New real-time customer insights platform powered by Qualtrics allowed Lumen to increase NPS scores 17 points year over year

Lumen found that when their frontline service technicians feel recognized for delivering excellent customer service, they are nine times more likely to resolve customer issues in a single visit

Qualtrics, the leader and creator of the experience management (XM) category, has expanded its partnership with Lumen, a global enterprise technology platform and telecommunications company. This collaboration aims to redesign Lumen's customer and employee experience programs, enhancing the services provided to customers.

Real-Time Insights Platform

Powered by the Qualtrics XM® for Customer Experience suite and Qualtrics AI, the newly developed real-time customer insights platform combines feedback from over two dozen sources. This includes customer interactions, service performance, and market-specific trends from unstructured feedback like social media and call center transcripts.

These real-time insights into customer and employee experience performance allow Lumen to tailor communications based on specific customer needs and recent experiences. For example, call center agents can view a Customer Health Score that fluctuates daily based on real-time operational inputs, enabling more relevant and empathetic communication with customers.

As a result of its partnership with Qualtrics, Lumen has achieved a 17-point year-over-year increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS), indicating significant gains in customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Empathy in Customer Engagement

"Real-time data signals mean that our people can meet the moment and engage customers with empathy," said Kristina Nissen, Senior Vice President of Strategic Pursuits and Mid-Market at Lumen Technologies. "Our new customer health scores powered by Qualtrics provide our people with a more comprehensive understanding of how to help each customer as an individual and which actions they can take to make the biggest impact on their experience."

Contextual Insights for Smarter Communications

Research from the Qualtrics XM Institute reveals that how customers feel about an experience significantly impacts their future loyalty. Although Lumen had a wealth of experiential data showing customer sentiments, it lacked operational context. For instance, the company couldn't determine if an unhappy customer had recently experienced a service issue.

Lumen leveraged Qualtrics AI and natural language processing capabilities to build a comprehensive real-time customer insights platform. This platform combines data from various sources, including unstructured feedback from online forums, review sites, and social media, along with operational metrics like on-time service delivery. This fusion enables a better understanding of Lumen experiences that most influence customer satisfaction and loyalty.

"Unstructured data represents close to 90% of the data generated today, and Qualtrics AI enables organizations to extract rich information that paints a comprehensive view of customers' experiences and pain points," said Manisha Powar, Chief Product Officer of Qualtrics XM for Customer Experience. "Armed with this information, organizations can identify and prioritize improvements that significantly affect customers' emotions—boosting loyalty and profits."

Linking Employee Recognition to Business Outcomes

Lumen also utilized Qualtrics to establish a strong connection between Employee Experience (EX) and customer outcomes. Insights from Qualtrics XM for Customer Experience revealed that frontline service technicians who feel recognized for delivering excellent customer service are nine times more likely to resolve customer issues in a single visit.

Based on these insights, Lumen leaders enhanced the promotion and recognition of exceptional customer service within the company’s field organization. This approach has led to operational cost savings, improved time management, and a more engaged workforce.

"You cannot drive exceptional customer experience without unlocking the employee experience," stated Nissen. "For us, focusing on both experiences and empowering our employees is unlocking growth, profitability, and increased customer loyalty."

Through its expanded partnership with Qualtrics, Lumen is redefining its approach to customer and employee experiences. By harnessing real-time insights and fostering a culture of recognition, Lumen is not only enhancing customer satisfaction but also driving loyalty and engagement within its workforce.

Research from LG Ad Solutions and MediaScience Shows That Integrating CTV Video, Native, and Mobile Video Enhances Campaign Effectiveness

LG Ad Solutions, in collaboration with MediaScience, has released a groundbreaking study titled The Connect Effect, highlighting the effectiveness of a seamless Connected TV (CTV) advertising experience. The research demonstrates that integrating CTV Video, Native ads, and Mobile Video within a single campaign can substantially enhance brand metrics and overall performance.

The study revealed that brands utilizing a comprehensive TV experience comprising CTV Video, Native ads, and Mobile Video achieved remarkable improvements in their performance metrics:

• Brand awareness increased by 4.7 times.
• Ad recall surged by 8.7 times.
• Brand consideration grew by 11.2 times.
• Cost per visit decreased by 23%.

The Evolution of Smart TVs

“Smart TVs have evolved into fully immersive ‘experience hubs’, allowing people to seamlessly jump between streaming, gaming, shopping, and more,” stated Tony Marlow, CMO of LG Ad Solutions. “Advertising within Smart TV environments reflects this shift by building campaigns that connect with viewers from the beginning to the end of their entertainment journey in highly effective ways.”

The Smart TV home screen is becoming increasingly vital in the content consumption journey. On average, users access over seven different content sources on their Smart TVs, with 42% of viewing starting without a specific plan, making the home screen a crucial engagement point. Key insights from MediaScience’s eye-tracking phase of the study include:

• LG Smart TV users spend an average of 33 seconds on the home screen.
• 85% of viewers looked at the Native ad for an average of 7 seconds, constituting 14% of their total screen time.
• Viewers engaged with Native ads 132% longer when paired with a video component and 46% longer with a QR code.

Impact of Linear TV on Ad Perception

While linear TV continues to command two-thirds of ad spend, its longer ad breaks and limited frequency control have diminished its effectiveness compared to newer platforms. The study found that incorporating linear TV in a campaign mix negatively impacted ad perception across nearly all tested attributes.

Enhancing Engagement Across Devices

The total TV experience extends beyond the Smart TV ecosystem. An impressive 93% of viewers use other devices while watching TV, with 71% holding their phones throughout their viewing. Advertisers can enhance engagement by creating connected experiences across multiple screens.

CTV campaigns that combine Native and Mobile Video components achieved over 60 percentage points in brand recall while being perceived as less intrusive. Brands utilizing CTV Video strategies can improve brand recognition by more than 10 percentage points and ad recall by over 13 percentage points by incorporating CTV, Native, and Mobile Video formats.

Although mobile ads attracted less visual attention than those on TV, brand recall remained comparable across CTV Video and Linear TV. “This study proves that these new opportunities in CTV environments aren’t just innovative concepts but are genuinely effective,” Marlow concluded. “The next era of TV starts with connecting the total TV experience by creating one cohesive campaign to engage viewers across all their screens. By embracing this holistic approach, advertisers can deliver more impactful, personalized campaigns that not only capture attention but also drive real results. The future of TV advertising is about creating seamless, connected experiences that resonate with today’s multitasking consumers.”

New survey reveals AI literacy is now a perceived requirement for successful revenue-generating teams

Seismic, the global leader in enablement, has released the Generation Enablement Report: Driving Strategic Change with the Power of AI. The report surveys over 600 full-time managers and senior leaders across sales, enablement, marketing, and customer success roles in the United States to explore AI's impact on the evolving expectations of enablement teams. The findings underscore the opportunities and challenges AI presents as Go-to-Market (GTM) leaders aim to enhance technological capabilities, boost revenue, and future-proof their teams.

The study reveals that GTM leaders are gearing up to increase their technology investments by nearly 25% by 2025, despite ongoing skepticism about AI. Ninety percent of respondents cited advancements in AI as a crucial factor driving this investment. This growth is primarily attributed to new AI features that enable organizations to gain deeper insights into their return on investment (ROI), with 88% emphasizing the importance of clearly demonstrating the impact of enablement on this investment.

The Growing Influence of Enablement Teams

“Enablement teams have become increasingly influential, driving strategic change and leveraging AI to optimize their processes and initiatives,” said Paige O’Neill, Chief Marketing Officer at Seismic. “The data is clear: if businesses are not looking to enablement technology to shorten the buying cycle and meet customer expectations, they will be left behind. Agility and adaptability, powered by AI technology like Seismic, are essential for thriving in today's dynamic market.”

Romain Brun, Director of Business Operations at CybelAngel, echoed this sentiment: “This data confirms the vision of enablement becoming a more strategic function. AI decreases the time spent on tactical tasks, allowing enablement professionals to focus on being strategic partners for the business.”

Additional Key Findings

1. AI Literacy as a Requirement

   • 77% of GTM leaders believe AI will transform their industry in the next five years.
   • 80% of organizations are prioritizing AI literacy across their teams.
   • 77% of GTM leaders have implemented AI-focused training programs for current employees, with 70% offering them to new hires. Notably, 84% of Chief Marketing Officers are already upskilling their teams on AI.

2. Adoption Challenges

   • 43% of respondents identified financial constraints as a significant barrier to implementing AI-powered solutions.
   • 58% of respondents reported generational differences in leadership making it difficult to secure buy-in for new technologies.
   • 61% revealed a stigma surrounding the term "AI," leading 45% to avoid using it in official communications.

3. Optimism for Future Integration

   • 89% of GTM leaders believe integrating AI into their strategies will drive a 29% increase in revenue over the next five years.
   • Despite current obstacles, 90% of respondents predict greater acceptance of AI across all generations in the next five years, with 91% expecting this reliance to continue growing in the next year.

The Generation Enablement Report from Seismic highlights the crucial role of AI in shaping enablement strategies and the future of GTM leadership. As organizations invest in AI technology and focus on enhancing AI literacy, they position themselves to overcome existing challenges and drive significant revenue growth in the evolving marketplace.

Nextiva Workforce Scheduling Gives Companies New Team Forecasting and Scheduling Tools to Improve Customer and Agent Experiences

Nextiva, the leading unified customer experience management (UCXM) platform, has announced the launch of Nextiva Workforce Scheduling. This new feature expands the company’s workforce engagement management suite within the Nextiva Unified-CXM platform, aimed at equipping contact center leaders with the tools necessary to optimize staffing and enhance operational efficiency.

Nextiva Workforce Scheduling provides a comprehensive toolkit designed to reduce costs and increase return on investment (ROI) by automating complex staffing tasks. Key functionalities include:

• Automated Forecasting: Predict staffing needs to align resources effectively.
• Planning and Scheduling: Streamline the scheduling process to enhance efficiency.
• Compliance Tracking: Ensure adherence to labor regulations and company policies.
• Attendance Tracking: Monitor employee attendance in real time.
• Employee Performance Management: Evaluate and improve staff performance.

Additionally, an intuitive app empowers team members to manage their schedules flexibly. Employees can bid on shifts, swap shifts, submit time-off requests, and perform other essential tasks seamlessly.

Expert Insights

“Workforce Scheduling helps optimize staffing levels and schedules to ensure efficient operations and excellent customer service while balancing employee needs and preferences,” said Senthil Velayutham, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Nextiva. “Nextiva is devoted to offering the most comprehensive unified customer experience management platform on the market. The addition of Workforce Scheduling to our portfolio brings essential front-line CX staffing tools seamlessly into our platform as a complete solution.”

Availability

Nextiva Workforce Scheduling is available now. It is included in the Nextiva Unified-CXM Premium package and can also be added to the Essential and Professional packages for existing customers.

Lemma Infibid Ensures Compliance, Optimizes Rates with AI, Seamlessly Connects to Global Ad Platforms and DSPs

Lemma, a leading omnichannel platform for emerging media, has announced the launch of Lemma Infibid, an innovative header bidding solution designed to transform how publishers engage with cross-channel demand partners. This advanced platform enhances ad monetization by integrating various advertising formats into a single, user-friendly interface.

A New Era for Header Bidding

Header bidding is a fundamental aspect of programmatic advertising, enabling publishers to increase revenue by allowing multiple buyers to bid on ad space concurrently. However, traditional header bidding processes can be complex, particularly for smaller publishers with limited technical resources. The introduction of Google's Exchange Bidding in Dynamic Allocation (EBDA) has added to these complexities, raising concerns about transparency and potential biases toward Google’s ad exchanges.

Lemma Infibid: Breaking Barriers and Maximizing Revenue

Unlike conventional header bidding systems that often focus on specific channels or formats, Lemma Infibid integrates a wide array of ad formats into a single, intuitive platform. From Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) and Connected TV (CTV) to desktop, mobile, in-app, and in-game video, Lemma Infibid connects publishers with diverse demand sources. This comprehensive approach eliminates traditional media format silos, providing a broader pool of demand and significantly enhancing revenue potential.

Key Features of Lemma Infibid

• Global Compliance: Lemma Infibid complies with Prebid.org guidelines, ensuring adherence to industry best practices and safety standards.
• AI-Powered Floor Rate Setting: Utilizing AI technology, Lemma Infibid predicts and sets optimal floor rates, enabling publishers to achieve better pricing for their inventory.
• Strong Demand Source Connectivity: The platform offers ultra-fast connectivity and integrates with all leading advertising platforms and demand-side platforms (DSPs), ensuring seamless access to a wide range of advertisers.

Expert Insights

“Lemma Infibid marks a pivotal advancement in digital advertising technology,” said Gulab Patil, Founder & CEO of Lemma. “By delivering a unified platform that bridges multiple advertising formats and channels, Lemma Infibid simplifies the programmatic landscape while significantly boosting revenue opportunities for publishers. This launch represents a significant leap forward in header bidding technology, allowing publishers to look forward to enhanced monetization opportunities and a streamlined, efficient bidding process.”

Integration Options

Currently, Lemma Infibid offers both Wrapper and Adaptor solutions. Publishers and developers can choose the integration method that best meets their needs to enhance ad revenues and leverage the benefits of omnichannel header bidding.

Company Ushers in a Bold New Direction with an Improved Sales Experience for Demandbase One™ and an Enterprise-Grade Rebrand

Demandbase, the leader in account-based go-to-market (GTM) strategies for B2B enterprises, has launched a new sales experience within Demandbase One™. This innovative offering equips sales teams with the precision, insights, and speed necessary to close deals faster, aligning sales and marketing efforts like never before.

The Importance of Unified Execution

Success in sales depends on how quickly and accurately teams can execute their strategies. Without clear signals and unified data, even the most skilled teams can struggle to act confidently. Demandbase One consolidates data across the GTM tech stack and transforms it into real-time insights, providing both sales and marketing teams with a single playbook to maximize every opportunity.

Leadership Insights

"With our reimagined sales and brand experiences, we're bringing sales and marketing together like never before," said Gabe Rogol, CEO of Demandbase. "By providing robust tools and real-time insights, sellers can focus on the right accounts, close deals faster, and personalize their outreach for dramatically better results. This launch is pivotal in our mission to align sales and marketing teams, empowering our customers to consistently exceed their revenue goals."

New Features in Demandbase One for Sales

The latest updates to Demandbase One for Sales include:

• Buying Groups for Sales: Sellers can now identify and engage not only the initial contacts but also other critical stakeholders involved in the decision-making process.

• Customizable Prescriptive Sales Dashboards: AI-driven dashboards offer sellers a clear view of which accounts, contacts, and buying groups to target, updated daily based on real-time buying signals and easily customizable.

• Contact Smart Scoring: This feature enhances sellers' confidence in reaching out to the right individuals within target accounts.

• Site Visit Intelligence: Sellers can activate timely and relevant messaging by tracking user interactions on their company's website.

• Action in Third-Party Channels: Integration with sales engagement platforms like Outreach, Salesloft, and Gong allows sellers to add records directly from Demandbase, streamlining their workflows.

Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Marketing

"B2B sales and marketing teams have historically operated on separate platforms," said Umberto Milletti, Chief R&D Officer at Demandbase. "This has often led to inefficiencies and misalignment. With Demandbase One, marketers and sellers utilize shared data and AI insights to coordinate on the same accounts, contacts, and buying groups. This alignment is crucial for maximizing revenue and minimizing waste—truly 'doing more with less.'"

A Fresh Brand Identity

In addition to the platform updates, Demandbase has reimagined its brand identity to reflect its commitment to innovation and leadership in the market. The new branding is sleek, clean, and tech-forward, creating a cohesive experience across the product, website, and all customer interactions.

With these enhancements, Demandbase One stands out as the most comprehensive and actionable GTM intelligence platform available, helping companies unify their teams, drive growth, and ensure every move counts.

Customers can seamlessly connect their CRM platform to their business phone system for enhanced client management

FluentStream has announced a significant advancement in cloud communications designed specifically for small and midsize organizations. The company has introduced an extensive range of new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integrations, seamlessly connecting its Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platform with leading CRM systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, and over 100 additional platforms.

Enhancing Customer Interactions

These integrations empower FluentStream customers by enabling real-time data synchronization. This capability allows for the automatic population of call details and notes, along with effortless tracking of customer interactions. As a result, sales and support teams can access crucial customer insights instantly, facilitating more productive conversations and significantly enhancing overall customer service.

Streamlined Call Tracking

The new CRM integration streamlines call tracking by automatically capturing call notes, which eliminates the need for manual entry. This ensures that all customer interactions are recorded in a centralized location, improving productivity for customer-facing teams while elevating the quality of customer service provided.

Leadership Insights

“FluentStream’s UCaaS platform is purposely designed to extend our customers’ flexibility, choice, and control,” said Cass Gilmore, CEO of FluentStream. “By expanding our integration capabilities, we empower customers with greater efficiency and automation, helping them save time and boost productivity.”

Comprehensive UCaaS Offering

FluentStream’s comprehensive UCaaS solution provides small and midsize businesses (SMBs) with enterprise-grade phone and contact center services, enabling seamless collaboration both internally and externally, regardless of device or location. The platform features over 100 cloud-based functionalities, including calling, conferencing, texting, emergency routing, analytics, and reporting, all managed through an intuitive online portal or mobile app.

Unmatched Customer Support

In addition to its robust UCaaS offering, FluentStream is known for its unparalleled customer service, backed by an award-winning, US-based support team available 24/7/365. The FluentStream Customer Support Team adheres to accelerated response standards to address even the toughest technical challenges promptly and thoroughly. Upon joining FluentStream, all customers are paired with a dedicated onboarding specialist to assist them in navigating the company’s wide range of cloud-based phone services, applications, and integration options. Additionally, FluentStream offers an online Knowledge Base with tutorials and how-to guides for quick access to customer queries, ensuring that clients have the support they need when they need it.

With these new CRM integrations and its comprehensive UCaaS offerings, FluentStream is poised to enhance communication capabilities for small and midsize organizations, ultimately leading to improved customer interactions and increased productivity.

Live Connect will enable Snowflake and Treasure Data customers to leverage customer data seamlessly, create actionable insights, and improve efficiencies

Treasure Data today announced the launch of Treasure Data Live Connect for the Snowflake AI Data Cloud. This new integration allows organizations to securely and efficiently access, leverage, and enrich data between Treasure Data’s Customer Data Platform (CDP) and the Snowflake platform. By streamlining data movement and enhancing security governance, data teams can reduce operational overhead while gaining greater flexibility.

"We are thrilled to launch our Live Connect ‘zero-copy’ integration with Snowflake, leveraging Snowflake’s native query interface with the federated query capability," said Kaz Ohta, CEO and co-founder of Treasure Data. "Today’s enterprises need a way for their CDP to more efficiently use and activate the wealth of data stored in platforms like Snowflake and enable better customer experiences. We developed Treasure Data Live Connect to seamlessly connect Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud with our CDP, enabling enterprises to efficiently and securely manage their data and engage their customers. This gives companies the best of both worlds with the flexibility to embrace their preferred architecture."

Core Capabilities of Live Connect

Treasure Data Live Connect includes two core functionalities:

1. Federated Query: This feature allows Treasure Data CDP to query and leverage data stored in Snowflake using Snowflake’s native query interface combined with its own federated query capability.

2. Easy Sync: This simplifies the process of transferring multiple tables from Snowflake into Treasure Data, removing unnecessary complexity.

Benefits of the Integration

Live Connect enhances data integration between Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud and Treasure Data CDP, offering enterprise marketing and data teams increased flexibility and cost control. This integration provides marketing teams with faster access to rich data sets, enabling them to build audience segmentation and activations more effectively. Joint customers will benefit from seamless data movement and activation, streamlined security governance, and reduced operational overhead—all of which contribute to superior customer engagement.

Collaborative Impact

"Treasure Data’s commitment to helping Snowflake mobilize the world’s data is evident in the launch of Live Connect," said David Wells, Industry Principal for Media, Entertainment, & Advertising at Snowflake. "We will drive deep value across the Snowflake AI Data Cloud through our collaboration with Treasure Data, as it will support more efficient and effective omni-channel journey activations."

With the introduction of Treasure Data Live Connect, organizations can unlock the full potential of their data, enhancing customer engagement and improving operational efficiency in an increasingly data-driven world.