Zoom bets billions on hybrid working by buying Five9

Zoom has just placed their bets and rolled the dice.

On what, you ask?

On hybrid working, with their recent move to spend billions on purchasing Five9. 

Five9 is a customer experience platform that features cloud-based contact centre software. It delivers a comprehensive suite of applications that allow for the optimisation and management of customer interactions. Five9 is ideal for remote working situations and has supported more than 2,000 clients,  including Lululemon, Olympus and Under Armour through the Pandemic.

Five9's deal with Zoom is expected to be complete in 2022, showing Zoom's ardent belief in the long term future of hybrid working.

A future that is supported by the outlook of a majority of companies. Most of which are likely to implement a hybrid working week of two to three days in the office and the rest at home for employees. IWG, a global workspace provider has commented that they expect working from home to become an established business norm, with its benefits of being less expensive, time-consuming and environmentally damaging.

Having technology in place that renders remote working a smooth and productive process for businesses is crucial. A reality which Zoom clearly recognises through buying Five9, which they argue will "transform how businesses connect with their customers" 

Zoom's acquisition of Five9 marks a shift in their strategy, coming at the same time the company prioritises their cloud-calling product Zoom Phone and conference-hosting product Zoom Rooms. They have already seen high demand for both of these services, driving their investment into software designed around a hybrid working future. 

Zoom's CEO has commented that "customised and personalised" business experiences are in increasing demand by consumers due to this shift. 

And for a business to deliver those experiences?

They need to be efficient. They need to be extremely productive. And most of all, they need to experiment and perfect their communication and collaboration strategies so they work both in the office and remotely. 

The key to all this is investing in high-quality collaboration platforms and software which truly support and uplift the needs of your business and your employees.