The Record - Issue 20: Spring 2021

16 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om MAR K E TWATCH Anywhere365 earns industry-first Microsoft Teams certification A nywhere365 has become the world’s first cloud-based contact centre solution to be certified by Microsoft as part of its new Connected Contact Centers programme for Microsoft Teams. Designed to improve how organisations interact with customers, Anywhere365 Dialogue Cloud is delivered directly from the Microsoft Azure ecosystem and uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology to automatically route queries from multiple channels to Microsoft Teams. This allows both dedicated customer service agents and other employees to interact with customers from any device, channel, location or time zone. In addition, it enables businesses to handle routine requests via chatbots. “The official certification gives the market a clear picture of which solutions leverage the direct routing and calling capabilities of Microsoft Teams to the fullest extent,” said Gijs Geurts, founder and CEO of Anywhere365. “I am proud to be working closely with Microsoft on this milestone achievement and honoured that Anywhere365 is the first global solution to be so rigorously tested and vetted by Microsoft.” Anywhere365 Dialogue Cloud tracks customer interactions across all platforms to ensure employees have the contextual information they need to resolve queries, allowing it to function as a complete dialogue management solution. “Modern cloud contact centres are much more than a support solution – they act as one of the main communication vehicles for interaction and unfiltered feedback about a customer’s experience with a brand,” said Geurts. “Any member of the enterprise, even AI voice bots and chatbots, will at some point become the contact centre. This means that enterprises must shift from agent- based concepts to platforms. It’s not about the contact centre; it’s about the dialogues.” Mike Ammerlaan, director of Microsoft 365 ecosystem at Microsoft, said: “The goal of this certification is to ensure the quality, compatibility and reliability that customers expect from Microsoft- certified solutions. We’re pleased to see that Anywhere365 has completed certification tests and has achieved certification status among our first global connected contact centres.”