Press Release

Times Union selects Talkdesk CX Cloud for remote work needs, shifts all agents to work-at-home within days

Talkdesk quickly moves Times Union contact center operations from in-office to 100% remote with cloud flexibility


  • Talkdesk implements complete contact center solution and shifts all Times Union agents to remote-work arrangements in less than one week
  • Times Union integrates customer database with Talkdesk for Salesforce to boost agent efficiency and productivity
  • Comprehensive reporting from Talkdesk offers Times Union valuable business intelligence to fine-tune and improve overall customer experience

SAN FRANCISCO – July 30, 2020 – Talkdesk®, Inc., the cloud contact center for innovative enterprises, today announced Times Union has leveraged Talkdesk CX Cloud to quickly and efficiently shift its customer service operations remotely during the ongoing pandemic. Times Union, the leading news organization in New York’s Capital Region and part of Hearst, selected Talkdesk because the company needed to urgently move operations remotely due to COVID-19, while also adding Salesforce integration, better measurement and business intelligence visibility. 


When the pandemic forced employees to work from home, Times Union needed a flexible solution to quickly shift agents to work remotely while continuing to support its customers’ needs. Leveraging cloud solutions and a quick deployment model, Talkdesk transitioned Times Union contact center operations onto its network and coordinated its call routing through an outsourcing solution while Times Union equipped agents with work-from-home tools. Talkdesk successfully completed the Times Union deployment, along with the temporary call routing and subsequent re-routing of customer service traffic back to Times Union at-home agents, in less than one week.


“Talkdesk has been nothing short of phenomenal for us. When we told Talkdesk we needed to move to 100% remote work quickly, they told us it could be done within a week,” said Todd Peterson, vice president, circulation and marketing, Times Union. “We were truly impressed at their ability to follow through on this promise, and it was incredibly helpful for maintaining normalcy throughout our organization.”


In its move to Talkdesk, Times Union also sought to boost customer service efficiency and effectiveness by adding Salesforce integration and comprehensive reporting functionality. Talkdesk for Salesforce easily connects with Times Union’s in-depth customer database and provides its agents with immediate access to caller information through automatic screen pops, reducing average handle time, caller wait time and improving overall efficiency. With real-time reporting through Talkdesk Analytics & Insights, Times Union has the crucial business intelligence they need to react instantly to changing traffic trends and look ahead to set proper service levels with advanced forecasting. With comprehensive reporting and customizable API-based dashboards, Times Union will have the ability to monitor and optimize its team’s performance and positively impact customer satisfaction.


“We are thrilled to be selected by Times Union as their contact center solutions provider and look forward to being the foundation upon which they can provide outstanding customer experience,”  said Tiago Paiva, chief executive officer, Talkdesk. “Today’s forward-thinking enterprise organizations like Times Union are making customer experience a competitive advantage with Talkdesk and transforming their contact centers to keep pace with customer demand.”


Talkdesk recently announced $143 million in Series C funding, increasing the company’s valuation to more than $3 billion. This new round of funding reflects both investor confidence in Talkdesk’s business and the strategic role that superior customer experience plays among top global brands. 


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Tweet this: Times Union selects Talkdesk CX Cloud for remote work needs, shifts all agents to work-at-home within days. @Talkdesk #cloud flexibility allows @timesunion to quickly moves #CustServ ops from in-office to 100% remote. https://bit.ly/2P8srMm


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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:

Gavin Gustafson

[email protected] 

(801) 560-0073