Return of the Td

ujI rarely write about analyst events. These events have multiple purposes but are primarily designed to educate analysts on a brand. Some are more bi-directional. Typically, they are not newsworthy. There’s even an argument that they should be invisible as they facilitate storytelling and are not the story itself.?

But the recent Talkdesk event was newsworthy. While a press release was issued during the event (embedded Td), the real story is that Talkdesk is back.?

Talkdesk was the wonderkid of CCaaS. It emerged quickly from a hackathon and had the vibe of a contact center reinvented. This Portuguese startup was the country’s second unicorn. I visited Td’s Lisbon office in 2019, and it was filled with young energy. Td built onramps from the Portuguese universities, offering graduates the best of Portugal and Silicon Valley in one career. Talkdesk likely experienced the shortest path to the Leaders quadrant. Then, Td went quiet.?

The company’s sky-high valuation became a liability when the market shifted priority from growth to profit. Its chief supplier became a competitor. The pandemic caused Td to shutter offices. Fedramp goals caused it to emphasize its US operations and downplay its Portuguese roots. Its founder, Tiago Paiva , isn’t shy, but even he largely lived in the shadows during this period. Analyst outreach ceased. Gartner dropped Td into Visionaries.

I was intrigued by an invitation to its first industry analyst event in a long time (6 years?). Tiago not only attended but had a lot to say. He participated the whole time, as did half of Td’s leadership team. I loved that CTO Munil Shah and SVP Product Rei Kasai (he who shall not be mentioned on LI) sat near each other to discuss topics during the event, as these roles should be tightly connected. It was reassuring that Christie Blake was back at Td where she belongs, and the new guy, CMO Neville Letzerich , was completely engaged and up to speed.?

CCaaS providers are so eager to stay in lockstep with AI innovation that their differentiation is fading. However, Td told a differentiated story. It’s one of the few companies with founder mojo (along with Content Guru , ujet.cx , and Zoom ). Td was one of the few companies that improved its performance in the most recent CCaaS MQ (see my full report).?

Td also showed off its new Agentic AI. I’m not sold yet on the agentic wave, but it did some nice language tricks like tone adjustment and spoken language flip (see demo here). I saw a similar demo the week before that could only do English. These bots offer a far better experience than IVRs, but that’s as far as I’m endorsing.?

I left Charleston full of food (it is a foodie town) and with the Td optimism they were serving. I am so pleased that Td is back.??

Carlos Cano