Customer engagement stories

Visa has appointed former consulting chief David Peacock as Country Manager for New Zealand and the Pacific amid rapid digital payments growth.

Smart Communications secures CSA STAR Level 2 in Singapore for its AWS-hosted SmartCOMM and SmartIQ, boosting cloud security assurance.

Connected packaging sheds its fad status as record executive backing, rising budgets and compliance pressures push it firmly into the boardroom.

Infobip launches AgentOS, an AI orchestration layer unifying customer data and channels so autonomous agents can manage and personalise service.

Sinch unveils AI agent tools to orchestrate customer interactions across messaging, email and voice, promising flexible, channel-agnostic deployment.

Google and Klaviyo are deepening ties to power AI “agentic commerce”, linking ads, search and RCS messaging to real-time customer data.

Securonix has promoted Ajay Biyani to Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan, tasking him with spearheading regional growth.

ANZ marketers embrace AI to meet soaring demands for real-time, two-way customer conversations, but patchy data and generic campaigns hold them back.

Confluent unveils Sell With Confluent reseller scheme to speed APAC data streaming sales, promising simpler pricing, discounts and co-marketing.

New Zealand tech provider Vetta Group is unifying its brands under a single identity by 2026, aiming to streamline customer engagement.

Sales teams waste time on dead numbers; verified phone data turns outreach into real conversations, better leads and higher conversions.

Snowflake adds dbt and Apache Airflow support to Cortex Code CLI and unveils its first standalone subscription for non-Snowflake users.

SAP renames Emarsys as Engagement Cloud, adding an enterprise edition to unify governed, AI-driven customer interactions across systems.

RingCentral integrates OpenAI's GPT-5.2 to power live AI voice calls, launching new assistants to support customers and employees in real time.

MaxContact Australia has rebranded as Kaizn, shifting focus to independent CX and contact centre advisory across Australia and New Zealand.

Infobip tops Juniper RCS for Business 2026 leaderboard, hailed as leading Established Leader on reach, innovation and operator ties.

Aurasell launches GTM OS, an AI-native overlay that automates go-to-market workflows across existing CRMs without risky system replacement.

Brands swapping 'Valentine's Day' for personal 'Valentine' subject lines see big email gains, as generic “love” talk and “shop” prompts drag.

Infobip upgrades its WhatsApp Marketing Messages API with optimisation tools that lift delivery rates and boost ROI by over 60%.

OpenAI has launched Frontier, an enterprise platform to deploy AI coworkers at scale by unifying data, tools and governance across firms.