: How Microsoft, Salesforce, and Zoom Are Rewriting CX Economics
Microsoft, Salesforce, and Zoom are replacing per-seat pricing with usage-based models, fundamentally changing how support teams budget for CX software.
CX Today Aug 31, 2026 ReadAvaya’s AI Strategy Warning: CX Vendors Are Splitting Fast
Avaya warns that CX vendors are splitting into distinct AI camps, making platform choice a longer-term strategic commitment for buyers.
CX Today Aug 31, 2026 ReadAre You Ready for AI Customers?
As AI agents increasingly act as buyers, contact centres must rethink how they handle automated customer interactions.
Call Centre Helper Aug 31, 2026 ReadFormer LivePerson CEO Launches KID, a Safe Creative AI Device Amid Alarming AI Toy Safety Findings.
The ex-CEO of LivePerson has launched a children's AI hardware startup, signalling where senior customer-support AI talent is moving next.
TMX Newsfile Aug 30, 2026 ReadNICE (TASE:NICE) Turns A Healthcare Contact Center Toward AI With CXone
NICE's CXone platform is now driving AI operations at a healthcare contact center, signalling the company's push into high-compliance verticals.
Yahoo Finance Aug 29, 2026 ReadMitel CX and MiContact Center Enterprise for Healthcare: What Should Buyers Verify?
Healthcare contact centre buyers evaluating Mitel should verify AI capabilities, EHR integration, and compliance credentials before committing to the platform.
CX Today Aug 29, 2026 ReadJasco and Freshworks move to expand access to advanced customer service tech across Africa
Freshworks is teaming with Jasco to push its customer service platform into African markets, a region most enterprise support vendors have largely ignored.
Capital FM Africa Aug 29, 2026 ReadBig CX News From Salesforce, Zoom, Meta and Google
A single briefing tracks platform-level CX announcements from Salesforce, Zoom, Meta and Google — useful for anyone tracking where the big players are heading.
CX Today Aug 28, 2026 ReadWhy AI-Only QA Still Leaves Support Leaders Doing the Heavy Lifting
Pure AI quality assurance hasn't eliminated the need for human judgment, so support leaders should plan oversight into their QA workflows rather than assuming full automation.
CX Today Aug 28, 2026 ReadAI vs. Human: What UK Consumers Really Want
New UK consumer data on AI versus human agent preferences gives support leaders a clearer picture of channel expectations.
Call Centre Helper Aug 28, 2026 ReadCan Crescendo’s AI Agents Really Run the Whole CX Operation?
An independent look at whether Crescendo's AI can genuinely run an entire CX operation end-to-end — worth reading before any evaluation of full-automation vendors.
CX Today Aug 28, 2026 ReadWhy People Tell AI About Their Debt – But Not You
Consumers share sensitive debt information more openly with AI than human agents, with clear implications for collections contact centres.
Call Centre Helper Aug 28, 2026 ReadWhy You Shouldn’t Abandon Reactive Support For Proactive AI
Proactive AI doesn't eliminate the need for reactive support, and teams cutting reactive capacity prematurely may leave customers without a reliable fallback.
CX Today Aug 28, 2026 ReadEdge Wallet Says Zendesk Breach Exposed User Emails, Funds Remain Safe
A breach through Zendesk's infrastructure leaked customer email data for Edge Wallet users, a reminder that support platforms are a high-value attack surface.
CryptoRank Aug 28, 2026 ReadCrescendo launches the AI-native Customer Experience Platform: One system that runs and continuously improves the entire customer operation
Crescendo's new platform runs an entire customer operation from one AI system that continuously improves itself — a direct challenge to point-solution stacks.
CustomerThink Aug 28, 2026 ReadSalesforce’s Claudeforce Deal With Anthropic Points to What Comes After the CRM UI
Salesforce embedding Anthropic's Claude deeply into its platform suggests AI agents will replace traditional CRM dashboards as the primary interface for support and customer data workflows.
CX Today Aug 27, 2026 ReadIbex CX Integration: Is AI-to-Human Handoff the Real Test?
The moment AI transfers a conversation to a human agent is where most deployments fail — this examines whether Ibex's integration handles that transition well in practice.
CX Today Aug 27, 2026 ReadIf Data Sovereignty Isn’t on Your Map, Start Thinking About Putting It There
Contact centres using cloud-hosted AI tools face growing pressure to map data sovereignty requirements before regulators force the issue.
Call Centre Helper Aug 27, 2026 ReadHow Fintech and Banking Teams Handle AI Without the Risk
Regulated fintech and banking contact centres are building specific AI governance frameworks to meet compliance demands without stalling deployments.
Call Centre Helper Aug 27, 2026 ReadAre You Doing Enough to Protect Your Contact Centre Data?
Contact centres holding customer records should audit current data protection practices as breach risks and regulatory expectations continue to rise.
Call Centre Helper Aug 27, 2026 ReadSoundHound AI: LivePerson deal may bolster its AI agent ambitions
SoundHound AI's move on LivePerson could accelerate its conversational AI ambitions in enterprise support — worth tracking for buyers already on the platform.
Constellation Research Aug 25, 2026 ReadOutboundIQ's Ryan Shatzkamer Releases Open-Source Tool That Builds Genesys Cloud Call Flows From Plain English
A new open-source tool converts plain-English descriptions into Genesys Cloud call flows, cutting the technical skill needed to configure contact center routing.
TMX Newsfile Aug 24, 2026 ReadDeltapath Brings Deltapath Talk to Zendesk
Deltapath's calling tool now lives inside Zendesk, letting support teams handle voice without leaving the ticketing interface.
UC Today Aug 22, 2026 ReadSOUN Records Best Week In 9 Months On Liveperson Acquisition, Casey’s Partnership
SoundHound AI shares hit a nine-month high driven largely by market optimism over its pending acquisition of LivePerson.
Stocktwits Aug 22, 2026 ReadLivePerson urges stockholders to vote by Sept 1 to approve merger with SoundHound AI at Sept 2 meeting.
LivePerson is pushing shareholders to vote by Sept 1 on its merger with SoundHound AI, setting a hard deadline for the deal.
Pluang Aug 21, 2026 Read