The trend of mergers and acquisitions in the UCaaS industry continues to grow. 8×8, leading integrated cloud communications platform provider, announced its intent to acquire Fuze, leader in cloud-based communications for the enterprise, for approximately $250 million in stock and cash. According to 8×8 CEO Dave Sipes’ blog, this a move towards extending “our leadership by accelerating our ability to innovate, broadening our enterprise customer base, increasing our operational scale, and expanding our global presence.”
When 8×8 announced Experience Communications As A Service (XCaaS) in May 2021, they established their intent to offer a wholistic solution to enable organizations meet the new hybrid work requirements blurring the line between Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) bringing together the employee and customer communications in a single platform. In the subsequent months we saw 8×8 XCaaS swiftly adding features and accolades to its list enhancing its product appeal while strengthening its position in the industry. To name a few, they are the only leader in UCaaS Gartner Magic Quadrant to be also recognized in the CCaaS Magic Quadrant; and in August, they announced setting a new industry benchmark for quality and reliability in cloud communications with 8×8 XCaaS offering uptime guarantee for organizations operating hybrid/ distributed workforce. Soon after that, 8×8 Frontdesk was launched powered by the XCaaS’ unique blend of unified communications and contact center capabilities thereby enhancing productivity and level of engagement best suited for hybrid workplace. In short, 8×8 has spent the last few months continuously innovating their offering to meet the fast-changing demands of the new hybrid work culture. The acquisition of Fuze is expected to accelerate 8×8 XCaaS innovation further. Dave Sipes believes that “The acquisition of Fuze expands our operational scale and extends our global presence as we meet enterprise demand for our XCaaS integrated UCaaS and CCaaS solution.”
According to Fuze’s CEO Brian Day, their shared perspectives on significant things – such as the future of hybrid work culture and the integrated communication platforms, on customer approach, product emphasis and team culture – makes their merger simple and poised for symbiotic success.
“Enterprise customers recognize the importance of an integrated UCaaS and CCaaS solution. 8×8’s industry-leading XCaaS solution for an integrated employee and customer experience enables customers to advance their cloud transformation efforts as they move off legacy on-premises systems,” said Brian Day, CEO of Fuze. “Combining resources and expertise with 8×8 is a natural fit, bringing with it needed scale and accelerating the pace of product innovation with differentiated solutions that capitalize on this massive opportunity, all of which will serve to benefit our enterprise customer base.”
With all the big players competing hard in innovating possibilities to exceed the growing demands of the clients, and several strategic acquisitions happening as a result (20 plus acquisitions in just 2020-21), industry positioning and market dynamics are witnessing several twists and turns. Hence, the impact of the collective power of 8×8 and Fuze on the market is still unclear. However, one outcome is assured. There is continuous product enhancement that is stemming out of this competition and the businesses and the end-customers are at the advantage.
