Lifesize, Serenova Create UCaaS, CCaaS Company
Combined vendor to offer single cloud-based platform
Video collaboration firm Lifesize is merging with Serenova, a Contact Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS) vendor, to create a new company specializing in cloud-based contact center communications and collaboration management that will have more than 10,000 customers.
The Lowdown: The new company will come to the market with combined CCaaS and Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) offerings that will include a platform of video collaboration and contact center solutions.
The Details: Global investment firm Marlin Equity Partners, which led Serenova’s acquisition last fall of the ProScheduler workforce management platform from Loxysoft, is sponsoring the merger with Lifesize and will invest in the combined company. The firm will help develop the new company’s business strategy, which will include not only product development but also acquisitions and partnerships.
The combined company will bring together the communications and video collaboration technologies from Lifesize with the omnichannel contact center expertise of Austin, Texas-based Serenova into a single cloud-based platform. Partners will play a key role in the go-to-market strategy. The new company will have partners in more than 100 countries.
Craig Malloy, founder and CEO of Lifesize, will be CEO of the combined company. Serenova CEO John Lynch will become its senior vice president of sales, which will include oversight of major global accounts. As far as branding for the new company, that will come at a later date, a Lifesize spokesperson told Channelnomics.
The Impact: The cloud-based communications and contact center markets are expected to grow rapidly over the next few years as enterprises look to ease management headaches and improve performance and costs by moving the work into the cloud. Fortune Business Insights is projecting the global USaaS market to reach more than $36.5 billion by 2026, up from $16.7 billion in 2018. Meanwhile, a report from ResearchandMarkets says the worldwide cloud-based contact center market will grow from $6.8 billion in 2017 to almost $21 billion by 2022.
The Buzz: “Deeper customer and employee engagement through more vivid, direct communication is where the world’s most successful businesses will distinguish themselves from the competition,” Malloy said. “This merger joins two companies with vast market expertise and cutting-edge, cloud-based solutions. When combined into an integrated platform, we will be uniquely positioned to help organizations deliver communication experiences that far surpass the status quo, from the contact center to the meeting room and beyond.”
“Lifesize has a long track record of innovation in business communications and a strong dedication to customer success,” Lynch said. “The synergies between Serenova and Lifesize solutions will allow us to revolutionize how businesses communicate with their customers and will deepen the value we can offer to our existing contact center customers worldwide.”
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CHANNELNOMICS:
>Lifesize Shifts Partners to Commission Payment Model
>Lifesize Launches Video Conferencing Room-as-a-Service
>Avaya Unveils CCaaS Platform Subscription Pricing
