Zoom Video Communications, Inc. recently announced it has plans to acquire – leading cloud contact center provider, Five9, Inc. The deal, worth a reported $14.7 billion, will enable Zoom to integrate Five9’s robust Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solution into its communications stack. A spokesperson for Five9 said in a statement, commenting on the merger:

“The deal will transform how businesses connect with customers and build the way they build the customer engagement platform of the future.”

Not only will the Five9 acquisition enhance Zoom’s presence with enterprise customers, but considering long-term growth – the merger could accelerate the contact center market by as much as $24 billion, according to Five9. Zoom CEO Eric S. Yuan said that Five9 is a natural fit that will deliver even more happiness and value to Zoom customers. Expanding on the news, he added:

“Zoom” is a tool 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.”

Yuan has a few valid points, too, as he notes that enterprises communicate with their customers primarily through the contact center. “We believe this acquisition creates a leading customer engagement platform that will help redefine how companies of all sizes connect with their customers,” noted Yuan.

Once the deal gets sealed, Five9 will become an operating arm of Zoom. Rowan Trollope, CEO, Five9 – he is set to become a President at Zoom, although he will continue his duties as CEO of Five9, with a twist. He will soon report to Zoom Yuan.

Trollope said that he felt that businesses spend significant resources each year on their contact center needs – but they still seem to struggle to deliver what he called a “seamless experience for their customers.” So, how will the duo deliver all this happiness? One executive says it will not be easy for them.

 

Delivering all this – Will Take Time, Says 8×8

Meghan Keough, SVP Corporate/Product Marketing, 8×8 Inc., a provider of business voice over IP products including cloud-based voice, contact center, video, mobile, and unified communications for businesses, told GetVoIP News that the deal lends a great deal of validation to single-platform offerings, noting:

“Zoom’s intended acquisition of Five9 is enormous validation to single platform offerings.”

These kinds of offerings seem to add a lot of value to anyone’s tech stack and are incredibly easy to deploy in most cases, hence her statement. Also according to Keough, the deal will not consist of a piece-of-cake rollout but rather take years for Zoom and Five9; to fully integrate the two technology stacks. Again, Keough:

“It will take at least six months before the acquisition closes. As enterprises move with urgency to the cloud as they transform both employee and customer experience, they do not have that kind of time.”

Businesses today, Keough wrote – require the agility of a fully integrated platform, which enables them to mix and match capabilities to deliver tailored user experiences and competitive advantage.

Others are receiving the news with a lot of enthusiasm, with the sentiment across social media being mostly positive. Take this post, by Dialpad CEO Craig Walker for example. Walker wrote a long-form congratulating post on LinkedIn where he said:

“We know #TruCaaS is the future, and businesses need one single app to do it all. It’s simply the most productive way to get work done no matter if it’s between employees, with your customers, or a mix of both.”

Both Zoom and Five9 have fairly steady revenue growth. And as such, it would appear; no matter what you think of the acquisition, it will likely go through. Thusly, the market should look a bit different in years to come. It will even undoubtedly force many other smaller providers to innovate, integrate, and collaborate a lot more with the likes of Zoom/Five9, two organizations set to soon become one big (happy) family.