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The focus at this year’s Verint Engage conference in Orlando was clear: driving customer business outcomes through Verint AI and CX automation. While last year’s theme—AI Business Outcomes, Now—carried over, this year put the spotlight on customers telling their stories and proving business value. As Jasen Williams, Sr. VP of Corporate Marketing, reminded the audience, Verint introduced its bots (including the “bot factory” and “bot gym”) two years ago, alongside the concept of CX Automation. At last year’s Engage, customers were just getting started with Verint bots. This year, the bots were out in full force, with numerous customers sharing their successes and demonstrating the tangible business value achieved. Stronger, Faster, Measurable Outcomes Engage 2025 centered on “Stronger, faster, measurable outcomes,” with customers highlighting how they’ve boosted agent and manager capacity, improved CX, and increased revenue. Dan Bodner, CEO and Chairman, emphasized Verint’s unique approach: “Many vendors are trying to automate CX workflows, but Verint stands out with our differentiated approach delivering stronger, faster, measurable AI outcomes.” He reinforced Verint’s commitment to category leadership through its open CX Automation platform, built on data and AI. As he explained, the difference between weak and strong AI outcomes can be tens of millions of dollars—where strong outcomes elevate customer experience, increase revenue, and reduce costs. According to Chief Product Officer Jaime Meritt most AI initiatives fail because they lack measurable business impact. “They’re doing cool stuff in the lab, but not delivering the underlying value that’s important to the business. Verint delivers stronger, faster, measurable outcomes through our unique approach to CX automation.” Meritt described Verint’s platform strategy: each bot automates a part of the workflow, is continuously trained in the “bot gym,” and integrates seamlessly with existing customer processes—making adoption straightforward. Verint’s differentiated bot strategy encourages customers to start small, deploying one or two bots in targeted workflows, proving value within 30–60 days, and then scaling gradually. Instead of the “move fast and break things” mantra, Verint’s approach is “start small, prove value, and scale.” Many customers begin with quick wins, such as the summarization or wrap-up bot, which deliver immediate value. To reinforce measurable outcomes, Verint built value dashboards directly into its platform. These track metrics like workforce capacity, revenue per agent, and customer satisfaction. Verint also offers a 90-day risk-free program, allowing customers to trial a workflow in production. If value isn’t realized, customers can opt out or switch workflows. To date, every customer has achieved results—none have opted out. Another differentiator is Verint’s open, hybrid approach. Its cloud-based AI can overlay both on-premises and cloud environments, eliminating the need for costly rip-and-replace deployments. In this interview, Jasen Williams discusses how customers are achieving measurable business outcomes now, the value measurement dashboards, Verint’s risk-free program, and more. Innovations and New Bots As expected, Verint unveiled several new bots and innovations: Exact Forecasting Bot – Generates accurate forecasts with adjustments for weekends, holidays, campaigns, weather, and more. Intraday Spike Bot – Detects spikes, identifies root causes, and suggests remedies. Exact Transcription Bot – Improves accuracy of transcriptions. Verint IVA – Leverages agentic AI to automate key agent tasks and handle complex questions. The Verint IVA announcement created the most excitement. Using IVA Studio, a no-code interface, customers can easily design, test, update, and deploy AI agents. Steps include: Choose a channel Select the IVA personality Pick from a library of AI agents Connect to knowledge bases Add integrations (CRM, billing, Verint Data Hub, etc.) Review and edit the flow Test and deploy IVA Studio also includes pre-built collections for vertical applications (insurance, travel, healthcare, retail), making it easy to set up quickly.   In this video, Jaime Meritt describes Verint’s new offerings, as well as Verint IVA Studio. He also discusses how Verint views agentic AI, which gives autonomy to AI agents that let them understand the customer’s problem and the best path to solve the customer problem.       In this video, Dave Singer, Global VP, Go to Market Strategy, drills down into the Exact Forecasting Bot, as well as how Verint da Vinci infuses AI into performance management, including the Verint Data Insights bot and Agent Coaching bot to provide a holistic picture of agent performance with AI explainability.     Even with the best forecasting, contact centers may be hit by unexpected spikes. In this video, Daniel Ziv, Global VP, Go to Market Strategy, discusses the new Intraday Spike Bot, which identifies the spike automatically, the root cause driving a specific spike, and suggests remedies and ways to fix the problem. Ziv also talks about Genie Bot, as well as his perspective on agentic AI.   https://video.verint.com/watch/jcDvsRNT6t4BbBn4emx8sj   A Few Takeaways Verint has hit its stride. Two years ago, the bot story was intriguing but immature. Last year, the focus on outcomes strengthened the message. This year, customer proof points validated the business value. The “start small and scale” strategy works. Initially, it seemed counterintuitive not to package multiple bots together. But customers confirmed that starting with one bot builds confidence, reduces risk, and encourages expansion. The majority of customers I spoke with at the event are using the Interaction Wrap Up bot, as well as the Quality Bot for Automated Quality Assurance. Private equity acquisition adds uncertainty. With Thoma Bravo acquiring Verint, additional capital will fuel innovation, but integration with Calabrio remains unclear. The deal hasn’t closed so Verint wasn’t able to discuss the acquisition or Calabrio, but we can assume that, like any merger, there will be integration challenges. Customers will have to be patient and wait and see what changes will be in store. Redefining the brand. As more and more CCaaS vendors develop (or acquire) their own WEM capabilities, Verint needed to redefine itself. The company is evolving beyond WEM by focusing on CX Automation and expanding into areas like IVA. Traditional products remain core. Even though there was very little discussion about WEM/WFM/WFO and Verint’s traditional product offerings, these products are still core to most Verint customers. Every customer I spoke to during the event was using Verint’s Quality Assurance and/or Forecasting/Scheduling tools. IVA stole the show. The announcement that got the most excitement from the audience and customers I spoke with was Verint IVA. While the demo was impressive (as most demos are), and it seems pretty easy to get started for specific workflows, real-world results remain to be seen. Final Thoughts Verint is taking a pragmatic, systematic approach to AI—a rarity in today’s hype-driven market. By focusing on measurable business outcomes, Verint avoids chasing “firsts” and “bests.” Instead, it leverages years of expertise, makes AI adoption easy, and supports diverse customer ecosystems. With its open platform, “bring your own model” flexibility, and emphasis on quick wins, Verint is enabling customers to deploy AI where and how it makes sense for their specific needs, while ensuring quick wins and low risk – and of course, measurable business outcomes.

According to several estimates, direct enterprise spending on knowledge worker AI software and platforms reached approximately   $18 billion to $22 billion   in 2024. This spending is on a trajectory to exceed   $45 billion   in 2025. And yet, especially for knowledge workers, many of the capabilities of these AI tools go unused.   Enter   The AI Chefs, providing AI tips for business , what we call "recipes".   David Maldow   and I put on our digital chef's hats to deliver tasty (fun and informative) tips to help you, as a knowledge worker or individual, get the most from the free and paid AI tools you are using on a weekly (or daily) basis. Whether you use   Microsoft Copilot ,   Zoom   AI Companion,   Webex   AI Assistant,   Google   Gemini,   OpenAI   ChatGPT   ,   Claude   from   Anthropic   , or another #AI tool, we serve up dishes that will help you be more effective. Recent Favorite Recipes Here are a few of my recent favorite tips and tricks for the AI kitchen. Bangers and mash is a traditional British dish that consists of sausages ("bangers") served with mashed potatoes ("mash") and onion gravy. It's a menu staple in pubs in the United Kingdom and Ireland.   Bangers and dopplegangers   is all about how to use the Zoom AI Companion add-on to create your own video avatar.   And here is an example of my avatar posting to LinkedIn in anticipation of the recent #ZoomPerspectives2025 analyst conference.   Next, I fire up Microsoft Copilot in Excel to create some   Lookup Lasagna , showing you how AI can help simplify creating complex XLookup functions. Chef David shares his   Roadmap Ravoli   recipe, demonstrating how you can use Zoom Docs and Zoom AI Companion to jump-start a detailed project plan. He also makes us both start craving some good Italian food! I'm back in the AI kitchen, powering up the Copilot Cooktop to share a recipe for   PowerPoint Punch  with Chef David. This tip is all about enhancing your PowerPoint presentations to make them more persuasive and engaging using Copilot. Lots more recipes to savor Our complete catalog of recipes (tips and tricks) can be found here   https://aichefsshow.com/ , and most Tuesdays at noon Eastern, we are LIVE discussing important AI news from the past week and answering any questions from the audience. The AI Chefs in Person For the first time, The AI Chefs will be serving up their saucy and mentally nourishing recipes in-person during the   CEDIA / Commercial Integrator Expo,   September 3 - 6, 2025, in Denver, Colorado. We will be easy to spot as Chef David and I will be wearing our AI Chef custom aprons and hats. Look for two goofy guys and come by to say hi.   We will be delivering 8 "cooking" sessions where we share AI tips and tricks focused on different topics. Think of it as learning from 8 different styles of "cookbooks". Have An AI Recipe You Want to Share? The AI Chefs are always looking for new tips and tricks to share. Have you done something super cool with AI? If so, please DM either me or Chef   David Maldow   to share. Alternatively, share your insights as a comment to this article. And if you love to "cook" up great business results with AI, we are looking for some guest chefs to invite to the AI kitchen, where they can share their recipes for enhanced productivity with AI.

Blair Pleasant and Jon Arnold discuss NiCE's $955M acquisition of conversational AI company Cognigy. Kevin Kieller moderates the discussion.

B usiness C ommunications S trategies Expert analysis, insights, and opinions Search BC Strategies Welcome to Business Communications Strategies (BCS), your go-to source for expert insights and guidance for enterprise success in Communications and Collaboration. Popular Tags Artificial Intelligence (14) 14 posts CCaaS (4) 4 posts Future of Work (2) 2 posts UCaaS (2) 2 posts Generative AI (2) 2 posts 8x8 (2) 2 posts Follow Us Featured Article Enterprise Connect 2025 – A Farewell to the Gaylord Palms Blair Pleasant 6 days ago 13 min read Quick Picks Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Podcasts Key takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2025 - Part 2 Mar 28 Takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2025 (part 1) Mar 27 Latest Posts 8x8 Analyst Summit Takeaways – Track Some Mud on the Carpet My favorite line from A Complete Unknown – “ Don’t be afraid to track some mud on the carpet ”. My favorite line – and pretty much... Jon Arnold 30 minutes ago Q&A with Pete Lavache, Avaya CMO and Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion president and principal analyst Expert Blair Pleasant asks questions of Avaya's CMO Pete Lavache Blair Pleasant 4 hours ago Chalice AI: The DeepSeek of Ad Tech In this exclusive interview, Adam Heimlich, Founder and CEO of Chalice AI, breaks down how his company is disrupting the ad tech space by... David Maldow 23 hours ago Unified Communications & Collaboration The Future of Eye Contact in Video Calls: Which of These 3 Methods Works Best? David Maldow 23 hours ago 1 min read Vedubox: The All-in-One LMS with Zoom-Powered Live Classes David Maldow 23 hours ago 1 min read Customer Experience 8x8 Analyst Summit Takeaways – Track Some Mud on the Carpet Jon Arnold 30 minutes ago 8 min read Q&A with Pete Lavache, Avaya CMO and Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion president and principal analyst Blair Pleasant 4 hours ago 6 min read Artificial Intelligence Chalice AI: The DeepSeek of Ad Tech David Maldow 23 hours ago 1 min read RingCentral Analyst Summit 2025 Blair Pleasant Mar 11 4 min read Infrastructure Das AI: The Good, Bad, and Weird from My Week in Berlin Tom Brannen Sep 12, 2024 4 min read The AI Chefs With Kevin Kieller and David Maldow The AI Chefs: AI Kitchen Tools and Inspiration Rodizio Feb 17 The AI Chefs: A Deep Dive into DeepSeek Jan 30 AI Show With Rob Scott and Kevin Kieller AI Show - The Fifth Industrial Revolution and Why AI is Reshaping Everything Nov 27, 2024 AI Show - Is Ambient AI Watching You? The Rise of 'Always-on' Technology Nov 15, 2024

Experts BC Strategies Expert analysis, insights, and opinions We are a collection of experienced, independent analysts, consultants, and thought leaders focused on unified communications, customer experience, artificial intelligence and other technologies associated with effective business communications and collaboration. Together we participate as presenters and panelists in major communication and collaboration industry events, create hundred of articles, blog posts, and videos every year, have deep industry relationships with every significant vendor, have a combined social media reach of 250,000+ LinkedIn followers and 400,000+ X (Twitter) followers. Jim Burton Dave Michels Blair Pleasant Jon Arnold Stephen Leaden Kevin Kieller Joseph Williams David Danto Melissa Swartz Evan Kirstel David Smith Nicolas de Kouchkovsky Chuck Lear Robert Harris Elizabeth English Tom Brannen Chuck Vondra Ted Colton Martha Buyer David Maldow Our Experts

Latest Events BC Strategies Expert analysis, insights, and opinions Recent Events Inside Enterprise Connect 2025: Conversations, Insights, and Industry Trends A Farewell to the Gaylord Palms In this article, BCStrategy Expert Blair Pleasant covers key announcements and news, and offering valuable insights through informative vendor interviews she conducted at Enterprise Connect 2025. Read More A Congregation of Thoughts Read BCStrategy Expert Kevin Kieller's high-level impressions and takeways from Enterprise Connect 2025. Read More Key Takeaways - Part 1 Join BCStrategies Experts Kevin Kieller, David Danto, Thomas Brannen, Jon Arnold, Melissa Swartz, Robert Harris, and Steve Leaden as they share their key takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2025, highlighting the most surprising revelations, compelling insights, and overarching themes shaping the event. View Here Key Takeaways - Part 2 In this podcast, BCStrategies Experts Blair Pleasant , David Maldow , and Martha Buyer discuss their key takeaways and insights from Enterprise Connect 2025, offering thoughtful observations on the event's most impactful moments. View Here