Cloud contact center provider Five9 recently reported a record-breaking second-quarter. The company's up 29 percent, resulting in $99.8 million in revenue. I'm told, by a company spokesperson, this is thanks in large to the pandemic, which drove cloud adoption and the need for revised business continuity plans for companies worldwide. The company announced a series of product updates and additions – including its Intelligent Virtual Agent, an offering that leverages conversational artificial intelligence to automate manual tasks and to answer common contact center-related questions. Workflow automation and workforce optimization are central themes that emerged as a result of Five9's most recent acquisitions of Whendu and Virtual Observer.
Five9's strong second-quarter marks the company's eighteenth consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow, which today stands at $14.8 million. I caught up with Dan Burkland, President, Five9, to get his take on things, and he said the novel Coronavirus created an unparalleled sense of urgency that changed the question from “if” companies were going to make the switch to the cloud to “when” they'd make the shift.
"Organizations now recognize that cloud solutions can support business continuity and remote work far better than on-premises solutions"
He added, deploying cloud infrastructure is even more crucial today and said it comes down to enabling good customer service experiences, "Especially at a time when customer service is make-or-break for satisfaction and retention, and as the contact center is one of the only open and direct lines of communication to end-customers." The novel Coronavirus shifted everything as we know it on its axis, including the way we work. Today, and moving forward, many companies will enable a hybrid working model. Burkland believes that for the contact center industry, there's long-term value involved in moving employees to the cloud. He told me they will save money on physical office space by supporting a blended workforce after the pandemic, too.
"We have the technology, desktop analytics, recording tools, to monitor, the ability to observe, and manage remote resources, as well as to ensure agent productivity"
Burkland said another central element of Five9's success is its partnerships. This quarter, the cloud contact center provider announced a partnership with CDW, one of the largest technology providers in the US. "They've got a dedicated team of contact center professionals supporting hundreds of CDW sales reps." Last quarter, Five9 also entered into a partnership with AT&T, landing the deal as the mobile provider's exclusive cloud contact center provider. "This was a big shift for their business and we are already seeing some great momentum and traction in the market with AT&T."
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Dan Burkland[/caption]