All statistics on the use of Google Home and Amazon Echo point into the same direction: the users have focused on a small, sharply delineated area of application that is far below what was expected at the height of the hype two years ago. Therefore, the question arises, whether the optimization for language and voice search is really relevant?

Privileged accounts, such as local admin and service accounts, exist everywhere in multiple places throughout an organization, and trying to manually discover and manage them is virtually impossible. That’s why Thycotic recommends automating privileged account discovery on a continuous basis so that you can see what you need to protect and what security controls should be in place.

The debate over who should oversee shaping digital customer experiences is as old as the internet. With the rise of headless technology, it has just reached a turning point again. Since the 2000s, online trading steadily gained traction - initially in the B2C and later also in the B2B sector. With the rapidly growing number of websites, systems were needed to efficiently manage all kind of information and data, heralding the birth of the first generation of web content management and e-commerce platforms. However, just after a few years, it reached its limits, because the control of these systems was entirely with the IT department. Marketers and merchandisers had to make a request to the developers every time they wanted to edit or create new web content, which was inefficient and unsatisfactory for both parties.

In 2018, IDC forecasted investment in VR and AR to reach around 20 billion dollars by 2022 and that both technologies will be key to companies' digital transformation plans. Big technology companies were indeed working hard on the development of headsets (and still do) that can function without cables and allow images to be seen in HD: VR headsets in 8K with much more powerful processors. There is even talk that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be more and more integrate and the latest 5G standard will provide very interesting scenarios for the evolution of VR. For sure, this standard will allow more devices and large user communities to be connected, but most importantly, consumers will receive images in real time, almost as if they were seeing them with their own eyes, thanks to the latest 5G technology.

Service Cloud Voice, a new product that will modernize the contact center by embedding telephony inside Salesforce Service Cloud has been launched earlier this year. Service Cloud Voice unifies phone, digital channels, and CRM data in real-time in one centralized console and can be regarded as the contact center of the future — intelligent, unified, and fast.

CX has long since become one of the decisive differentiating features of top companies, which explains why every provider wants to push CX projects forward at full speed. According to Gartner, more than 80% of executives believe that in the not-too-distant future, they will compete based on CX alone, rather than price. In the context of the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI), predictions like these suggest that there will be an enormous need for experience experts in C-level management for the following reasons:

I was watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix earlier this month and highly recommend it. The quintessence of the film is that today’s technology that connects us also monetizes us - or even controls us – with frightening consequences.  Although we are aware of that already – and in general the fact that nothing is for free on the internet - we still do not want to face the truth.

Since the pandemic has put a halt on face-to-face interactions, entire industries turned to virtual ways of working. As a result, digital documents have become a centerpiece for how we communicate, collaborate, and transact. Hence, to no surprise, the demand for Adobe’s Document Cloud product and services has been skyrocketing: Adobe Sign usage has risen more than 200% and Acrobat DC monthly active users have more than doubled in 2020, reflecting the growing role PDF plays across all segments of the economy. In fact, it is estimated that there are currently more than 2.5 trillion PDFs in the world today.

According to the software company SynergyTop, 2020 is a decisive year for voice commerce as it offers a new sales channel for merchants and brands who want to sell their services and goods.

Online video is more popular than ever with Singaporeans watching eight hours, 42 minutes per week on average, higher than the global average of seven hours, 55 minutes per week. With consumers homebound during the pandemic, video viewing in Singapore increased 14% compared to last year. This is according to the “State of Online Video 2020,” a report commissioned by Limelight Networks, Inc., to understand consumer perceptions and behaviors around online video.

Due to voice assistants that are used in customer service, such as Siri or Alexa and “talking robots”, the topic of speech recognition is currently highly topical. Voice assistants learn to decipher the core of a customer’s message, so that the customer does not have to learn which commands to use to get to the goal, which sounds easier than it is, considering that dialects, synonyms or paraphrases have to be learned by the bot first.

The German seminar provider and specialist publisher Dashöfer launched the virtual reality (VR) application EasySpeech for presentation skills training. Speakers can import their presentation or practice step by step rhetorical exercises such as direct speeches.

Companies have been able to successfully create a large number of brands over the years by making use of linear TV for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), which are consumer goods from the areas of food, beverages, hygiene articles, cosmetics and cleaning agents. In times of streaming services, however, this option is getting less effective and forces the FMCG industry to establish a direct relationship with their customers, which means their advertising must become more individual and digital.

Qualtrics launched in partnership with its training partner TrainTheCrowd,  a new customized XM training program that aims to help businesses maximize their investment in Qualtrics technology by creating a sustainable community of experts. Qualtrics is one of the first providers of XM technology to deliver in-person training in Asia Pacific and Japan.