Vonage buys contact center software firm NewVoiceMedia

Internet communications company Vonage Holdings said Wednesday that it's acquired NewVoiceMedia, makers of contact center software, for $350 million. Vonage -- which focuses primarily on programmable SMS, voice and IP messaging services -- sees the acquisition as a way to expand its presence with global mid-market and enterprise clients, and forge stronger integrations and go-to-market relationships with CRM providers, namely Salesforce.

"We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of NewVoiceMedia, which represents a major step forward in the realization of our strategic vision to deliver a differentiated, fully-programmable communications solution that drives more meaningful customer interactions and better outcomes for businesses," said Vonage CEO Alan Masarek.

The acquisition comes less than two months after Vonage shelled out $35 million to buy TokBox, a player in WebRTC programmable video sector. Vonage said the deal was a means to gain momentum as a general provider of B2B cloud communications services.

Prior to that deal, Vonage's last notable acquisition came in 2016 when it bought CPaaS company Nexmo for $230 million. The company was known for its range APIs for messaging, voice and chat that let users create communications services without a lot of development. Nexmo is now integrated into Vonage as the Nexmo, the Vonage API Platform.

The call center market features a number of players ranging from business process outsourcing companies to systems integrators to private branch exchange providers. Traditional legacy vendors include Cisco, Avaya, and Genesys, and new players like Twilio are also eying gains in the space.

Source zdnet

Industry: Unified Communications news