Acquisitions are often exciting, dynamic affairs that can foster innovation and opportunity — but they can also be pragmatic.
At a time of deep market volatility, the right acquisition at the right time can assuage uncertainty and provide firm foundations for the long term. Such a deal can — as Geoff Bloss, CEO of BCM One, told UC Today during a catchup about the company's recent Pure IP acquisition — be effective "future-proofing".
"Our eight prior acquisitions were important. They provided a scale; they rounded out some of the gaps in our product offering. With Pure IP, this is the first acquisition that is an investment into the future of where the business is going and where the market is going.
"Whereas I would indicate our prior acquisitions as all being necessities to make sure that we have had a competitive offering in more markets today, this investment with Pure IP is making sure that we've got a competitive offering in the future and future-proofing our business."
With such rampant global uncertainty, dedication to future-proofing is entirely sensible, and Bloss's policy focus is even more logical given the context in which he started out in his current role.
"I took over as CEO of BCM in 2019, and within the first 18 months, we had a worldwide pandemic, we had a worldwide recession," Bloss explained. "As a result, we've had inflation levels and interest rate levels that most of us have not seen in our business careers. So, the joke I always offer is, 'I'm out of offering predictions for the future' because when I started in 2019, there's no way that I would have put that list of items together."
The lesson that's taught us is we've got to make sure that we've got a foundation that is built so whatever that future evolves into, we will be a strong player in that space."
"That was the cornerstone behind our investment in Pure IP," Bloss continued, "because we felt it gave us another key part of our foundation. As the communications market continues to evolve, it's clear that those collaborative tools, regardless of the environment, are going to play a very strong story there."
Over a month since the acquisition was completed, just how is the transitional process going? Bloss felt "extraordinarily positive" about its progress.
"Everything that we've learned during the course of diligence or believed initially when we had the first conversations with Gary (Forest, Pure IP Founder) back in September of 2022 has been affirmed post-transaction," Bloss expanded.
"Business is strong. We won our first joint deal between the BCM team and the Pure IP team very shortly after closing. We've been able to start to fill a pipeline with domestic deals out of the US from BCM One's existing channel partners and our existing sellers."
Such an arrival under BCM One's umbrella naturally excited the company's partners and sellers Bloss mentioned.
Pure IP enhances BCM One's portfolio, with the voice business's international footprint and robust PSTN replacement solutions and support offering businesses worldwide access to a holistic portfolio of advanced voice solutions tailored to their specific requirements.
"We have had very strong interest from our partner community," Bloss detailed. "We had a recent sales summit that included a number of folks who joined us from the UK from the Pure IP team, with many of our key partners. I think each one of those partners saw the strategic value that having Pure IP in the portfolio."
"From our broader customer base, I think it has opened their eyes and realize that we can continue to be a partner with them as they evaluate their own transition from a more traditional telephony environment of cloud-based UCAS or straight SIP trunking services," Bloss added. "How they can leverage their collaboration tools. They're realizing that we can still be a partner for them into the next generation in how they support and deliver voice services within their businesses."
Naturally, while acquisitions can indeed cultivate the kind of fresh opportunities that Bloss enthused about, there persists uncertainty about what might happen to the Pure people, structure and branding. At the time that the deal was completed, Bloss maintained to UC Today that BCM One would seek to change as little as possible — a position he reaffirmed a month on.
"Yes, that's still very much the plan," Bloss said. "Pure IP is our 9th acquisition. I think we've been reasonably successful across each of them, and a foundation of that success has been to make as little disturbance as possible in acquiring and bringing on healthy businesses."
If anything, trying to figure out what we can do to enable or scale up the positive story that was already in existence prior to being a part of BCM. Returns are early, but I think that story is continuing with Pure IP."
"Our integration is really focused on a couple of different dynamics out of the start. The back-office finance and administration function that we consolidate, I think, is moving forward very smoothly, as expected. Then typically, and it's true as well with Pure IP, the next evolution is the integration of the go-to-market forces. So, the customer-facing sales strategy — how do we pursue new opportunities? How do we work jointly together as a team? I've been pleasantly surprised."
Bloss suggested that the opportunities arising for originating business through BCM One's existing channel partners and sellers and bringing that back to Pure IP are indicative of early returns on success.
However, Bloss highlighted that the deal flow that's hit BCM One and Pure IP's shared pipeline is illustrative of the work still to be done, as well as the challenge of navigating new waters with Pure IP representing BCM One's first international acquisition.
