Zoom dives deeper into intelligent customer service with Solvvy acquisition

When the stock value of the company went up, it offered to buy Five9 for almost 15 billion dollars. When the stock price fell, the deal fell apart, but the desire to get into customer service didn't diminish.

A new customer service solution was announced earlier this year. The company wrote about the new service in a post.

Combining contact center functionality with Zoom unified communications solutions, Zoom Contact Center can operate as a standalone customer experience solution or integrate directly into an existing website or application. Zoom customers who use Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, and/or Zoom Chat will recognize the agent and supervisor interaction handling experience, as it is part of the same Zoom application.

The company was able to offer a customer service experience inside the tool set by pulling together some existing functions. The company plans to acquire Solvvy, a 9 year old startup that focuses on artificial intelligence.

With Solvvy, the company gets more automation and intelligence, and the ability to clear routine questions without having to speak to a person. The President of Product and Engineering at the company, Velchamy Sankarlingam, recognizes that the acquisition gives the company crucial functions for competing in this space.

The proprietary technology of Solvvy will help broaden the offerings of the Zoom Contact Center. Our customers will benefit from an automated, integrated, and easy-to-deploy contact center, which will help answer end-customers' questions and solve issues faster.

This may be a more practical deal than the one with Five9.

I think this would be a better fit for Zoom than Five9 would have been. Conversational artificial intelligence integration with the communications platform of Zoom seems to be a nice combination that strengthens both sides and potentially creates better experiences for both customers and employees.

The companies did not share a purchase price, but Solvvy raised $16.5 million along the way. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

The stock is up over 9%.

And that’s that, as the Zoom deal to buy Five9 is called off