Salesforce Officially Releases Service Cloud Voice, Integrated with AWS

The cloud sector is once again bustling with activity after a second quarter slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This roundup showcases three announcements – most notably, Salesforce’s Service Cloud Voice – that partners may have missed from big names.

Salesforce Launches Service Cloud Voice

Salesforce channel partners now may sell Service Cloud Voice, which features integrated cloud telephony through AWS and its Amazon Connect contact center platform.

First announced at Dreamforce 2019, Service Cloud Voice puts phone, digital channels and data from Salesforce into a single console. So that means agents no longer have to jump among systems to handle customer inquiries; plus, managers may listen to calls in real time.

Service Cloud Voice offers channel partners more opportunities to help enterprises with clients. So says Emily Kofsky, senior director of product marketing at Salesforce.

“Adding voice to your service dashboard enables service agents and managers to view a complete profile of the customer, including previous calls and chat history,” Kofsky told Channel Futures. “Having this important data easily available helps service agents create better solutions faster, leading to a more efficient service organization.”

And thanks to Amazon Connect, Service Cloud Voice also supports remote work. That’s a critical capability for organizations letting employees work from home during, and after, COVID-19.

In terms of training, Kofsky recommends partners start with Trailhead and then rely on Salesforce release notes while implementing Service Cloud Voice.

Bill Patterson is executive vice president and general manager, CRM applications at Salesforce. He says the company integrated Amazon Connect first because its technology stood out.

Salesforce’s Bill Patterson

“The phone has been the last piece of customer service technology to modernize,” Patterson wrote in a Salesforce blog. “We’ve seen the rise of digital, which includes online, social media, email and modern messaging channels like chat or Twitter. But the phone has largely stayed stagnant, which is surprising because it’s still the primary way most customers prefer to get support — especially for highly personal interactions. We saw Amazon transform telephony infrastructures to be powered by the cloud, giving organizations access to high-quality, consistent voice services across different contact centers regardless of where the customer service agents were located. It just made sense for us to partner with Amazon, as both companies had a joint vision of helping customers modernize the contact center.”

SADA-MadHive Deal Proof of Partners’ ‘Tremendous Value’

Managed service provider SADA, which teams exclusively with Google Cloud Platform, has taken its relationship with MadHive to a new level.

The companies recently sealed a five-year, $50 million deal for MadHive to expand its over-the-top advertising platform. MadHive and SADA have worked together for three years. Now, they’ll continue that momentum for another five.

Tony Safoian is SADA’s CEO. He told us the commitment from MadHive “is one of the biggest of its type with a Google Cloud MSP.”

SADA’s Tony Safoian

“It proves that partners like SADA offer tremendous value to enterprise companies, over and above simple implementation, with ongoing technical advisory and services,” he added. “And, by the way, we’re going to see plenty more big-ticket deals like this in the future. [That’s] because innovative enterprises understand how channel leaders can play a critical role in helping them scale their businesses.”

SADA first helped deploy MadHive’s advertising platform on Google Cloud in 2017. Because MadHive uses cryptography, blockchain and AI, it needed a cloud vendor that would support low latency, while supporting fast development and deployment, as well as machine learning. The technical progress and cost savings MadHive has achieved prompted it to put more load on Google Cloud, with SADA’s help.

Aaron Brown, chief scientist at MadHive, said Google Cloud has proven itself the ideal environment, and SADA the ideal partner.

MadHive’s Aaron Brown

“SADA has been instrumental in helping us through even our most nuanced and sophisticated technical needs,” he said. “With their help, we move from research to deployment, sometimes within the very same day.”

Equinix Broadens Access to Alibaba Cloud

Data center provider Equinix has extended access to Alibaba Cloud.

Channel partners now can take advantage of Equinix’s reach in 17 more metro areas. Those include Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

Equinix said the expansion is bolstered by its API integration with Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric. So it allows organizations to privately connect to Alibaba Cloud on Platform Equinix.

According to Gartner, Alibaba Cloud ranks as the third-largest global IaaS provider — and the largest in Asia Pacific. Furthermore, Gartner analysts say worldwide IaaS spending will reach $62 billion in 2021.

Alibaba and Equinix first joined forces in 2015.