Author Archives
Derek Top, Principal Analyst & Research Director, Opus Research
Derek Top is Principal Analyst and Research Director for Opus Research, a diversified advisory firm tracking how AI, LLMs, and advanced technologies are impacting customer experiences and enterprise applications. For more than 20 years, he has been covering technology innovation and spearheading analysis about how Conversational AI and Conversational Intelligence technologies transform businesses and reshape customer experiences.
Previously, Top served as senior associate editor with Optimize magazine and InformationWeek covering business technology and enterprise IT trends for CMP Media and UBM. Before joining CMP, Top was managing editor with Streaming Media, Inc. Prior to Opus Research, he was senior editor and program director at the Trellis Group. There he helped produce the VERGE conference series and wrote about how technology convergence drives innovation for smart energy and sustainability.
Contact: [email protected]
Twitter: @derektop
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Vector Capital’s Acquisition of Aspect Emphasizes Both Customer and Agent Experiences
With more than $100 million of equity capital, Aspect sets its sights on how next-generation contact centers improve customer engagement with conversational, self-service tools and allow agents to focus on higher-value, customer-centric activities.
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Conversational Commerce 2019: From Ego to Production in Record Time
With thousands of brands evaluating their options for implementing chatbots and intelligent virtual assistants it is clear that “Conversational Commerce” is no longer about platitudes or vague concepts; it’s about money.
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Data Show How Chatbots Help Businesses Perform Better and Improve Customer Experience
Ubisend releases a “cheatsheet” data report on how chatbots and intelligent assistants are helping global businesses benefit from day-to-day improvements in customer care, operational efficiencies and conversational marketing.
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Microsoft Bolsters Conversational Bot Suite By Acquiring XOXCO
Microsoft’s dedication for more sophisticated Conversational AI solutions will help businesses engage conversationally with their prospects, customers and clients.
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Opus Research Report: “Conversational Voice Response: Bringing the Best Tech Forward”
In this white paper, Dan Miller outlines how taking a Conversational Voice Response (CVR) approach augments basic IVRs with the latest technologies to create a new category of self-service platforms.
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Alight’s “Lisa” Empowers Self-Service Customer Decisions for HR Benefits Enrollment
A global provider of outsourced benefits administration and cloud-based HR, Alight turned to an automated intelligent assistant to handle complex customer conversations and create a positive business impact.
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Twilio’s AutoPilot: Toolkit Write-Once-Render-Everywhere Intelligent Assistants
Twilio, a company chartered in 2008 to support standards-and API-driven telephony apps, has launched “Autopilot”, a development platform that serves, in part as the Rosetta Stone for conversational intelligent assistance.
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Why Consumers Are Rapidly Turning to “VoiceFirst” Assistants Across All Devices
In this panel discussion from last month’s Conversational Commerce Conference, SoundHound’s Katie McMahon, VUI Inc.’s Pino Di Fabbrizio and Pullstring’s Oren Jacob discuss design and implementation considerations for “VoiceFirst” strategies.
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How Voice, Big Data and Machine Learning Are Connecting the Dots for Conversational Commerce
In a keynote conversation at last month’s C3 San Francisco, John Chambers, former CEO and Chairman with Cisco, sits down with Uniphore’s Umesh Sachdev and Opus Research to discuss how AI technologies are accelerating business opportunities.
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Autodesk’s Customer-Centric Approach In Launching a Virtual Agent (AVA)
In this featured case study from last month’s Conversational Commerce Conference in San Francisco, Autodesk presents why they launched a conversational intelligent assistant (AVA) for customer service and what they learned along the way.