NICE has secured the “largest ever” deal for its CCaaS platform: NICE CXone.
The deal with an unnamed APAC organization has a total contract value (TCV) of $100MN+.
Having secured that contract, NICE will now replace multiple long-standing on-premise platform providers.
Moreover, it will implement NICE Enlighten, which has three core solutions: Enlighten Copilot, Autopilot, and Actions. These will bring GenAI-powered virtual assistants, virtual agents, and reporting capabilities to the organization, respectively.
Sharing more on the deal, Darren Rushworth, President of NICE International, stated: “This historic deal is representative of the enterprise cloud inflection point we are currently witnessing.
AI is intensifying cloud adoption as enterprises realize that to effectively implement CX AI, they must consolidate operations onto a single, interaction-centric platform. This is driving unprecedented adoption of CXone.
Those increasing adoption rates for CXone are evident in recent earnings results, with NICE again achieving positive revenue growth last quarter. Indeed, it was up 15 percent year-over-year (YoY).
While sharing the results, Barak Eilam, CEO of NICE, claimed that the CCaaS stalwart has the industry’s “highest” win rate, with AI included in all its deals worth $1MN+ in annual contract value (ACV).
Perhaps that success is not surprising given NICE’s continual lofty positioning within widely circulated analyst reports, such as the Gartner Magic Quadrant or the Forrester Wave.
Additionally, Gartner recently named NICE the “Customers’ Choice” CCaaS vendor in its 2024 Peer Insights “Voice of the Customer” report.
NICE also offers a leading workforce engagement management (WEM) toolset, which is likely invaluable as the CCaaS and WEM markets converge.
Nevertheless, while CXone may be booming, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the CCaaS industry is as a whole.
Is AI “Intensifying” CCaaS Adoption?
As Rushworth noted – and this deal indicates – CCaaS business is booming at NICE.
Meanwhile, other stalwarts are also enjoying success. For instance, Five9 recently announced its “largest deal ever”.
Like NICE, Five9 also reported a surge in AI interest and continued double-digit revenue growth – alongside its megadeal.
Yet, while these vendors may be surging, not all CCaaS players are faring so well – despite the rapid pace of cloud-based AI innovation.
Indeed, Gartner released research last year suggesting that CCaaS growth is decelerating.
Meanwhile, Dave Michels, Lead Analyst at TalkingPointz.com, recently predicted an upcoming “bloodbath” in the CCaaS market.
“The explosion of AI is shaking up the space significantly,” he said. “Depending on how you count, there are about 50 to 100 CCaaS providers, which is simply too many.
We’re seeing adjacencies from various areas, such as work engagement apps, CRM vendors, and cloud providers. They are all converging on this space like never before.
That trend comes as the traditional barriers to entering the contact center space – like ACD systems, hardware, and carrier relationships – have fallen to the wayside.
After all, since the rise of CCaaS, no-one is discussing these barriers anymore. Instead, everyone – including entrants like Microsoft and Google – are talking about AI.
Not only that, as Michels said: “Everyone has access to it; however, very few vendors are developing their own AI.” Perhaps this is allowing those entrants to close the gap quicker.
Moreover, the emphasis is shifting away from voice and toward messaging apps and social channels, which again strips the more conventional contact center vendors of their differentiators.
“There are just too many variables,” Michels concluded. “We’re going to see significant consolidation.”
To be successful, companies will need agility, substantial cash reserves, business acumen, and a bit of luck.
NICE and Five9 have such financial stability, and buyers are perhaps considering this point more carefully, alongside each provider’s broader AI strategy.
