Zoom Video Communications has agreed to acquire Five9, a provider of cloud-based contact center solutions, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $14.7 billion.
With the acquisition, Zoom said it aims to build “the engagement platform of the future.” Taking a stake in the $24 billion contact center market also offers the company a nice growth opportunity as competition heats up in the video conferencing space and the pandemic-driven remote-work boom wanes.
Customer service received renewed attention among retailers last year following the forced shifted to digital communication and service channels. According to the 2021 Retail TouchPoints Customer Loyalty Benchmark Survey, 58% of retailers gained new ecommerce customers as a result of the pandemic. As a result, some brands and retailers had to navigate a surge in service demand, which put a strain on call centers. Forward-looking retailers and brands have embraced new technologies, including chatbots, SMS messaging and even virtual video services, to up their customer service experiences and take pressure off reps.
Five9’s cloud-based contact center software — which the company refers to as Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) — offers a scalable, secure suite of applications designed to optimize customer interactions across different channels. Five9’s services will be offered in conjunction with Zoom’s new Phone solution — a cloud-based phone system that offers a digital alternative to legacy phone offerings.
Advertisement
“Zoom is built on a core belief that robust and reliable communications technology enables interactions that build greater empathy and trust, and we believe that holds particularly true for customer engagement,” said Eric Yuan, CEO and Founder of Zoom in a statement. “Enterprises communicate with their customers primarily through the contact center, and we believe this acquisition creates a leading customer engagement platform that will help redefine how companies of all sizes connect with their customers.”
“Businesses spend significant resources annually on their contact centers, but still struggle to deliver a seamless experience for their customers,” added Rowan Trollope, CEO of Five9 in the statement. “It has always been Five9’s mission to make it easy for businesses to fix that problem and engage with their customers in a more meaningful and efficient way.”
Following the close of the transaction, Five9 will become an operating unit of Zoom. Trollope will become a President of Zoom and continue as CEO of Five9, reporting to Yuan.
