From a significant drop in collaboration sales at Cisco to Meta exiting the CRM market, here are some extracts from our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Cisco’s Collaboration Sales Drop 13 Percent: Is a Strategy Change Afoot?
Cisco has reported revenue declines of 13 percent for its collaboration business, which houses Webex.
It is the third consecutive quarter that the business unit has endured a revenue drop, and it only seems to be getting worse.
Indeed, last quarter the drop was ten percent. The quarter before, it was one percent.
Sharing the latest results during an earnings call, Scott Herren, Chief Financial Officer at Cisco, said:
Collaboration was down 13%, driven by declines in collaboration devices and meetings, offset slightly by growth in calling and contact center.
Nonetheless, these figures consider its cloud and legacy business. As such, it is not Webex that is losing ground.
Instead, the problem is that it is not growing as fast as Cisco’s legacy business is shrinking. (Read on…).
Meta Sells Kustomer on a $250MN Valuation, Despite Acquiring the CRM Vendor for $1BN Last Year
Meta has spun out Kustomer on a $250MN valuation, which represents just a quarter of the $1BN it paid for the CRM vendor in February 2022.
New investors include Battery Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures.
Kustomer announced the move in a blog post, describing the deal as its "next chapter as an independent company."
In the piece, Brad Birnbaum, CEO of Kustomer, stated:
Our journey with Meta has been amazing, and we are proud of the work we accomplished together to transform how businesses support their customers.
Birnbaum went on to pinpoint how Meta supported Kustomer in expanding its international offerings, strengthening its AI, and deepening its connections with various social channels.
Yet, in funding these activities, reports suggest Meta burned through $200MN – which did little to stop Kustomer’s valuation from dwindling.
Of course, plummeting market valuations is a CX tech provider trend that goes far beyond Kustomer and Meta now that the pandemic-fuelled investor optimism has come to a jarring halt.
Nevertheless, Meta has decided to cut its considerable losses, bringing its fleeting experiment to create an enterprise-ready customer service platform to a quick-fire conclusion. (Read on…).
Lifesize Files for Bankruptcy, Enghouse Systems to Acquire Its Assets
Lifesize has filed for a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Once it comes out the other side, Lifesize plans to pass its brand and assets onto Enghouse Systems.
Indeed, the vendor has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Enghouse, which will see Lifesize, Kaptivo, ProScheduler, Serenova, and Telstrat change hands.
