8×8, a leading Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) vendor, is set to acquire Fuze, a leader in cloud-based communications for the enterprise, for approximately $250 million in stock and cash.
The acquisition will accelerate 8×8 XCaaS (eXperience Communications as a Service) innovation and expand 8×8’s enterprise customer base and global presence. The transaction is expected to close during 8×8’s fourth fiscal quarter.
“Our XCaaS strategy is defining and shaping the future of the cloud communications industry as we drive innovation. 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,” Dave Sipes, CEO at 8×8, said.
Fuze has operations dedicated to a seamless customer experience between unified communications and contact center. Acquiring Fuze will support innovation and development of 8×8 XCaaS, a single-vendor, integrated Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) solution.
Both 8×8 and Fuze are recognized in the marketplace. 8×8 was named a Leader and Fuze a Visionary in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, Worldwide. This was the tenth consecutive year 8×8 was recognized as a Leader. 8×8 was named a Challenger in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service for the seventh consecutive year.
8×8’s acquisition $250 million acquisition of its competitor Fuze is the latest in a flurry of M&A activity in the collaboration and customer contact market, says Gary Barton, Principal Enterprise Technology and Services Analyst at GlobalData.
GlobalData expects this M&A trend to intensify, given the high value of the collaboration technologies market (including UCaaS), which GlobalData predicts will be worth $309 billion by 2025.
“8×8’s acquisition is primarily an attempt to achieve scale. 8×8 and Fuze are dwarfed by competitors such as Microsoft, Cisco, Google, and – to a lesser extent – Zoom. Unifying its revenues and research & development (R&D) budget with Fuze is a necessary move when competing against such giants.
“Both 8×8 and Fuze have grown at around the 20% rate recently. Investing in contact centers and customer experience will be vital to 8×8 as it seeks increased market traction – both through direct sales and channel partners.”
