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As the Middle East and Central Asia accelerate their digital transformation journeys, connectivity remains a foundational element. Alex Xu, President of Huawei’s Carrier Business for the Middle East and Central Asia, shares insights on how these technologies will reshape last-mile connectivity, bridge the digital divide, and contribute to the region’s digital economy. While FWA has existed since the 4G era, its true potential has emerged with 5G. As Alex Xu highlights, the 5G-A and AI era is exciting for FWA. “FWA in the 5G era offers a compelling alternative to traditional fixed-line connections,” Xu explains. “With enhanced capacity, AI capabilities, and network flexibility, FWA is well-positioned to address last-mile connectivity challenges and connect the unconnected.” Increased capacity in 5G-A delivers high speeds and low latency, making FWA a more viable competitor to fixed-line options. AI-driven optimization further supports FWA’s appeal, ensuring dynamic network adjustments to meet changing user demands. “Cost-effective and more capable, 5G-A FWA can also seamlessly integrate with mobile services and, in the future, evolve into a smart home hub,” says Xu. source

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About one in every 10 European startups that have raised VC investment are also backed by an EU grant of equity financing, according to a research project conducted by Dealroom and Dealflow.eu. While the full report is expected to be published later this year, the authors presented a few preliminary numbers in Warsaw last week. In financial terms, the 10% share translates into EU-backed startups having raised €70bn in VC funding since 2010, or some 11% of total funding in Europe (which in this case includes the EU, Switzerland, Norway, UK, and Israel). With some €400bn in total enterprise value (that’s not including Arm), they now account for 13% of enterprise value for the entire continent. Predictably, most EU-backed startups work in what the report calls physical tech, i.e. producing tangible goods in the verticals such as spacetech, semiconductors, biotech, etc. In these industries, the share of EU-backed startups ranges from 24% to 28%. It also appears from the report’s preliminary findings that EU backing improves the probability of success in further funding rounds. From Series A to Series D, EU-funded physical tech startups show a ‘graduation rate’ that’s 1-3 pp. higher than for the rest of the industry. Credit: Dealroom Calling all Scaleup founders! Join the Soonicorn Summit on November 28 in Amsterdam. Meet with the leaders of Picnic, Miro, Carbon Equity and more during this exclusive event dedicated to Scaleup Founders! Speaking on the topic of fragmentation of the European tech ecosystem at the presentation event, Marcin Hejka, co-founder and general partner at OTB Ventures, noted that the issue is not necessarily about regulation or the internal market size. “The problem is on the technology consumption level,” he said. “Europe as a continent is a late adopter, especially on the enterprise side. […] But when there is willingness [at a corporate] to buy from a startup, they’re looking for startups from their own countries — and that’s a problem. “If you’re a German startup, you’re pretty okay selling to German enterprises. But if you’re a startup from Romania or from Slovakia, or any other [smaller] country, it’s going to be an uphill effort.” Theoretically, EU funding mechanisms should be solving this issue among others, however, most EU-backed startups are still based in Western Europe, with France, Germany, and the UK topping the rankings. The full report will be available in December — you can pre-download it now. source

By Al Barbarino ( November 5, 2024, 4:27 PM GMT) — French information technology company Atos said Tuesday it has agreed to sell its Worldgrid business at an enterprise value of €270 million ($294 million) to Alten, an engineering and technology consulting firm also based in France, nearly five months after disclosing that the deal was in the works…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Many call center software features have no major impact on performance. Only a select few capabilities separate top vendors from the rest, and those are the ones to focus on. In this guide, we’ll break down the five essential features that define effective call center software — covering everything from must-have communication tools to analytics that drive real insights. We’ll also give you a clear framework to evaluate each feature, helping you cut through the hype and find the capabilities that will elevate your customer service. Whether you’re upgrading or starting fresh, understanding these features will help you make the right choice. 1 RingCentral Office Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees) Medium, Enterprise, Large Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 1. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) A basic IVR is essentially a phone tree that provides customers with an automated menu of options. Call center IVRs tend to be a little more advanced in their capabilities, and are typically connected to a database and allow customers to complete a range of tasks on their own. At the very least, an IVR is responsible for intaking calls and routing them to the appropriate agent. On the more advanced end, IVR systems allow customers to make payments, change their address, or transfer them seamlessly to another channel. How does a call center IVR work? Basic IVRs rely on DTMF tones (touch-tone inputs), while more advanced systems incorporate Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) to process spoken responses. Some also use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand intent. Text-to-speech (TTS) technology is used to generate spoken responses for dynamic content, like account balances or payment confirmations. SEE: Discover seven surprising use cases for call center ASR.  When choosing a system, businesses must decide between on-premise and cloud IVR solutions. On-premise IVRs run on internal servers, giving companies greater control over customization and data security. On-premises IVR systems cost a lot more upfront than cloud IVR, and come with significant ongoing maintenance and testing expenditures. Hosted IVRs are managed by the vendor and offer flexibility to scale as call volumes fluctuate. Updates and maintenance are baked into the cost of the subscription service. Cloud solutions also tend to be more budget-friendly and are popular with companies that want a reliable system without the demands of infrastructure management. SEE: Nine reasons to use a hosted IVR vs hosting your own.  What are the expectations for call center IVR? At a minimum, an IVR should reduce the friction of interacting with your customer support and reduce unnecessary wait times that result from live agents answering customer inquiries. Its implementation should also boost call management and associated call center metrics, such as call abandonment rates, first contact resolution, and first response times. Additional features that typically accompany a self-service IVR are omnichannel capabilities so customers can conveniently reach your call center through various means and on different platforms. An IVR self-service system improves customer experience and agent productivity while reducing costs. On the premium end, conversational IVR can interpret and respond to unique customer inquiries rather than reiterate recorded messages. See: Discover real-world benefits of using conversational IVR.  2. CRM integration Customer Relationship Management software has to integrate with your call center software. Maybe you are using a sales engagement platform or something other than a CRM — fine — whatever you use to keep track of customers needs to be connected to the phones. Don’t have a CRM? See how to pick the best CRM for your call center.  How does a CRM integration work for call centers? For the most part, call center software will advertise pre-built integrations, SDKs, and APIs that allow companies to integrate their CRM software with the phone system. How well do these CRM integrations work? It depends on a ton of factors. The more you have customized your own system, the less plug-and-play the integration is going to be. Integrating your call center and CRM is going to take some time, regardless of how well any pre-built integration has been designed. More than any other call center feature, this is the one you should spend the time to do the live demo and get recommendations from peers in your industry. What are the expectations for call center CRM integration? Integrating CRM functionality with your call center software enables you to build strong customer bonds and relationships. When your agents receive a customer’s call, CRMs provide them with detailed background information related to them so they can provide personalized support. For high-volume call centers, the expectation is that CRMs will do more than just display customer information to agents. Companies want to see the IVR be able to prioritize calls from VIPs, distribute calls efficiently based on agent skills and customer needs, and set up call queues for outbound IVR based on customer data. Premium CRM software may include marketing automation, workflow automation, predictive analysis, and machine learning capabilities. For contact centers, multi-channel integration ensures you can provide customers with a consistent, quality support experience regardless of the avenue or channel they choose to reach you. 3. Call center analytics Call center analytics empowers you to improve your call center’s operational efficiency. It allows you to collect relevant call center data, measure it, and analyze it, thereby gaining valuable insights to improve the performance of critical areas. Call center analytics ensures you aren’t flying blind regarding your agents’ performance, the quality of their customer interactions, and their overall output. How does call center analytics work? Call center analytics work effectively by measuring established metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Some of these include Average Handle Time (AHT), abandonment rate, and First Contact Resolution (FCR). These metrics provide vital information to managers, helping them offer high-quality customer service, improve team performance, and streamline call flows. What are the expectations for call center analytics? Managers expect analytics to enable data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement

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Every convenience you offer your customers creates a potential vulnerability that a hacker could exploit. That’s just the truth, sorry. IVR authentication is an important layer of security for the self-service options that you offer to callers with an IVR system. Without it, an attacker could easily pose as a victim, call into your IVR, access account information, move money, or update address information. In other words, weak IVR authentication enables identity theft, to say nothing of the risks it poses to sensitive business data. On some level, most consumers understand why a strong authentication process is required — but they don’t have unlimited patience. There are only so many hoops they’re willing to jump through before the process starts to grate on them. In this post, I’ll show you a few strategies to square the circle and provide rock solid IVR authentication without disrupting the customer experience. 1 RingCentral Office Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees) Medium, Enterprise, Large Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more The challenges with making IVR authentication user-friendly The essential problem is balancing high security with smooth user interaction. If an IVR cannot validate a caller quickly, they lose patience and hang up. This is particularly concerning in call centers where call abandonment heralds a decrease in customer satisfaction. SEE: Learn how to calculate call abandonment rate.  Callers do not want to punch in long strings of numbers, navigate through complex menus, or provide sensitive information audibly. This is awkward, cumbersome, and many callers find it intrusive. Every extra step you add to the authentication process makes it stronger, but it also increases the chances of a user or system error. Automated voice recognition is powerful, but it can misinterpret accents, regional dialects, or background noise. When users must speak key information like account numbers, there’s room for misunderstanding. Needing to repeat authentication attempts frustrates callers. Advances in natural language processing have improved IVR capabilities, but even the most advanced conversational IVR can misinterpret voice commands. SEE: Learn about the real-world benefits of conversational IVR.  For contact centers where the IVR is integrated with other channels, there’s more that can go wrong for users, and more potential security vulnerabilities. Seamless channel integration is an aspiration rather than a reality for many contact centers. You’ll have to ensure that customers aren’t forced to re-authenticate after being transferred from the IVR to another channel. Strategies for non-intrusive IVR authentication So, how do businesses walk the line between security and user-friendliness in their contact center? It comes down to designing an IVR authentication system that’s intuitive and intelligent, with simple prompts and clear instructions that leave no room for error or confusion. You may already be familiar with some basic authentication methods like 2FA and MFA, two-factor authentication and multi-factor authentication, respectively. These tools use quick security checks that don’t overburden the user. But there are also more advanced technologies out there. Here are some of the strategies and authentication options that can help authenticate users in a way that’s quick, intuitive, and secure. Biometric authentication In an IVR system, biometric authentication utilizes unique physical characteristics, like voice prints, to verify a caller’s identity. Done right, the advantage of this method is its speed. Biometric authentication eliminates the need for remembering passwords or PINs. To make it as non-intrusive as possible, businesses can use voice biometrics that seamlessly analyze the caller’s voice during conversation, thereby authenticating the user without interrupting the flow of interaction. Keypad entry A traditional method, this strategy can be innovated by adding smart pauses, where the system waits for a natural break in the conversation before prompting for a PIN or password. Businesses can also allow callers to use a smartphone app or website to authenticate themselves, bypassing the keypad entry altogether. This approach caters to users uncomfortable with speaking passwords aloud or those in noisy environments. Two-factor authentication (2FA) IVR systems can send a one-time passcode (OTP) to the caller’s phone or email, which they then enter into the IVR system to gain access. While two-factor authentication adds an extra step, it significantly boosts security and can be streamlined by ensuring the code is short and the system prompts are clear. Multi factor authentication (MFA) Multi-factor authentication is the same idea as 2FA, but MFA will use at least two factors to validate a user and often more. MFA typically uses OTPs that can be sent to multiple devices or online accounts, and may also use PINs or biometrics. OTPs should have a reasonable expiration time. Incorporating a feedback loop where callers can request more time or a new code if needed can greatly enhance the user experience. Behavioral analysis This isn’t so much a verification method, but a security protocol that runs in the background. It’s an advanced strategy that involves analyzing the caller’s behavior patterns, such as typical call times or common transaction types, to flag any unusual activity. Preventing fraud and hardening security are just one of the reasons that a good call center IVR system comes with analysis tools. You can learn a lot about customer sentiment, buying patterns, and new pain points. SEE: Discover the newest improvements with call center IVRs.  The best aspect of this extra layer of security is that there’s no action required from the caller. You can keep them and their data safer without making them jump through another hoop. Keeping an eye on IVR authentication Maintaining an IVR authentication system means keeping an eye on security, ease of use, and overall performance. Regular monitoring and updates are essential to make sure the system runs smoothly and remains user-friendly. Here are some simple ways to stay on top of IVR authentication maintenance: Regular testing and security audits: Routine automated IVR testing is a must for all systems. Either you or a third-party should be managing this. Additionally, conduct periodic security audits on