Genesys is staking out its next billion-dollar business.

Today we announced our intent to acquire Bold360, a leader in AI-powered digital customer engagement. Chosen by the largest businesses in the world (many are Genesys customers, too) and recognized by industry analysts, Bold360 is known for its leading digital capabilities, including its conversational artificial intelligence (AI), dynamic knowledge base and intuitive agent experience.

When you combine the complementary cloud technology of Bold360 with Genesys cloud platforms, which are rich with digital and AI innovation, along with the amplification effect of our global partner ecosystem, we’ll be ready to charge into the next market transition for customer experience: Digital Customer Service.

The world is moving to digital. Forrester predicts digital customer service interactions will increase by 40% in 2021. IDC predicts that, this year, 65% of organizations will have shifted to digital-first through automated operations and contactless experiences for customer service.

We’ve all experienced this transition as we’ve become accustomed to using digital channels, such as messaging chat, over the past year because of the global pandemic.

We’re seeing the digital trend in our business as well. The number of digital customers for Genesys grew at 80% year over year (YoY) in Fiscal Year 2021* — with triple-digit growth in customers using at least two channels. Digital interactions have increased more than 300% YoY; they make up about 15% of all interactions.

Current digital solutions provide disjointed, transactional experiences to customers. Augmenting our digital capabilities with Bold360 technology further realizes our Experience as a ServiceSM vision. Only Genesys can orchestrate the digital and voice channels, data residing in our customers’ and third parties’ systems, and the artificial intelligence in order to create hyperpersonalized customer experiences. Experience as a Service makes it possible for companies to listen, understand and predict customer behavior before they act to deliver more effective and empathetic customer experiences.

From a personal perspective, I couldn’t be more excited to be leading our new digital and AI business. It’s thrilling to be at the cusp of an emerging market with significant opportunities.

The acquisition of Bold360 is expected to close in the first half of the calendar year after regulatory approval. Then, game on!

* In May 2020, Genesys transitioned its fiscal year from a calendar year to a fiscal year ending on January 31, 2021.