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Press Release

Talkdesk launches Talkdesk CXTalent and Talkdesk Academy to serve companies in need of agents and help recently unemployed with new job opportunities

Talkdesk Academy provides free training and certification, Talkdesk CXTalent – product #14 of Talkdesk 20-in-20 program – provides a portal to connect skilled candidates with employers

  • Talkdesk CXTalent uses artificial intelligence to pair job seekers with organizations looking to fill remote contact center roles 
  • Talkdesk Academy offers job seekers free training and certifications to develop essential contact center skills
  • Talkdesk customers and BPO partners can find and hire qualified candidates with ease to fill open roles, scale-up business or augment current staff due to shortages

SAN FRANCISCO — April 28, 2020 — Talkdesk®, Inc., the cloud contact center for innovative enterprises, today announced Talkdesk CXTalent™, a talent job platform for agents, supervisors and system administrators that connects skilled individuals seeking work-from-home jobs with innovative companies hiring contact center workforce. Talkdesk CXTalent, product #14 in the Talkdesk 20-in-20 program, helps companies in need of well-trained customer service staff to alleviate the additional inbound support pressure many industries are experiencing as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Simultaneously, Talkdesk CXTalent functions as a matching service for both customer service industry veterans and newcomers. With free training available through Talkdesk Academy™, job seekers can develop essential skills through four progressive levels of coursework and Talkdesk certifications.

The customer service industry has seen a unique, dual-front impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Many organizations are experiencing drastic losses in revenue and subsequent workforce reductions, while others find themselves short-handed. Verizon and Halifax have closed call centers, leading to thousands of newly unemployed customer service agents. Other customer service providers, such as state unemployment agencies and remote-friendly companies, are seeing significant spikes in customer service traffic and face workforce shortages. Some companies are turning to Business Process Outsourcers (BPO) for additional customer service support to quickly meet this rise in demand, resulting in service level challenges. The combination of Talkdesk CXTalent and Talkdesk Academy offers a multi-layer solution to bring employers, BPOs and job seekers together.

“Social distancing recommendations and shelter-in-place requirements are forcing some contact centers to shut down if they are unable, or unwilling, to move contact centers to the cloud and allow agents to work from home,” said Tiago Paiva, chief executive officer, Talkdesk. “The combination of Talkdesk Academy and Talkdesk CXTalent offers solutions for both the people whose employment is a COVID-19 casualty and the businesses seeing a surge in support exceeding its workforce capacity.”

Talkdesk CXTalent is a gig-economy job platform fed by Talkdesk Academy and open to any customer service provider in need of additional talent. Companies can find qualified and certified candidates on the Talkdesk CXTalent marketplace and hire with ease to fill open roles, scale-up business during busy times or augment current staff due to shortages. Talkdesk CXTalent uses artificial intelligence (AI), powered by Talkdesk iQ™, to pair job seekers with organizations ready and willing to hire for remote contact center roles. The system utilizes Talkdesk iQ to group and pair potential candidates with open roles based on experience, skills and certifications. Customer service providers can easily add and scale contact center operations with available, certified professionals ranging from agent to advanced administration level.

“While we’ve recently seen an immediate shift to hire staff by video-only interviews, CXTalent brings in a whole other layer as a shared knowledge base of resources,” says Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst, ZK Research. “This innovative approach is something I don’t recall seeing from any other vendor.”

“I believe Talkdesk CXTalent can transform contact center staffing,” said Patrícia Loureiro, global director of customer service, Farfetch. “The option to add trained and certified agents, who have been grouped in terms of performance, anywhere in the world, will help companies scale customer service teams faster and in places where currently they have no local offices or support.”

Talkdesk Academy offers no-cost training and certification on the Talkdesk platform for any person, regardless of contact center experience. All job-seekers can bolster their candidate profile with training and certifications from Talkdesk Academy with AI-driven recommendations of additional skills to make candidates more successful in the market. Talkdesk Academy follows a multi-tier process to prepare agents, supervisors and administrators with best practices, techniques and hands-on instruction in using, managing and administering Talkdesk for remote cloud contact center service and support operations. Talkdesk Academy graduates receive badges and credentials to confirm competencies and increase the graduate’s value to employers. The value-add benefits of Talkdesk Academy certification extends beyond the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic impact and carries through to the larger contact center market for future needs. 

“The combination of Talkdesk Academy and Talkdesk CXTalent offers a single solution for a complicated problem: the rapid rise of unemployment which is contributing to a rapid rise in customer service needs without a deep enough talent pool to meet this need,” said Dr. Shauna Geraghty, senior vice president, head of people and operations, Talkdesk. “Talkdesk CXTalent offers an unlimited talent pool of skilled contact center and customer service professionals, helps identify which candidates fit roles best and reduces traditional constraints on the hiring process for a shortened hiring timeline.”

Additional Resources: 

Tweet this: .@Talkdesk launches Talkdesk CXTalent and Talkdesk Academy to help customer service industry navigate employment crossroads of #COVID19. Talkdesk Academy provides free training while Talkdesk CXTalent connects qualified candidates with employers in need. https://bit.ly/2YaoX1v 

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About Talkdesk

Talkdesk® is the cloud contact center for the customer-obsessed. Combining enterprise performance with consumer simplicity, Talkdesk easily adapts to the evolving needs of support and sales teams and their end-customers, resulting in higher customer satisfaction, productivity and cost savings. Over 1,800 innovative companies around the world, including IBM, Acxiom, 2U, Trivago and Peloton, rely on Talkdesk to make customer experience their competitive advantage. Learn more and request a demo at www.talkdesk.com.

Talkdesk is a registered trademark of Talkdesk, Inc. All product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.  

Media Contacts:

Talkdesk Public Relations

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