Tag: Twilio

Singapore – Customer engagement platform Twilio announced that it will enable companies to create personalized, customer-aware experiences powered by OpenAI.

Through this integration, Twilio clients will be able to use OpenAI’s GPT-4 model to fuel new generative capabilities in ‘Twilio Engage’, the company’s multichannel marketing solution built on the segment customer data platform, as a result of this integration. 

This collaboration with OpenAI will formalize opportunities that many in Twilio’s community of more than 10 million developers have already been experimenting with. For instance, it’s possible to build a ChatGPT plugin for Twilio, which gives users the ability to access Twilio directly from ChatGPT’s interface, creating a new channel for brands to serve their customers better.

Furthermore, developers can create voice-activated chatbots, and feature capabilities can even range to build  serverless SMS chatbots. These builds validate the potential of OpenAI and Twilio’s ongoing and aligned efforts, and the value it can bring to customers looking to enhance customer engagement strategies.

Talking about the integration, Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio, said, “Experiences like ChatGPT are coming to the enterprise to power groundbreaking experiences in sales, service, content, marketing and more. Twilio CustomerAI enables companies to build customer-aware interactions – giving the language models context about the customer they’re helping. Without customer-awareness, any ChatGPT-like experiences would be generic and unhelpful. But with CustomerAI, companies can transform LLMs into the most helpful, knowledgeable agent imaginable at scale.”

Meanwhile, Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI, commented, “As AI drives down the cost of intelligence, it is increasingly possible for companies to deliver a deeply personalized experience for every customer. We know how much people want this, and we’re happy to be working with Twilio to bring it to the world. Twilio’s customer data platform will enable today’s and tomorrow’s large language models to unlock deep personalization at scale for every business.”

Singapore – Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Twilio have announced an extension of their strategic partnership, aiming to empower Twilio customers with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. 

This collaboration, unveiled at the AWS Summit in New York, marks a significant step in the evolution of Twilio’s Customer AI roadmap, which seeks to provide personalized and real-time experiences for leading brands.

Moreover, the key focus of this partnership centers around predictive AI technology, which will merge Amazon SageMaker’s AI capabilities with Twilio Segment’s Customer Data Platform. The forthcoming features will enable businesses to gain deeper insights into their customers, allowing them to deliver more relevant and personalized experiences promptly.

Shawn Nandi, director of technology, industries at AWS, expressed excitement about Twilio’s AI innovation and its potential to revolutionize customer engagement. He emphasized that AWS is committed to supporting businesses in enhancing customer experiences through AI and machine learning.

In a statement, Alex Millet, senior director of product at Twilio, outlined their vision for Twilio CustomerAI, which aims to enable businesses to foster trusted relationships with customers at a digital scale. He highlighted that the ultimate goal is transforming how marketers, contact centers, developers, and data teams deliver world-class customer experiences.

Previous AWS and Twilio partnerships include Twilio Segment’s status as an AWS Marketplace partner and deep product alignment, featuring partnerships that leverage Twilio’s Programmable APIs and integrations with more than six AWS products.

Singapore – In spite of initial scepticism around the phase-out of third-party cookies, marketers in APAC are now more welcoming of this imminent shift as they acknowledge the opportunity of building even greater trust through the use of other data sources, particularly zero and first-party data. This was according to the latest data from customer engagement platform Twilio.

According to the data, 92% of marketers in the region believe that phasing out third-party cookies can help strengthen trust in advertising among consumers in the long run. Meanwhile, 84% of organisations in the region are advocating consumer data privacy and welcoming the phasing out of third-party cookies, and 49% of organisations in the region feel more prepared to ride off to the third-party cookie sunset than they were in 2021.

Furthermore, around 92% of marketers surveyed in APAC are already collecting zero-party data, primarily through surveys (58%), social media polls (52%), and email campaigns (51%).

Around 75% of marketers already have at least a basic understanding of the positive value of first-party data — among which include being more useful in personalising engagement, targeting the right customers, and providing more accuracy, flexibility, and control.

Lastly, the data also notes that the most pressing challenge in data collection amongst marketers in the region is customer resistance, necessitating a more refined approach to consumer data collection. Around 51% of marketers understand the value of first-party data in theory, but remain uncertain about applications in day-to-day operations. Despite these challenges, most organisations (58%) remain committed to exploring alternative ways of gathering consumer information and insights.

Nicholas Kontopoulos, vice president of marketing for Asia-Pacific & Japan at Twilio, said, “In the new consumer data revolution, it is critical that businesses rethink their approach to data to drive more impactful customer engagement. Trust is now the underpinning factor for marketing success, so brands need to be more transparent in communicating how they are using data to unlock meaningful value for consumers.”

Singapore – Twilio, the customer engagement platform, has unveiled its new technology ‘CustomerAI’ ahead of SIGNAL, its upcoming user and developer conference. 

Twilio’s CustomerAI couples the power of large language models (LLMs) with the rich customer data that flows through Twilio’s Customer Engagement Platform, to help companies unlock the potential of their customers. With CustomerAI, Twilio aims to empower businesses to organize and pair signals coming from various channels such as text messages and calls to web and mobile activity, contact center conversations, and email correspondence, with generative and predictive artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, to help them to better understand and provide deeper value to their customers. 

“In this next great era of computing, shaped by advancements in artificial intelligence, brands have a massive opportunity to deepen their customer relationships. To help make that a reality, Twilio is infusing CustomerAI into customer touchpoints across marketing, sales, and service,” said Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio. “With generative and predictive intelligence, Twilio’s high quality interaction data, and Segment profiles working together, every experience can be highly personalized and tuned with a level of sophistication that was previously only attainable by the tech giants. With Twilio CustomerAI, brands can transform their customer relationships and unlock their full potential.”

At SIGNAL 2023, attendees can expect a deep dive into the application of AI and its seismic impact on CX and technology today. Twilio will convene dozens of world-leading experts including special guest Sam Altman of OpenAI, and thought leaders from brands such as Autodesk, Plentiful, and Workday. Live from the keynote stage, and across 20+ breakout sessions and product deep dives, Twilio will showcase the ways that CustomerAI can unlock ‘digital greatness.’

“We are thrilled to start showcasing the impact of CustomerAI across the Twilio Customer Engagement Platform. CustomerAI is all about making it faster and easier for companies to deliver truly personalized experiences to customers,” said Kathryn Murphy, SVP of product management at Twilio. “Customers are real-time. And they interact with companies in lots of different ways. A customer might be having a tough experience and engaged with the call center, but does marketing know about that? And is marketing suppressing a message or sending something with the right tone? This is one example and traditionally it’s been super hard to pull off. But that’s exactly what CustomerAI is helping companies to do: make customer engagement real-time and personalized.”

Twilio said that as the company develops these new AI-powered capabilities and enhancements to push the envelope of what’s possible for customers, it is leveraging its own proprietary technology as well as working with a close group of trusted, world-class partners that meet its privacy and data protection standards. 

“Critically, Twilio is committed to building CustomerAI safely and responsibly. As a part of this commitment, Twilio builds privacy and security by design into our product development lifecycle and will ensure companies have full transparency and control of the data that informs AI-powered interactions with their customers,” said Twilio. 

Singapore – Around 64% of respondents in the Asia-Pacific region are willing to engage with brands collecting data directly, with 57% of respondents open to sharing demographics data. This is according to the latest data from customer engagement platform Twilio.

According to the data, respondents appreciate the benefits of personalised experiences, with 65% acknowledging that personal data usage enhances their interaction with brand websites. Over 57% are comfortable or indifferent to social media platforms sharing their personal data with other brands or businesses.

Moreover, 60% of respondents expect clear and comprehensible information about data usage, emphasising the importance of transparency in building consumer confidence. 

However, only 15% were comfortable with all their data being shared with another brand. This figure has more than doubled to 34% amongst those who were generally aware how their data is being used, rising to 46% for those who had full knowledge of how organisations use their data.

The data also showed that 76% of respondents either accept all cookies or allow selected cookies, reflecting a willingness to engage in data sharing. This widespread acceptance appears to be mainly due to pragmatism, not ignorance, however. Most survey respondents understand that cookies are widely used to provide personalised experiences on a website or app. But they also say they would prefer that they are not used.

In fact, 72% of respondents believe consumers should avoid websites that collect cookies, indicating caution towards cookie practices. An overwhelming 90% agree that site owners must disclose their use of cookies and provide the option to opt out, or risk losing consumer trust. These findings underscore the need for brands to balance personalised experiences and consumer privacy, maintaining trust while offering tailored engagements.

Nicholas Kontopoulos, vice president of marketing for Asia Pacific & Japan at Twilio said, “Today, consumers expect brands to protect their data and be upfront about how their data is being used. The combination of scepticism towards third-party data and the willingness to share data with trusted brands is fueling new opportunities and forging the pathway to a healthy and sustainable data-sharing ecosystem across the region.”

Singapore – As consumer patience on digital experiences is waning, 73% of consumers in the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region warn that they are willing to drop brands if they remain to have poor personalisation in their digital experiences. This is according to the latest data from customer engagement platform Twilio.

The data notes that consumer frustration with inconsistent digital experiences is growing, as 53% of consumers in the region report being frustrated with their interactions over the past year, up from 51% the year before.

It is also worth noting that consumers value precise and real-time personalisation, as it improves customer lifetime value. Around 91% of consumers in the region say that personalised experiences increase their loyalty to brands. Respondents also spend 24% more on brands that personalise – higher than the global average of 21%.

Furthermore, consumers in APJ want more control over their customer data, with identity data being the top priority. Meanwhile, 44% of consumers in APJ have stopped purchasing from a brand after their expectations for data privacy and transparency weren’t met, exceeding the global average of 41%.

On the side of businesses, 40% of engagement leaders reported much higher customer retention rates than previous years, compared to 12% of laggards. In addition, 41% of engagement leaders also reported much higher customer conversion rates than previous years, versus 15% of laggards. 

Joyce Kim, chief marketing officer at Twilio, said, “This research reflects what we’re hearing across our customer base, which is that when brands use first-hand data to personalise engagement with customers, it saves companies meaningful marketing spend and increases lifetime value. For brands facing growing headwinds, this means ROI today.”

Singapore – As part of expanding their partnership in the APAC region, customer engagement platform Twilio and cloud communication AI provider Seasalt.ai released SeaX, a GTM bundle for Twilio Flex targeted at helping businesses streamline omnichannel communications.

The solution is also expected to streamline the rollout of a complete contact centre for multinational businesses that need to launch solutions in many countries or across multiple geographies and timezones like Southeast Asia, Europe, or different states in the U.S.

SeaX also includes Twilio Flex plugins that will address common contact centre requirements while keeping customization flexibility.

This also supports omnichannel messaging to webchat, SMS, Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, and Google Business Messages, amongst others. SeaX also allows integration with common CRM software such as Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Its customers have likewise reported time and cost savings to deploy all services to production and get agents on calls in less than 10 days.

“We’re excited about the partnership between Twilio and Seasalt.ai to bring SeaX to the market. The launch of this bundle – which leverages Twilio Flex – will empower organizations to build a programmable contact center platform that allows them to build customer engagement applications that fit their business,” said Frankco Shum, director of APJ Flex Partners at Twilio.

J Arnold & Associates’ Principal Jon Arnold also said, “Seasalt AI understands the importance of bringing together conversational AI and the multichannel contact center into the same experience. Twilio has been working with the in-house developers of businesses large and small for many years, helping them create customized customer and agent experiences.”

“SeaX is a way to quickly get Twilio Flex up and running out of the box out of the box and also allows for deep customization,” he added.

Xuchen Yao, CEO of Seasalt.ai, also commented, “The swift collaboration between Twilio and Seasalt.ai greatly accelerated customer’s contact center operations in the APJ region. Most customers wanted an operational contact center ‘yesterday’, and we delighted them with a launching date ‘next week’. This quick launch bundle is well adapted to the fast-paced business demand in APJ.” 

Twilio has also previously launched Twilio Live, a solution that allows businesses to integrate audio and video live streaming solutions into their applications.

Singapore — Twilio, the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalised experiences for brands, has announced that Nicholas Kontopoulos has joined the company as vice president of marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ).

Kontopoulos was most recently at Adobe, where he led marketing go-to-customer efforts for the Asia Pacific region as regional head of growth marketing of Adobe DX. A veteran technology evangelist with decades of experience, Kontopoulos has also held senior roles at Magneto, SAP and Capita, overseeing various business functions across different markets.

Based in Singapore, Kontopoulos will oversee the marketing strategy to support business growth in the APJ region and cement Twilio’s position as a leader in cloud communications. He will report to Tricia Miller, VP of international marketing for Twilio, and work closely with Lee Hawksley, SVP and GM for Twilio APJ, to meet Twilio’s pipeline generation and business revenue goals for the region.

On the new vice president, Hawksley shared, “Kontopoulos is an exceptionally creative marketer with a proven track record. He brings with him not only valuable cross-industry knowledge but an unmatched passion for customer experience. I am excited about what he brings to the table and know he will be an invaluable addition to our team in the region.”

Meanwhile, Kontopoulos said that he is thrilled to join Twilio’s high performing marketing team to drive the future of customer engagement together during this period of rapid growth.

Kontopoulos adds, “I have always been a firm believer of customer experience as a core business ideology, and I look forward to empowering more businesses in the region with innovative ways to connect and interact with their customers.’’

Singapore – Twilio, a global cloud communications platform, has announced the launch of Twilio Live, a cloud-based solution which allows businesses to quickly integrate audio and video live streaming solutions into their applications, a direct response to the rise of video channels as medium for customer engagement.

What sets Twilio Live apart from other solutions in the market, Twilio Live enables businesses to integrate these live streaming solutions with a custom fit for their brand and the needs for their online community. Furthermore, Twilio Live has a lower latency rate, made possible with Twilio’s reliable and secure infrastructure, combined with a best in class developer experience.

This, in turn, allows businesses in a wide array of industries, from retail to education to gaming and entertainment, to be able to build live streaming experiences that are unique to their brand.

“The rise of virtual experiences and the popularity of platforms like Clubhouse and TikTok have signaled that the next big channel for customer engagement is live audio and video streaming. Twilio Live gives businesses the building blocks they need to create personalized experiences for their communities and interact with millions of customers in a fresh and exciting way,” said Hakim Mehmood, general manager of voice and video at Twilio.

The launch of Twilio Live coincides with the greater demand for live streaming channels for customer engagement, evident with the latest data from Twilio’s annual ‘State of Customer Engagement Report’, where it reported that 98% of businesses say that video communication with customers accelerated more than other channels during the pandemic. From virtual conferences to workout classes to online learning, video and audio live streaming is here to stay.

Despite being in its beta phase, Twilio Live is the next step in Twilio’s journey to becoming the leading customer engagement platform, empowering businesses to build exceptional customer experiences that span every communication channel.

Twilio is present in Asia-Pacific, with offices present in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and Singapore.