Amazon Just Fired 16,000 People… by Leaked Calendar Invite

This week on Funnel Frontier: An exec’s calendar mishap leaked Amazon’s layoff email. "Project Dawn" left 16,000 people jobless.

This week:

• Amazon just fired 16,000 people… by leaked calendar invite
• Microsoft and ServiceNow are rewriting how CX gets done

Stat of the Week

43% of businesses report that CRM software reduces employee workload by 5 to 10 hours per week. (CRM.org)

Amazon just fired 16,000 people… by leaked calendar invite

When Amazon named its latest layoffs “Project Dawn,” they probably didn’t expect it to break at sunset, via a calendar invite.

That’s how 16,000 employees got the bad news early: a leaked meeting titled “Send project Dawn email” went out with the actual email inside. A real oops-we-hit-send-too-soon moment, courtesy of an Outlook mishap.

An internal meeting titled “Send project Dawn email” was mistakenly sent out by Colleen Aubrey, Senior Vice President at Amazon Web Services. The invite included the actual layoff email, giving thousands of employees an unplanned sneak peek. Amazon yanked it fast, but not fast enough.

🧯 16,000 jobs cut, clarity not included

By the morning of January 28, Amazon moved from “oops” to official.

The news was official: 16,000 corporate jobs eliminated, affecting teams across AWS, retail, Prime Video, and HR.

Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, confirmed the cuts and tried to calm nerves, saying the company wasn’t planning “broad reductions every few months.”

She framed this round as unfinished business:

“While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now.”

Translation: this wasn’t sudden, it was just delayed.

With this round, Amazon’s corporate layoffs now total 30,000 roles, nearly 10% of its white‑collar workforce, and the largest job cut in the company’s 30‑year history. 

As for why? The explanation keeps shifting.

In October, Amazon tied layoffs directly to AI, calling it “the most transformative technology since the Internet.”

Now, CEO Andy Jassy says it’s not really about AI or even money:

“[The reduction was] not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI‑driven. It’s culture.”

Apparently, Amazon had built up too many layers, too much bureaucracy.

That might sound tidy to investors, but it won’t reassure customers when the call wait times spike.

🤖 More AI, fewer humans. What could go wrong?

Amazon hasn’t said exactly which roles were cut, but history fills in the blanks. Previous rounds hit customer support, account management, and technical support. And this time, the blast radius includes AWS.

That’s risky.

Yes, Amazon is investing heavily in AI. The company showed off new models at its AWS conference in December. The quiet assumption is that AI will absorb the work left behind.

Maybe it will. Eventually.

But replacing human‑led CX before AI is fully proven isn’t efficient, but a live experiment on your customers.

The Week @ CRM.org

Bitrix 24 CRM Review. A solid option for SMBs who need to juggle customers, projects, and team chat, without breaking the bank.

Open Source CRM. Thrillingly affordable, but make sure you can read the Martian manual before takeoff!

🌸 Weekly Bloom 🌸 

Emotional Intelligence @ Work. Turns out emotional IQ might trump smart-smarts on the ladder of success. 

💡Microsoft and ServiceNow are rewriting how CX gets done

Microsoft and ServiceNow just wrapped their earnings calls, and if you’re still treating AI like a sandbox experiment, you missed the memo.

For both giants, AI is now the growth engine, the operating system, and the new pricing model. And for CX leaders? It’s decision time.

🛰 Microsoft: The copilots are coming

During its earnings call, Microsoft revealed it just crossed $51.5B in quarterly cloud revenue. Copilot now has 15M+ paid seats. Foundry, its agent-building platform, is processing over a trillion tokens a year for 250+ customers.

Satya Nadella isn’t mincing words: “All software is being rewritten.” And that rewrite squarely includes customer experience.

Microsoft’s AI agents are learning how to manage escalations, understand full service journeys, and reduce that “sorry, let me transfer you” whiplash across support channels.

Behind the scenes, Fabric and Foundry power it all, bringing together customer data, workflows, and model governance so you can build agents that don’t just reply. They resolve.

🧩 ServiceNow: Assist packs, control towers, and a lot of M&A

Meanwhile, ServiceNow is in full consolidation mode. Their AI Control Tower is becoming the “command center” for how enterprises monitor and govern AI models.

In its Q4 earnings call, ServiceNow reported that Now Assist, its AI-powered workflow engine, has more than doubled its annual contract value to over $600 million.

CEO Bill McDermott is calling it early: “Millions of AI agents will be built on ServiceNow.” And if they’re not built there, they’ll be governed there.

They’re backing it up with acquisitions (Moveworks, Veza, Armis), agentic platforms, and assist packs that turn AI automation into a line item with real ROI.

💡 What this means for CX leaders

The days of “we’re exploring AI” are over. Your vendors aren’t exploring anymore. They’re building billion-dollar roadmaps around it.

So before that next quarterly business review, ask yourself:

• Do your agents solve problems or just forward tickets?
• Is your customer data ready for this level of orchestration?
• Are you prepared to prove AI ROI when pricing turns to consumption?

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

Mitto Launches Number Insight for HubSpot. Mitto’s new HubSpot integration validates and enriches phone numbers directly in the CRM. Teams can now improve SMS deliverability, segment smarter, and automate clean data workflows.

Teneo.ai Brings Agentic AI to Major Household Appliance Brands. Teneo 8 now powers AI Agents for appliance makers, automating complex service tasks like troubleshooting, warranty validation, and repair booking, while preserving privacy and enterprise-grade control.

TELUS and RingCentral Expand Business Connect with AI Features. TELUS Business Connect now includes RingCentral’s AI tools for calls, chat, contact centers, and coaching. Canadian businesses gain automation, insights, and intelligent routing all in one platform.

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