The Wire (Page 9)

New Center Demonstrates How AI Can Drive Business Performance, Enhance Customer Experience and Improve Financial Outcomes Collaborations with Microsoft and Other Tech Leaders Helps Fuel Innovation Pipeline FLORHAM PARK, N.J.--( BUSINESS WIRE)-- Conduent Incorporated (Nasdaq: CNDT), a global technology-driven business solutions and services provider, today announced the opening of its AI Experience Center at Conduent’s corporate headquarters in Florham Park, New Jersey. The AI Experience Center is a curated, collaborative space where clients can explore how Conduent’s AI- and GenAI-powered solutions are designed to address their needs and deliver measurable outcomes to improve business process performance, enhance customer satisfaction and drive better financial outcomes.

AKRON, Ohio, Jan. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstComm today announced the launch of AscendOne, a next-generation unified communications platform that brings voice, messaging, meetings, contact center, and AI-powered productivity tools together in one seamless solution. Designed to simplify how organizations connect with customers and employees, AscendOne helps businesses modernize communications, improve continuity, and scale with confidence.

Customers average 24% chat-to-order conversion, with peaks as high as 58%, by unifying service and shopping to drive higher engagement and ROI NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At NRF 2026, Crescendo announced the launch of its Multimodal AI Shopping Assistant on the Shopify App Store, with chat-to-order conversion rates as high as 58% — roughly four times the industry benchmark of 5-15%. The result transforms chat from a support cost center into a primary revenue channel, as the same AI that resolves questions can seamlessly guide customers to the right product in the moment.

Community-focused broadband provider upgrades customer engagement by replacing siloed systems with a unified platform ALPHARETTA, Ga., Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- GOCare, a leading SaaS provider of digital customer experience solutions for broadband service providers (BSPs), today announced that Peñasco Valley Telephone Cooperative ( PVT), a broadband provider serving southeast New Mexico for more than 100 years, has selected GOCare and Dialpad as strategic partners to modernize customer engagement and deliver more connected, people-first digital experiences. By consolidating digital customer communications via the GOCare integrated toolset, PVT is eliminating manual workflows, improving staff efficiency, and realizing a single view across voice and digital channels.

Tredence's New Agentic Commerce Accelerators Bolster its Accelerator Ecosystem and Enable Retailers to Quickly Unlock Truly Personalized Shopping Experiences NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tredence, a global data science and AI solutions provider, today announced the launch of its Agentic Commerce accelerators. These enterprise-grade accelerators serve as configurable starting points to design, build and scale agent-driven shopping experiences speeding time to value by 60%.

Collaboration gives retailers fresher visibility, increased discoverability, and new influence across AI-powered shopping channels SAN FRANCISCO--( BUSINESS WIRE)-- Algolia, the AI Search and Retrieval Platform, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft to provide retailers and brands with greater influence, accuracy, and visibility in AI-driven shopping experiences. The collaboration integrates Algolia’s real-time enriched product attributes (product data, inventory availability, and product pricing) into Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Bing Shopping, and Microsoft Edge, helping retailers ensure their products appear correctly and competitively across emerging AI discovery surfaces.

AI Agent brings trusted, unified customer data and AI together so marketers can activate insights without relying on engineering teams SEATTLE--( BUSINESS WIRE)-- Amperity, the leading AI-powered Customer Data Cloud, today introduced its Customer Data Agent, the first enterprise AI agent that combines AI insights with actionable results. Built on unified customer data, the Customer Data Agent builds on Amperity’s proven segmentation and journey capabilities by making insights even more accessible.

Industry-specific cloud platforms bring proactive, orchestrated agentic AI to every commerce moment PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Talkdesk®, Inc. today introduced Customer Experience Automation (CXA) -powered Commerce Orchestration and announced a new Talkdesk Consumer Goods Experience Cloud™. Commerce Orchestration will be showcased at NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, where Talkdesk will demonstrate how agentic AI is reimagining conversational commerce across the end-to-end consumer journey.

New Sugar for Syspro solution connects the knowledge of the back office to empower the front office with newfound sales intelligence TUSTIN, Calif. & SAN FRANCISCO--( BUSINESS WIRE)-- Syspro, provider of the purpose-built ERP for manufacturing and distribution, and SugarCRM, provider of the award-winning intelligence-driven sales automation platform, today announced a new go-to-market partnership giving manufacturers and distributors precision selling capabilities. The combination of ERP and CRM provides a powerful way to help businesses navigate sales environments characterized by complex product catalogs and distribution channels, long buying cycles and deep customer relationships.

Acquisition accelerates shift from enterprise messaging to orchestrated, omnichannel customer experiences SINGAPORE–( BUSINESS WIRE)– 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT), a leading global business communications platform provider, has acquired Maven Lab, a Singapore-based leader in mobile marketing and enterprise messaging, accelerating the company’s strategy to deliver end-to-end customer engagement across the Asia-Pacific region. The acquisition expands 8×8’s APAC-native messaging, automation, and customer engagement capabilities, strengthening support for enterprise and public-sector organizations across Asia-Pacific that require secure, high-volume communications with local relevance and regional scale. “Maven Lab brings deep experience delivering packaged, outcome-oriented messaging solutions that customers can deploy quickly,” said Sylvain Chaperon, General Manager, CPaaS at 8×8, Inc. “Together, we will expand our ability to help APAC organizations run secure, high-volume customer communications across more channels, with expanded regional coverage and support.” Strategic Expansion in CPaaS The integration of Moobidesk – Maven Lab’s cloud-based customer engagement and messaging platform – alongside the company’s wider communication and automation capabilities into the 8×8 Platform for CX will deliver a more scalable, unified, and comprehensive platform for the region.