2021 Speech Industry Award Winner: TTEC Takes Over the Government

TTEC Holdings, an Englewood, Colo.-based customer experience technology and services provider, has been busy on the acquisition front in the past year, scooping up both Avtex and VoiceFoundry.

Its April deal involving Avtex, a fellow CX technology and solutions provider, expands TTEC’s portfolios in artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, data analytics, workforce management, cybersecurity, fraud protection, and customized solutions to address industry-specific challenges.

“This acquisition will be transformational for TTEC and will expand our position as the global go-to-partner for holistic, cloud-based customer experience solutions. It will put all of the major Tier 1 CX technologies under one roof and accelerate digital innovation with industry-leading [intellectual property], including API integrations, [artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation], data analytics, and vertical-specific solutions for fraud, cybersecurity, and automation. The result will create a single source for seamless CX orchestration across every interaction channel that will increase speed to market and customer-centric differentiation for our clients,” said Ken Tuchman, chairman and CEO of TTEC, in a statement. “This high-growth platform will essentially double our total addressable market by extending our solutions to the thriving midmarket.”

“Through our past experiences partnering with TTEC, Avtex has seen firsthand the power of their unique end-to-end value proposition. There is no doubt that our clients will benefit from TTEC’s differentiated CX technology and solutions platform, broader digital transformation capabilities, and an expanded global footprint,” said George Demou, president and CEO of Avtex, in a statement. “The opportunity that will be created by combining our two organizations is significant and compelling, and we are delighted to be pursuing it with a partner who shares our vision, culture, values, and focus on client-centricity.”

The Avtex deal followed a similar move in August to acquire VoiceFoundry, a provider of artificial intelligence and natural language automation, chatbots, computer telephony, CRM systems, enterprise integration, user experience design, analytics, omnichannel engagement, and workforce optimization. And because VoiceFoundry is a global partner of Amazon Web Services, the acquisition adds Amazon Connect cloud contact center solutions to TTEC’s Humanify Cloud.

“In TTEC we found the perfect partner for delivering end-to-end CX solutions that allow us to better design, build, and operate amazing customer and employee experiences for clients at large enterprise scale. Our combined strengths help enhance the overall offering to our customers,” said VoiceFoundry CEO John Marino in a statement.

TTEC’s growing technology portfolio caught the attention of several parts of the U.S. government, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarding it a blanket purchase agreement. TTEC was one of four partners selected after participating in a competitive, two-phase evaluation process.

The FEMA award acknowledges that TTEC is fully prepared and able to deliver on all of the necessary resources to furnish contact center services as specified in the statement of requirements.

“TTEC has a long history successfully serving federal, state, and local government agencies seeking to develop and implement citizen-centric strategies. Our ability to remove complexity and rapidly deliver seamless citizen experience at scale is creating significant value with the public sector,” said Andrew Martin, TTEC’s group vice president for the public sector.

The FEMA deal comes after TTEC significantly strengthened its FedRAMP-authorized cloud contact center solution to include workforce optimization, CRM, and artificial intelligence applications.

TTEC’s government contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) solution is the only Cisco-powered omnichannel platform listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace. The company’s expanded security authorization includes capabilities from these best-of-breed CX technology partners:

• Verint Systems for workforce optimization (WFO);

• Nuance Communications for voice and conversational interactive voice response;

• Google AI integration capabilities to deliver a frictionless citizen experience; and

• CRM integration adaptors that include Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, and ServiceNow through a partnership with Bucher + Suter.

In addition, TTEC announced it has pending IL4 (FedRAMP+) authorization to offer clients an even deeper level of security and data protection.

Jonathan Lerner, president of TTEC Digital, remarked, “Our expanded FedRAMP authorization adds more value to the agencies we serve by integrating the most highly sought after, secure, best-of-breed CX applications in one platform, creating a powerful single, comprehensive SaaS cloud contact center solution.”