Dialpad has announced its acquisition of the workforce management business Surfboard.
Additionally, Dialpad announced Jen Grant as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Atit Shah as its first-ever Chief Security Officer (CSO) as it surpasses $300 million in ARR. The company says this cements its “leadership in revolutionising customer communications by delivering purpose-built native AI capabilities to the entire customer journey”.
Dialpad says it’s strengthening its status in the contact centre space by acquiring Surfboard, a modern workforce management (WFM) platform that aims to streamline every step of the customer journey.
Vincent Paquet, Chief Product Officer at Dialpad, commented:
One of the most time-consuming tasks for any modern team is scheduling meetings and managing a workforce. In our hybrid and platform-powered workforce, enterprises want a single place for all business communications and organisation. The team at Surfboard has created an exceptional product for workforce management, and we’re excited to combine our capabilities to bring customers the very best AI-native WFM on the market.”
Founded in 2021, Surfboard positions itself as a modern disruptor in the traditionally outdated workforce management industry. By combining advanced technology with a user-friendly interface, Surfboard aims to transform customer service teams into profit centres while enhancing customer satisfaction and delivering exceptional service experiences.
“We at Surfboard believe that the future of customer service is going to be a hybrid of AI-enabled work powered by humans,” added Natasha Ratanshi-Stein, Founder of Surfboard.
“Over the last couple of years, Dialpad has propelled the industry forward in evolving how customer service teams integrate AI. Surfboard and Dialpad share the philosophy that technology can improve customer outcomes and team efficiency. Together, we’re excited to continue building products that allow our customers to do just that.”
Dialpad’s New Hires And ‘Record-Breaking Growth’
In addition to its acquisition news, Dialpad also revealed new hires: Grant as its new CMO and Shah as its first-ever CSO.
Dialpad stresses that Grant, a Dialpad board member since 2020, brings extensive experience in scaling high-growth tech companies, with leadership roles at Looker, Elastic, Box, and Google. As CMO, Dialpad says she will lead its global marketing strategy to accelerate growth, boost brand visibility, and strengthen its position as a leading AI communications provider.
Dialpad highlights that Shah brings over 20 years of cybersecurity and technology risk management experience from startups to Fortune 100 companies. Previously Head of Security at WePay, he built its security function post-JPMorgan acquisition. At Dialpad, Shah will lead global security strategy, ensuring the platform maintains top-tier enterprise comms security.
Dialpad also surpassed $300 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), which Craig Walker, its Founder and CEO, accredited to its long-term vision around AI in communications.
“Our fully integrated, modern cloud approach allows us to innovate much faster than any of our competitors, and our early investment in real-time AI has positioned us at the forefront of understanding every business conversation,” Walker said. “This milestone not only validates our strategy of harnessing AI to transform how businesses interact with their customers but also lays the foundation for our next phase of growth as we continue to help every business make smarter decisions.”
Dialpad and T-Mobile Partner on ‘Game Changer’ AI Recaps
In March, Dialpad and T-Mobile announced a partnership over the launch of AI Recaps.
Both businesses describe the offering as a “game changer for business communication” that leverages conversational data to create accurate, customisable, and actionable insights. AI Recaps, developed using DialpadGPT, a large language model tailored for business conversations, leverages over six billion minutes of Dialpad’s conversational data.
Dialpad and T-Mobile are extending their partnership, which started in 2021, for an additional three years. Under the new agreement, Dialpad and T-Mobile business customers will have access to Dialpad’s latest AI-powered cloud comms technology, including AI Recaps. Additionally, Dialpad is joining the T-Mobile 5G Network Slicing Beta program to improve video calling experiences by enhancing network performance.
