From the $2 billion Verint takeover to Avaya's company-wide voluntary exit package, there are excerpts from some of the week's most popular news stories.
Thoma Bravo has agreed to acquire Verint in a transaction that values high-tech providers at $2 billion, including debt.
Once the transaction is completed, Verint will merge with Calabrio, a rival of Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) owned by Thoma Bravo.
Also under the ownership of private equity companies are Aisera and Medallia. It competes with Verint in voice in conversational AI and customer (VOC) markets, respectively.
However, there is no suggestion that these CX stubborns will also be folded.
Verint's press release, which announced the move, contains a quote from an anonymous spokesman.
Calabrio and Verint bring you a powerful set of products to accelerate your shared vision. We offer an AI-powered open CX platform for customers who are focused on driving strong business outcomes for their businesses.
In bringing these companies together, Thoma Bravo blends two of the “Big 3” WEM providers, with the other being the others (read more…).
Accenture has confirmed its acquisition of consulting firm Neuraflash.
Neuraflash offers services and solutions to businesses that are primarily committed to Salesforce and AWS.
However, over the past 12 months, we have made a lot of noise in the CX space by developing agent solutions for sales, services and field service operations.
By doing so, we established our reputation as a major partner in Salesforce's AgentForce platform, reporting on the implementation of over 60 Agent Forces in May 2025.
In a LinkedIn post last week, Neuraflash CEO and co-founder, T. Brett Chisholmclaiming that his company is “#1 Salesforce Agentforce Partner!”
Salesforce repeated similar sentiments during its recent revenue call. Srini Tallapragada, President and Chief Engineering Managernamed Neuraflash as its major Agentforce partner, along with Accenture.
With the deal to roll up Neuraflash, Accenture is likely aiming to move from one of the few major Agent Force players in the space to an uncontroversial Agent Force leader (read more…).
Google has announced a new AI mode agent designed to take on basic service tasks, starting with restaurant reservations.
The feature currently locked behind a $250 Google AI Ultra subscription will plug into your company's AI mode for searches that convert traditional results pages into Gemini-driven assistants.
For now, the agents have limited capabilities. Check availability of live restaurants and link customers directly to booking platforms such as OpenTable, Resy, and TOCK.
However, future features have already been mentioned, and Google plans to integrate local services booking and event tickets through Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek and Booksy.
This shows much broader ambition. It involves creating AI-powered “machine customers” that can handle the interaction of services independently on behalf of humans.
Machine-to-machine customer service ideas are nothing new.
Google has been experimenting with AI for its customers for years, from the 2022 Duplex Making Dinder Dirrvations to the latest “Ask Me” feature that dials business for users.
However, as analysts have recently discussed on the Big CX News Show, these latest moves feel more like progressive steps than revolutionary (read more…).
Avaya offered a voluntary exit package to “everyone in the company.” Those who are familiar with this issue told CX today.
Sources revealed that Avaya hopes the move will reduce “many employees.”
Today's CX contacted Avaya for a statement, but the company declined to comment.
The purpose of distributing employees, announced in July 2024, is something Avaya has been following since the CEO transition.
Just four months later, Avaya kicked off the layoffs. These initially influenced North America, but by early 2025 they had spread all over the world.
In January, CX learned today that the layoffs would be leaving several regions, including threadbears in Europe and the Middle East.
Now, Avaya appears to be following up with another dramatic move to further reduce staffing and make some areas just remote.
Reacting to speculation, Zeus Kerabara, Principal Analyst at ZK Researchtold CX today:
Such a move aims to maximize profitability, allowing Avaya to return profits to the stockholders.
Emerging only from the second bankruptcy in seven years of 2023, these headlines incite a flame of speculation about Avaya's long-term future (read more…).
