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Unpacking Zoom’s Plan to Acquire Five9

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A contact center headset icon with a question mark
Image: Andrey Popov - stock.adobe.com
It has just been over a week since we first heard that Zoom was going to dip its toes in the CCaaS market, acquiring Five9 in the process. With the news in the books, many inside and outside the communications industry are now asking themselves, "What does this all mean?"
 
For perspective on that question, Diane Myers, chief analyst for enterprise collaboration at Omdia, joined me for an episode of the No Jitter on Air podcast (listen below) for a discussion on the possible UCaaS implications. Myers, who reports on the top North American UCaaS providers in an annual Omdia report, shared how the Zoom acquisition might not mean much in the near term, but for the long term, it might translate into business growth — or a potential liability.
 
That is to say, once Zoom has closed on the Five9 deal, it will be able to offer enterprises an integrated CCaaS and UCaaS platform. However, should Zoom take its “eye off the ball” — i.e., Zoom Phone — as it works to incorporate Five9 into the company, it could take a hit with enterprises looking to it for UCaaS, Myers said. Fortunately, Zoom and Five9 have strong leadership, so they should be able to stay focused during the shift, she added.
 

 
In an Omdia report on the acquisition published last week, a trio of Diane’s colleagues — Mila D'Antonio, principal analyst for the customer engagement team; Prachi Nema, principal analyst, enterprise communications and collaboration; and Ken Landoline, principal analyst, customer engagement — predicted that this acquisition is a sign of broader changes in the market.
 
The coming together of CCaaS and UCaaS will spur a new technology category called customer experience management (CXM), which combines "business communications, together with customer communications, engagement, journey, and service solutions," they stated. Additionally, “The [CXM] category will further take shape with enterprise vendors such as Zoom, Microsoft, and even Adobe and Salesforce potentially eventually acquiring CCaaS solutions and customer journey orchestration platforms to adjust to the new digital-first, post-COVID environment,” they added.
 
The acquisition also speaks to the trend of enterprises increasingly turning to platforms that tie business communications and customer service capabilities together, they said. Not only will the integration bring Zoom's video, phone, and chat capabilities into contact center operations, but also enables a single platform that allows enterprises to address both front-office and back-office experiences, they added.
 
Outside the Omdia universe, long-time No Jitter contributors weighed in on the acquisition news, sharing their insights in the following articles:
With the acquisition set to close in the first half of 2022, it might be some time until we see the full picture of two cloud providers coming together. However, this won’t stop industry speculation on what comes next and how other competitors, namely Microsoft, will counter — if at all. So, until we have a clearer picture, stay tuned to No Jitter for more.

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Are you looking for more market insight? Then make sure to attend Enterprise Connect this fall for a host of sessions presented by Omdia analysts. Mila D'Antonio will be discussing the future of customer journey orchestration, while Prachi Nema will give a presentation on collaborative meeting services. No Jitter readers can receive $200 off their registration with promo code NJAL200. Register now!