Playvox has confirmed that it’s now part of NICE after changing its name on social media to Playvox by NICE.
The move comes after CX Today shared rumors of a potential acquisition in July.
While NICE is yet to make an official announcement, Playvox also posted the following statement on LinkedIn and X.
A formal announcement from NICE is likely in the works, as the CCaaS and workforce engagement management (WEM) stalwart hasn’t yet responded to CX Today’s request for comment.
When that announcement comes, NICE will take over one of its most prominent competitors in the WEM market.
Indeed, Playvox has gained a significant market presence over the past decade, especially after its 2021 acquisition of Agyle Time, the workforce management (WFM) provider.
Alongside that WFM software, Playvox offers quality assurance (QA), coaching, and gamification solutions.
Of course, NICE already has all this, so some may raise an eyebrow at the news. However, beyond bolstering its portfolio, the acquisition benefits NICE in several ways.
Why Is NICE Moving for Playvox?
First, consider the state of the WEM space. While there are a couple of exciting entrants, NICE has three chief global competitors: Playvox, Calabrio, and Verint.
By taking over one of those rivals, NICE can strengthen its grip on the space.
Moreover, it’s fascinating to consider that of its rivals, Playvox perhaps has the closest partnership with CRM leader Salesforce.
As demand for CRM-WEM integrations rises and many organizations leverage Salesforce Service Cloud as their central contact center platform, this move may allow NICE to benefit from that trend.
Moreover, as those Service Cloud businesses scale, they may wish to add NICE telephony, journey orchestration, and sector-specific solutions.
Such expansion options come alongside new WEM capabilities, as NICE offers several WEM features Playvox doesn’t, including conversational QA and True to Interval (TTI) analytics.
Also, it’s critical to note that many of Playvox’s other customers will still have on-premise contact centers. After all, shifting from spreadsheets and an Erlang Calculator to a cloud solution is much simpler than a full-scale CCaaS migration.
As a result, NICE can promote its CCaaS offerings to these businesses and offer a significant differentiator: CCaaS and advanced WEM convergence.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the acquisition offers NICE a chance to bolster its short-term earnings, with Playvox reportedly achieving approximately $75MN in annual revenues.
As NICE can cut out much of the costs of serving customers – leveraging its significant global reach – the vendor may achieve that bottom line more economically.
The Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) Space Is Heating Up
NICE’s takeover of Playvox comes at an exciting time in the space, with Alvaria and Zendesk throwing their hats into the WEM ring with standalone solutions earlier this year.
Alvaria made its move in September, spinning out a WEM offering from its CCaaS platform and naming it “Aspect” to revive a brand synonymous with the contact center industry.
While many other CCaaS vendors also have native WEM suites, Alvaria is one of few that can get close to the depth of NICE’s offering.
Meanwhile, Zendesk has pieced together a broad WEM offering following its acquisitions of Tymeshift and Klaus, the WFM and performance management software providers.
Will either of the brands come close to achieving NICE’s market presence in the WEM market? It’s unlikely.
However, their moves enable market diversification, which – in the long run – may aid faster innovation in an underserved subset of CX tech.
With many contact centers still leveraging Erlang Calculators for resource planning and spreadsheets for QA, there is significant room for such innovation and improvements within contact center WEM.
