INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sometimes two companies get along so well together and fit each other so perfectly, they almost have to come together
That what happened when Dialpad, a business communications platform whose products include UberConference, started working with TalkIQ
They liked them so much, they bought the company.
Dialpad CEO Craig Walker says the two companies actually started working together about 8
months ago when Dialpad began looking at artificial intelligence options and they found that most weren&t real time and were
expensive.
Walker liked the fact that TalkIQ had that near real-time solution and that it was also built on the Google Cloud Platform like
In addition, the principals from both companies each came out of Google and had actually worked together at various points.
When the teams
came together under that commercial agreement, Walker says, they really clicked
At some point, they began talking about making it a permanent arrangement.
TalkIQ CEO Dan O&Connell says there was natural synergy they both
&All acquisitions have challenges and opportunities
For me making a decision [to sell] was a pretty easy decision
We knew each other and with culture sometimes you don&t know what you are getting
Our values aligned really well,& he said.
With TalkIQ, the Dialpad platform gets an injection of intelligence
Specifically, they can capture voice in near real time and apply sentiment analysis and analytics
This could provide a customer service operation with feedback in real time along with advice for managers when to intervene in a call.
Call
is being analyzed in real time and the manager can see the intervene recommendation
Photo: Dialpad
The TalkIQ functionality will be incorporated natively right into the Dialpad suite of apps, which includes voice and video
along with customer service call center management and UberConference for conference calling
&Part of why we wanted to go all the way and acquire this technology was that we wanted it to be seamless and integrated and simple and not
weird for end users,& Walker said.
To that end, the initial offering called VoiceAI will include real-time transcription along with smart
notes, which automatically pick out the salient points in a meeting or call
It also comes with the real-time sentiment analysis and coaching for call centers.
Starting today, customers will be offered the opportunity
to opt in on the new functionality and can use it for free during the Beta period
They will begin charging for it in July, but are still working out exactly how that will work
It could come with a certain amount of the AI-fueled functionality for free and then higher paid tier for more advanced functions.
The deal
closed a few weeks ago and TalkIQ 29 employees are already part of the company with the San Francisco-based employees moving into the
The TalkIQ engineering team will continue to work out an office in Waterloo, Ontario.
Dialpad was founded in 2011 and has raised $70 million
TalkIQ was founded in 2014 and has raised $14 million
The two companies did not disclose the purchase price.
