Innovation

🖥 Abstrakt uses real-time call transcription and sentiment evaluation via Vertex AI to improve contact center experiences. ADT is creating a customer agent for millions to choose and set up home security systems. AUI's Apollo AI agent helps businesses deliver multi-step conversational experiences. BMC enhanced BMC Helix with Vertex AI and Llama 3.1, boosting conversational AI accuracy. Character.ai manages terabytes of daily conversations with Google Cloud AI services. Flockx uses collaborative AI technology to connect people to events and communities. Gojek's "Dira by GoTo AI" is a Bahasa Indonesia AI voice assistant for GoPay services. Hand Talk translates Portuguese to Brazilian sign language with a virtual character. Moveo.AI employs Vertex AI to train custom AI models, enhancing customer experience. Personal AI introduces a personal language model for individuals or brands. Quora developed Poe, a generative AI platform hosting bots on Google Cloud AI infrastructure. Reddit launched Reddit Answers and improved its homepage with Vertex AI Search. Snap's "My AI" chatbot in the US saw over 2.5-times engagement using Gemini. Twilio offers a customer engagement platform with AI tools. 2bots provides intelligent chatbots and virtual agents with Google Cloud AI solutions. Augment is creating an AI personal assistant for enhanced note-taking. Box integrates Vertex AI for features like malware detection and content classification. Causal built a generative AI setup wizard for financial modeling. Clodura

🔎️ A Bain & Company survey of 1,100+ US consumers reveals 80% depend on "zero-click" AI search results for 40%+ of searches. HubSpot notes a traffic drop of up to 30% to company sites, while Scrunch AI finds AI referral traffic grows 40% monthly. Adobe Analytics highlights a 1,200% increase in AI-driven traffic to retailer sites (Feb 2025 vs. July 2024). AI-powered search conversions are rising, with some outperforming standard Google search by 2x. AI is reshaping the customer discovery funnel, enabling single-step journeys from vague interest to specific recommendations, sidelining traditional touchpoints and necessitating new marketing strategies focused on AI-generated content and referrals.

🍕 Pizza Hut India, part of Yum! Brands, Inc., is integrating MoEngage to centralize customer engagement. This global pizza leader aims to enhance customer experiences through new channels. MoEngage provides an advanced analytics suite and AI-enabled offerings for targeted consumer programs. Pizza Hut values the platform for its capability, scale, and support, citing unmatched market customer success and implementation teams. MoEngage serves 1,350+ global brands and helps automate customer data reporting, minimizing manual efforts for Pizza Hut.

🍕 Pizza Hut India, a Yum! Brands, Inc. subsidiary, has partnered with MoEngage to revamp its customer engagement. MoEngage, serving 1,350+ global brands, will provide advanced analytics and AI to Pizza Hut for creating tailored consumer programs. The collaboration aims to streamline operations, offer quality support, and introduce innovative communication methods, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction. Manish Gupta, Chief Digital & Technology Officer of Pizza Hut India, highlights MoEngage's capability, scale, and support as decisive factors for the partnership.

💳 ROH secured a $9.2 million investment led by Highgate Technology Ventures and Acrew Capital for platform expansion and enhanced data processing. Over 80% of the hotel industry's $4 trillion annual payments involve manual work. ROH's board now includes Raja Goel, Kurien Jacob, and John Gardner. Hotels using ROH have seen improved sales conversions, operational efficiency, compliance adherence, and receivables management. Highgate piloted ROH over two years, noting immediate value and efficiency gains. In 2024, ROH handled nearly $250 million in invoices and saw a 523% increase in AI-generated bookings.

New solution fuels marketing effectiveness by tapping into advanced demand forecasting power LONDON — 22 April 2025 — IDeaS, a SAS company and the world’s leading provider of hospitality revenue management…

💰 ROH, a hospitality industry payments platform, finished a $9.2 million finance round led by Highgate Technology Ventures and Acrew Capital. The investment will support ROH's platform expansion and improve data processing from contracts, invoices, and payments. Highgate's Raja Goel and Kurien Jacob, along with Acrew's John Gardner, are joining ROH's Board. ROH aims to modernize hotel payment processes, addressing the 80% of the $4 trillion in hotel payments requiring manual intervention. In 2024, ROH managed nearly $250 million in invoices and saw a 523% increase in bookings from its AI application. Highgate's properties piloted ROH, leading to the investment and further commercial use due to improved operational efficiency and profitability.

🍽 Arizona Biltmore (LXR Hotels & Resorts) is debuting Le Petit Chef on May 1, 2025, featuring an immersive 3D dining experience. This will be the only Southwest venue among its 89 global and eight U.S. locations. The resort, a Frank Lloyd Wright-style landmark since 1929, adds to its luxury offerings with this intimate, 18-seat show running Thursdays to Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Tickets are priced at $195 per adult and $79 for the junior menu. Reservations are now open.

A creative hub in the heart of Paris to support visionary hotel brands seeking elevated digital storytelling Influence Society, the creative agency at the crossroads of design, hospitality, and innovation,…