Talkdesk iQ provides AI analytics, monitoring in contact center

Talkdesk unveiled this week a suite of new AI tools for its cloud-based contact center platform, following the lead of competitors, including Genesys and Five9. The startup also told enterprise customers it could now guarantee that its IP-based calling service would work 100% of the time.

Talkdesk iQ, the AI platform, analyzes and reports on contact center trends in real time. The vendor's API-based analytics dashboard charts trending topics and alerts managers to potential problems. It also lets businesses compare their performance to that of other Talkdesk customers.

Talkdesk's contact-center-as-a-service offering supports several communications channels, including SMS, web chat, email, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Twitter. Talkdesk iQ monitors the conversations in those channels and recommends actions to customer service agents.

Talkdesk is also giving businesses the tools to build their own AI-based chatbots and interactive voice response systems. The Talkdesk Self-Service SDK will support the development of self-help interfaces for Android and iOS mobile devices, while Talkdesk Studio will help businesses determine how customer inquiries get routed without having to write code.

"It looks like they're hitting on all the key areas that IT and business leaders cited as crucial for [customer experience] transformations," said Robin Gareiss, president of Nemertes Research, based in Mokena, Ill. "Analytics is, by far, the most important."

Talkdesk has won the business of more than 1,400 companies since it launched in 2011, mostly in the midsize market. The vendor has sought to differentiate itself through offering one-click installation, flexible billing and free trials.

Talkdesk's main rivals in the cloud contact center market -- a group that includes Five9, Nice inContact and Genesys -- have all been developing AI technologies similar to Talkdesk iQ. Several of those vendors have also partnered with Google to deliver contact center AI to their customers through the consumer giant's cloud.

Also this week, Talkdesk committed $10 million -- 10% of its recent $100 million Series B financing round -- to the development of products for the customer service industry.