Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are like digital receptionists—they help customers and agents alike by automating phone system tasks and providing useful information to callers. When it comes to IVR, there’s a lot of info out there about strategies, tips, and best practices. But there are only seven IVR best practices that truly matter when it comes to improving your system and optimizing each caller’s experience. Implementing advanced IVR strategies won’t only streamline your call center operations, but it will also show your customers that you prioritize the quality of their experience. In turn, you can improve key call center metrics and ultimately, your bottom line. 1 RingCentral RingEx 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), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more 1. Offer personalized greetings Nobody likes to call a company and get a robotic, impersonal greeting. So if you’ve been using a generic voice for your IVR system, it may be time to make a change. Offering a personalized greeting will help callers feel more connected to your company and comfortable interacting with your IVR system. To create a personalized IVR experience for callers, you’ll want to make sure that the welcome message is based on caller data. For example, when a customer calls, instead of hearing a generic greeting like “Welcome to ABC Company,” the IVR system could say “Hello Rachel, welcome to ABC Company.” This small change can make a big difference in how customers perceive your company. With CRM integration, an IVR can use caller data, such as the caller’s name or phone number, to identify and greet callers by name. Personalized greetings enhance the customer experience by making interactions feel more personal and less mechanical. They can significantly improve customer satisfaction rates, one of the key call center KPIs. This strategy can make call routing more efficient, as personalized menus can be based on the customer’s history, which potentially reduces call handling time. SEE: Learn how effective (or ineffective) call routing can impact your brand.  How to implement personalized greetings To get started with adding personalized greetings in your IVR system, follow these steps: Integrate your IVR and CRM: Your IVR system should be linked with your CRM or other relevant customer databases. This allows you to retrieve real-time data about callers. Choose the best call center software: Your software should be capable of real-time data retrieval and processing. It should also allow for the seamless integration of your IVR and CRM systems. Design a personalized IVR script: Use caller data such as phone numbers, previous interactions, and customer profiles to tailor greetings to each caller. Design your IVR script to include these personalized elements. Test and tweak regularly: Once your system is set up, you’ll want to test it regularly and make necessary adjustments to ensure optimal performance. Start by thoroughly having your team test the system, and then identify any areas for improvement. If you’ve never done it before, check out this post about how to create an IVR recording. Mistakes to avoid While personalized greetings can be beneficial, there are some common mistakes that businesses make when implementing them: Using incorrect data: Make sure the data used for personalization is accurate and up-to-date. Outdated or incorrect information can make your customers feel like you don’t actually care about them. Being too casual: While personalizing your IVR system helps create a relational environment, you also want to maintain a professional tone. Avoid using slang or informal language. Not testing the system: If you don’t take the time to test IVR updates before going live, you may experience unexpected errors and inconsistencies. Remember, the goal of this strategy is to leverage customer information to provide context-specific options and greetings that make your caller feel valued and appreciated. Without reliable IVR testing and or seamless CRM integration, it will be impossible to do this well. 2. Implement smart routing features Routing is the structural foundation of your IVR system. It’s the process of connecting callers to the right agents or departments based on their needs and queries. And while you may think this is a basic feature, there are advanced IVR routing types available that will make call flows more efficient and ultimately create a better customer experience. Smart routing features in IVR systems use AI and data to direct calls to the best agent or department for your caller. IVR systems included with the best call center software can analyze caller input, previous interactions, and even sentiment or tone to decide the best routing path. Implementing or optimizing a routing system can create a huge reduction in call handling time, which is a vital KPI for any call center. It also improves the customer journey by reducing transfers and wait times, which ultimately leads to happier customers.. For agents, it also reduces the stress of handling complex queries outside their expertise. With skills-based routing, you can specifically direct calls based on the agent’s skills, availability, or area of expertise. You can also elevate and more quickly route high-value customer calls to live agents, ensuring your best customers are quickly directed to your best agents. Learn more about the forefront of smart IVR technology in my post about advances in call center AI. How to implement smart routing It’s relatively easy to set up an IVR smart routing system. But to dig into the more advanced options that allow you to fully optimize IVR call flows, follow these steps: Map out customer journeys: Get a clear picture of your customer’s journey by studying your CRM data, call logs, and conversations between agents and customers. Identify key segments: Look for common traits or markers among different types of calls. For

After surviving the pandemic with work-from-home policies, some organizations have decided that work should return to its pre-pandemic state in which most employees were expected to be in the office at least part of the week, if not the whole week.  The problem with that is two-fold: First, organizations admitted that they were pleasantly surprised by remote work productivity, but now they’re saying, “Yeah, but training is easier and water cooler conversations are golden.” While those are compelling facts, organizations are forgetting that employees may vote with their feet.  One reason is that employees discovered a new work-life balance during the pandemic that many do not want to give up. For some, that means flexible hours. For others, it’s the ability to be present at work and at home simultaneously.  “Especially the United States, [workers] have moved from big cities or simply to other areas far from their corporate offices, and their children have started attending schools near their new homes to work remotely. So, the requirement to start working in the office again means either a new move or a job change,” says Diana Soprana Blažaitienė, international HR and remote work expert for hospitality and IT sectors across Scandinavia and Germany. “Employees who are told to return to the office are also unhappy about the increased costs of work: clothing, transportation, lunches, [and commute time].”   Related:Court Pulls Plug on Biden’s Net Neutrality Revival, Limits FCC Power Return to office (RTO) is the main reason why some people are changing jobs right now, particularly Gen Z.  “Gen Z, who prioritize work-life balance, will undoubtedly choose organizations without a strict RTO policy. This means that top talent and more candidates in general will be attracted by those that offer the opportunity to work remotely at least part of the time,” says Blažaitienė. “Even some employees who come to me for selections identify the RTO policy as a deception by the employer because they were hired when they could work remotely, and now they are required to return to the office.”  The real reason RTO is happening is that some executives and managers feel more in control, or they believe remote work processes are not properly structured and managed. There’s also the real estate issue of leased and owned properties that are not being used to capacity.  Diana Soprana Blažaitienė “I think that CEOs need to understand that the factory work structure — work from 8 to 5 — is already outdated and we are inevitably entering an era of a different perception and nature of work,” says Blažaitienė.  Related:Tech Company Layoffs: The COVID Tech Bubble Bursts Dovilė Gelčinskaitė, senior talent manager at omnichannel marketing platform Omnisend, agrees.  “RTO mandates ignore the true purpose of on-site work: fostering creativity and teamwork. At Omnisend, we recognize that brainstorming, workshops and team building can’t be replicated remotely. However, we’ve also found that rigid, outdated workplace models fail to reflect how much the nature of work has changed,” says Gelčinskaitė. “Flexibility is now an expectation, especially among younger generations, so finding that balance between flexibility and in-person interactions is crucial. Companies that fail to do so will lose great talent to companies that do.”  RTO Adds to Stress and Burnout  Organizations are facing pushback on their RTO policies, but employee exoduses will send a much more powerful message.  “In general, people do not like feeling that things are happening to them, and that they have no say, or choice in the matter. So, when you suddenly pivot to an RTO mandate, employees will take it personally, as it does impact their personal lives, and they will likely feel demoralized,” says Ashley Alexander, chief people officer at observability platform Chronosphere. “In most cases, employees are professional adults, so making knee-jerk decisions is going to cause unnecessary stress or burnout.”  Related:IT’s New Frontier: Protecting the Company from Brand Bashing One reason RTO policies fail is because the employees who were forced back to the office spend their day on Zoom calls with colleagues who aren’t physically present.   “To avoid [this annoyance], there needs to be a thoughtful strategy ensuring pods or teams collaborating closely or benefiting from shared learning are in the office together,” says Alexander. “A sudden shift from remote work to RTO often highlights how dispersed teams have become. Without a clear location-based strategy tied to roles and responsibilities, the transition can feel chaotic and ineffective.”   A better way to approach it is to clearly explain how RTO benefits employees, or how the mandate positively impacts customers and the ability to get work done more efficiently. There should also be reasonable time given for employees to opt in or out of the RTO mandate, and executives should have to follow the same expectations as everyone else.   According to Rachel Marcuse, COO at organizational consulting firm  ReadySet, many employees see RTO as a regressive, antiquated move.   “Employees may be less engaged during a workday bookended by commutes and less than enthusiastic about the financial and climate costs of traveling to the office daily,” says Marcuse. “[B]usinesses could lose out on the best Gen Z talent, with recent studies showing that Gen Zers want the option to work remotely — even as they also crave some level of in-person collaboration.”  Downstream Effects  As companies enforce their RTO policies, there are downstream effects, the most obvious of which is getting employees to change their behavior, yet again.  “More rigid mandates shrink the available talent pool, especially for organizations, particularly those in smaller markets. Remote work has been a boon for these companies, granting access to talent they wouldn’t typically be able to attract,” says Darrin Murriner, CEO and co-founder at automated technology coaching platform Cloverleaf. “For candidates, rigid RTO decreases the number of available job opportunities, creating a lose-lose situation for both sides.”  For example, such mandates increase operational costs, including housing in-office employees and managing relocations. These policies can also create disruption and uncertainty, driving valuable employees to reconsider their roles within the organization.  “For employees,

旭日國際置業有限公司(旭日國際)悉心規劃，傲踞於屯門黃金地段的全新住宅項目「黃金海灣.珀岸」，坐擁得天獨厚的地理優勢，步行約兩分多鐘直達黃金泳灘，盡享醉人海景的傲人優勢，勢必為住戶打造與大自然共居的理想居 停。「黃金海灣.珀岸」位於山海交融之地，背靠巍峨的山脈，2 期項目近 9 成單位飽覽青山灣海景，彷彿置身於環海別墅，全然沉浸於度假氛圍中，享受悠閒愉悅的生活。 項目設計獨具匠心，概念源自於地點的獨特環境。背山面海的景觀帶來青山和綠色元素，搭 配大地色系的材料及弧形家具，營造出和諧而寧靜的氛圍，使住戶的生活能夠融入海洋 與自然的元素之中。發展商於今天安排傳媒率先參觀「黃金海灣」第 2 期「珀岸」全新示範單位，第 1 座(1A)18 樓 G 單位之無改動示範單位，體驗項目打造的尊貴生活品味。 由國際設計團隊打造 「黃金海灣」作為極致築構和品味的象徵，由內而外臻至匠石運金之藝作。住宅單位涵蓋星級開放式至 3 房單位，並設有多個特色單位，貼心滿足不同家庭需求。單位由享譽國 際的建築事務所 P&T Group 及設計事務所 Hirsch Bedner Associates(HBA)精心主理，設計團隊匠心獨運，每一處細節處理都力臻完美，以獨特的色調和材料展現出卓越的設計，打造舒適新穎的生活體驗。 會所 「Club Reserve」擁水上遊樂設施 第二期會所「Club Reserve」6 配合項目面迎青山灣畔海景的傲人優勢所打造，並以其優勢融入設計，以「LAKESIDE UTOPIA 湖畔烏托邦」為主題，意指會所坐擁迷人景致能 讓住戶忘記所有煩惱，淨化身心靈。「Club Reserve」以泳池及玩樂空間為主軸，當中包 括約 25 米長的「The Aqua 藍天泳池」及「The Infin 無邊際延伸泳池 」，「The Aqua 藍天泳 池」更設星空泳池，在池底亮起點點星光，與天上的星空連成一線，住戶更可在一起在星 空下暢游，非常夢幻。池畔更特設「Poolside Walk 池畔步道」及「The Aqua Lounge 池畔雅座」，為住戶提供舒適寫意的休閒區，盡情享受日光浴。住戶可於運動後享受「Sauna Retreat 弛雅桑拿」內的桑拿設施及精心規劃的梳洗空間，驅走疲勞且放鬆身心，滿足住 戶對奢華生活享受的追求。 「Club Reserve」特設兒童及寵物玩樂區 6，照顧不同家庭的需要。兒童玩樂專區包括泳池 旁特設小朋友專屬的「Kids Party 童心遊悅」及「Kids Wonder 兒童水上樂園」，設有不同 的水上玩樂設施，打造兒童專屬的繽紛水上世界。戶外遊樂場「The Sunshine 日光童樂」 及「The Joy 悅滿水世界」 設有大型攀爬塔，以海洋及森林為主題，讓兒童可以盡情玩 樂;室內亦有一系列兒童娛樂設施，包括「Playtopia 童遊堡壘」 及「Imagination STEAM 潛能空間」。「Playtopia 童遊堡壘」以潛水艇為主題，提供可高低內外探索的遊樂設施， 襯以立體樹木造型及海洋生物背景圖案，適合不同年齡的兒童遊玩，讓孩子們可以充分 享受湖邊森林的幻想探索。 LinkedIn Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp The post 旭日國際精心打造青山灣畔臨海鉅獻「黃金海灣.珀岸」 及會所「ClubReserve」 appeared first on VeriMedia. source

Inserting a table in Microsoft Word is simple, but the default won’t always work exactly how you want it to. For instance, the default alignment is offset from the left margin. What if you want the table centered or flush to the right margin? The good news is realigning a table is easy. SEE: There are multiple ways to create an em dash in Microsoft Word.  The default table aligns left When you insert a table or convert text into a table, Word positions it between the left and right margins. You can easily change this. There are several ways to align a table across the horizontal plane between the left and right margins. The default table stretches across the page. The first thing you might want to change is the width. There’s not enough text to fill the cells and it may look odd. In addition, the readability is low. Your eyes try to take in the entire table at once instead of reading the content. Fortunately, changing the width is easy. Click the table to select it. Doing so will display two handles: one in the top-left corner and one in the bottom-right corner. Hover the mouse over the handle at the bottom-right corner and your mouse will turn into a double-arrow. Simply drag up and to the left to reduce the width of the table and the width of each cell. Selecting the table will bring up two handles. The resized table is a better fit, and you could easily stop here if you don’t want it aligned differently. The resized table is more readable. SEE: Learn how to create tables using HTML. (TechRepublic) How to align table margins in Word When you have a table that doesn’t spread from the left to the right margin, you might want to align it. You can apply specific alignments or indent the table. You have three alignments: left, center, and right. The default table is aligned to the left margin. You can easily check by selecting the entire table (not a cell) and viewing the alignment options in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. The image above shows the Align Left option selected. To align the table, select the table and click one of the other options: Center or Left Align. Using these three options you can quickly and easily align your table to the left, center, or right. You can also use the Table Properties option to align a table. To access these options, right-click anywhere in the table and choose Table Properties from the resulting submenu. In the Table tab, choose an option from the Alignment section, and click OK. There are many property options, but we’re concerned with only those in the Alignment section. You might want to return later and review all the other options. The alignment options are displayed together. The final alignment option is Indent From Left. This allows you to easily indent the table from the left margin. Indent From Left is the option to use if you need to be precise. You can do the same thing by dragging the table and using the ruler to snap the table into position. Or use the Increase Indent option in the Paragraph group to move the table a half-inch at a time. Align the table using the ruler. Aligning the content within each cell is just as easy using the Table Properties. On the Table tab, click the Options button to open the Table Options. Use these options to change cell margins. The Default Cell Margins section lets you change the size of all four margins. By default, the Automatically Resize To Fit Contents option is selected. To center or right-align content in the cell, use the alignment options in the Paragraph group. However, you must select the text rather than the entire table; otherwise, clicking an option will align the table, not the content within the cells. Use the alignment options to align content within the cell. SEE: Windows 10: Lists of vocal commands for speech recognition and dictation (free PDF) (TechRepublic) How to align tables in Word Online Aligning is a bit different in Word Online, but is still simple. With the table selected, right-click the table and choose Paragraph Options. Use the Alignment dropdown in the General section. Using the Align options on the menu will align the text within the cells rather than the table. So far, everything we’ve done has been clear-cut, but you might have noticed the text is positioned as a paragraph. The text doesn’t flow around the table. Best business software How to wrap text around tables If you want text to wrap around the table, you must change another default option. Go back to the Table Properties dialog. Below the alignment options, you’ll see the text wrapping options. The default is no wrapping. Simply click the Around option and click OK. This option pulls up the text below and wraps it around the table. I clicked Backspace twice to pull the text up to align it with the top of the table. Pulling the text up this way may cause the paragraph to adopt some of the table’s properties. Simply click Normal to fix it. Wrap text around a table using the Around setting. Aligning Word tables as a whole is a simple task, and there are several ways to get the alignment you want. Megan Crouse updated this article. source

While rigorous antitrust enforcement is unlikely to slow down at the Federal Trade Commission, the focus will undoubtedly change, including when it comes to Big Tech, as Andrew Ferguson prepares to take the reins from Chair Lina Khan, say attorneys at Proskauer. source

“At Infosys, I said we will go to the best and compare ourselves with the best global companies. Once we compare ourselves with the best global companies, I can tell you we Indians have a lot to do. We have to set our aspirations high because 800 million Indians get free ration. That means 800 million Indians are in poverty,” he said in speaking to Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of Indian multinational conglomerate RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group. “If we are not in a position to work hard, then who will work hard?” Murthy’s proposal has previously been criticized for posing serious health risks and a lack of work-life balance. At the same time, studies have shown that more working hours do not necessarily lead to better productivity but to worse productivity. Murthy did not provide comment on whether Infosys compensates its workers for overtime pay, nor did he discuss how billable hours are reported to or remunerated by clients of the company’s consulting and outsourcing services. source

Sweep accounts are designed to optimize your business funds by transferring excess money from one account to another. At the end of the day or on a specific schedule, any surplus funds are moved into a higher-yield investment or savings product. Originally, sweep accounts were created to navigate regulations prohibiting banks from offering interest-earning checking accounts. Mercury Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust ®️; Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.  is an outstanding choice if you’re looking for a financial provider that offers sweep accounts. This financial technology (fintech) company extends FDIC insurance Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Deposits in checking and savings accounts are held by our banking services partners, Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust ®; Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through insurance to apply. coverage up to $5 million through its sweep account services. Additionally, Mercury’s Treasury Mercury Treasury, by Mercury Advisory, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. SEC registration does not mean the SEC has approved of the services of the investment adviser. product offers higher yields on balances over $500,000. For more information, visit Mercury’s website. What is a sweep account? Sweep accounts facilitate the transfer of funds between business accounts when the balance exceeds a certain limit. The primary purpose is to allow excess funds to earn additional interest in another account, typically a money market account. Another benefit of using sweep accounts is extending Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) coverage beyond the standard limit of $250,000. How do sweep accounts work? Sweep accounts are designed to manage funds in a checking account efficiently. This is how it generally works. The customer maintains a main checking account where business payments are deposited and operational costs are paid. A target balance or threshold amount is set for this checking account. When the account balance exceeds this threshold, any excess funds are automatically transferred, or “swept,” into a higher interest-earning account, such as a money market account or an investment fund that offers better rates than the checking account. Conversely, if the balance in the checking account falls below the target amount, funds can be transferred back from the sweep account to restore the checking account balance. Sweep account example To understand how sweep accounts work, consider the following example: Imagine you have a checking account with a balance of $4,000. You also opened a sweep account and set a threshold of $6,000 for your checking account. In this scenario, no transfer occurs because your balance is below the $6,000 target amount. A few days later, you deposited $5,000, bringing your total balance to $9,000. Since this amount exceeds your target balance of $6,000, the excess $3,000 will be transferred to the sweep account. However, if you withdraw $4,000 from your checking account, your balance will drop to $2,000, below the established threshold. As a result, the $3,000 held in your sweep account will be transferred back into your main checking account. Sweep account interest rate Interest rates for sweep accounts can differ depending on the type of account and the provider. These rates are typically tiered based on your account balance and are subject to change at anytime. Some financial institutions may adjust their rates weekly in response to prevailing economic and market conditions. Types of sweep accounts Before deciding to open a sweep account, it’s important to understand the different types the financial institution offers, along with their terms and associated fees. Business/money market sweep account: This type allows you to transfer excess funds from your business account into a higher-interest account, typically a money market account. External sweep account: Some providers offer this option to sweep funds into partner banks. This strategy increases fund protection by expanding the FDIC coverage for business accounts beyond the standard limit The standard FDIC coverage is $250,000 per depositor, insured bank, and account ownership category. . Loan sweep account: Excess funds from your accounts can be automatically transferred to cover loan obligations, helping to pay off your business loans sooner. Zero balance account/sweep transfer account: This account automatically moves excess funds to and from a master account to manage company expenses, such as payroll and travel reimbursements. Brokerage sweep account: Your funds can be moved to a brokerage account where they may be invested. It’s advisable to consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Consider each option carefully to determine which sweep account best fits your business needs. How to open a sweep account Opening a sweep account can vary based on the provider, but the following steps outline the typical process: Before picking a business bank, check that the financial institution offers a sweep account. Choose which type of sweep account aligns with your business needs. Review the terms of the sweep account to understand important details such as the fee structure, monthly transaction limits, and other relevant information. Ensure you have a primary account where funds will be transferred into the sweep account. Set a cash limit; amounts exceeding this limit will be transferred to the sweep account. Decide where you want to allocate your excess funds. You can transfer your cash to high-yield savings products, like money market accounts, or use it to repay a business loan, credit card, or line of credit. Benefits of a sweep account Businesses can benefit from sweep accounts in several ways: they can earn interest on idle funds, protect larger reserves, and streamline cash management. Extra earnings: As an entrepreneur, growing your business funds is essential. Maximizing the earning potential of excess cash can be advantageous. Be sure to research providers that offer high-yield money market accounts before establishing a sweep account. Higher FDIC coverage: If your business maintains larger reserves, protecting those

By Hope Patti ( January 2, 2025, 7:32 PM EST) — Meta has urged a California federal court to find that its insurers cannot yet litigate to attempt to avoid covering thousands of pending lawsuits accusing the social media giant of deliberately designing its platforms to be addictive to adolescents, arguing that the coverage issues overlap with issues in the underlying cases…. 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

A Chinese-state-sponsored cyberattack compromised the U.S. Treasury, gaining access to classified documents through a vulnerability through third-party cybersecurity provider BeyondTrust. The breach, revealed on Dec. 31, underscores the growing sophistication of state-backed cyber espionage efforts. “Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “Over the last four years, Treasury has significantly bolstered its cyber defense, and we will continue to work with both private and public sector partners to protect our financial system from threat actors.” Threat actors stole a key to BeyondTrust BeyondTrust reported the breach to the Treasury Department on Dec. 8. The Treasury, in turn, reported the attack to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency and the FBI. Representatives of the Chinese government told reporters the nation was not responsible for the breach. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington told Reuters attributions of nation-state-sponsored threat actors to China were “smear attacks against China without any factual basis.” The breach occurred after “a threat actor had gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support for Treasury Departmental Offices (DO) end users,” according to a letter from treasury officials acquired by Reuters. Must-read security coverage What types of documents were exploited? According to the BBC, targeted documents included: Information about President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance. Data related to Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign. A database of phone numbers subject to law enforcement surveillance. It is unknown whether this information was specifically targeted or happened to be within the available data. Since the attack, the Treasury has worked with third-party security specialists, the intelligence community, the FBI, and CISA to investigate. The Treasury identified the cyber threat as an Advanced Persistent Threat actor, which NIST defines as a “sophisticated” adversary using multiple tactics to gain continuous access to its target. According to the letter from the Treasury, BeyondTrust took the affected service offline. This strategy blocked the threat actors’ access to the department’s information. As the Washington Post highlighted, the Treasury plays a key role in economic sanctions, which President-elect Trump may leverage against Chinese goods. “The uptick in Chinese cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure reflects broader strategic priorities, including countering U.S. influence, achieving technological dominance and preparing for potential geopolitical confrontations,” James Turgal, VP of global cyber risk and board relations at Optiv and former FBI assistant director of information and technology, said in an email to TechRepublic. SEE: In early December the US sanctioned Chinese cybersecurity firm Sichuan Silence for alleged involvement in ransomware attacks.  Salt Typhoon targeted US infrastructure in 2024 The breach of the Treasury was part of a series of attacks on U.S. government agencies and infrastructure in 2024. Many of these incidents have been traced to China-sponsored threat actors, including Salt Typhoon Active Since 2020, Salt Typhoon has been recognized for its cyber espionage operations that have targeted critical infrastructure sectors globally. The group targeted at least eight US telecommunications companies, including AT&T and Verizon, as well as Cisco and defense contractors. “The attack underscores the urgent need for robust cybersecurity frameworks to protect against escalating threats targeting the telecommunications sector,” the FCC wrote in early December. What does this mean for cybersecurity professionals? In December, the U.S. government issued security guidance to telecommunications companies attempting to disrupt a pattern of Chinese state-affiliated actors breaching domestic organizations. The guidance suggested that companies use comprehensive alerting mechanisms, leverage network flow monitoring solutions, limit exposure of management traffic to the Internet, and harden various aspects of systems and devices. Specific Cisco devices may call for additional precautions. source

To understand the progress of sales tech in 2024, you just need to look at the evolution of AI value positioning. 2024 started with copilots focused on meeting needs of sellers and ended with agents looking to accomplish parts of the sellers’ jobs. While this may seem like a small differentiation, there is a clear shift in AI’s position to deliver value towards an end goal: Salesforce embraced agents and took mindshare from Microsoft and its copilots, and sales tech companies had to start thinking differently about their platforms; they are evolving from SaaS to AI companies that are moving beyond seller assistance and now doing part of the sellers’ jobs. The blogs I’ve written over the course of the year plot the happenings in sales technology from the perspective of someone who is in constant conversation with sales technology leaders navigating these dynamics. The blogs below represent what I covered during the year and what this all means going into 2025: Understanding The Real-Time Revenue Execution Platform Landscape: In a digital buying environment full of distractions, converting a prospective customer is not a simple task. Companies use real-time revenue execution platforms to connect marketing campaigns to sales, make sure that the buyer is connected to the right seller, and ensure the best sales outcome by identifying engaged buyers and efficiently routing them to a knowledgeable seller. What Salesloft’s Acquisition Of Drift Means: This Drift acquisition by Salesloft is one of the first pure-play sales technology providers to expand into marketing use cases. While conversation automation solutions such as Drift have been focused on supporting marketing, generative AI has opened a door for sales to leverage this technology for some interesting use cases that add value for customers and better support the buyer journey. A New Supergroup For Revenue Technology Emerges: Revenue Orchestration Platforms: In the world of revenue technology, three distinct categories have converged to form a new supergroup of revtech capabilities. Convergence of functionality across the key providers in sales engagement, conversation intelligence, and revenue operations and intelligence platforms has evolved to the point that these three functionality categories can now be found in one platform that we refer to as a revenue orchestration platform. It’s Time For Sales Leaders To Coach Sellers Like Athletes: Until recently, sellers and sales managers didn’t have enough visibility into buyer interactions to do extensive coaching. Managers tried to make the most of each opportunity by coaching on everything they noticed. In addition, sellers didn’t have the visibility needed to identify and correct issues on their own and so required the coaches’ time. Nowadays, revenue orchestration platforms automatically capture interactions, providing the seller and manager with the visibility necessary to identify coaching moments. Sales managers need to use this technology to coach their sellers with the same rigor as athletes. When It Comes To Sales And Marketing Alignment, Data Needs To Come Before People: The biggest gap to realizing revenue alignment is not a lack of sales and marketing people working together; it’s the lack of data to analyze, visualize, and recommend the next step and each step in the prospecting and buying cycle. Data capture solves this data gap and enables revenue teams to optimize each buyer interaction. My Take On The Year Ahead For Sales Tech After Attending Three Key Events: Unsurprisingly, AI was at the center of all discussions during three key technology provider events I attended in September, with AI agents being the most prominent buzz as the next evolution of AI. Going a layer deeper, however, reveals a more nuanced strategy for each host vendor. Predictions 2025: GenAI As A Growth Driver Will Put B2B Executives To The Test: B2B leaders have spent much of the past year scrambling to take advantage of generative AI (genAI) technology and find new ways to differentiate themselves. In 2025, the true power of genAI as a growth driver will be tested. Marketing, sales, and product executives’ accountability will intensify as companies turn to these functions to steer their organization’s most impactful genAI initiatives. Double-Clicking Into The Compensation Capabilities Of Sales Performance Management: Optimizing sales compensation increases in complexity as companies grow and expand their products and sales structure, making it difficult to administer seller plans without the use of a sales performance management/incentive compensation management solution. While sales performance management (SPM) platforms represent a broader set of capabilities such as planning, territory design, and quota management, most clients engaging with Forrester to evaluate SPM platforms primarily focus on . Next year promises many unexpected changes, with the acquisition environment likely to pick up while genAI expectations move from vision to reality. The market landscape will look much different at the end of 2025. Connect with me on LinkedIn to hear my perspective on the evolving sales technology market in 2025. It’s going to be a turbulent year. source