Industry analysts are expecting a busy year for mergers and acquisitions as major UC vendors adapt to changes to the market.
With the popularity of cloud-based UC services rising, leading companies are looking to re-position themselves to meet new market demands. UCaaS in particular is at the centre of the scramble, as vendors look to buy up providers to get their foot in the door.
In recent months, Shoretel and Mitel have both made grabs for the new market, acquiring cloud-based UC specialists, Corvisa and Mavenir respectively.
Mitel was also involved in a failed bid for collaboration specialist Polycom, which was instead snapped up by Siris Capital Group. Company executives confirmed it is still actively engaged on the acquisition trail during its latest investor update.
Restructuring
On the flip side, major vendors are also looking to sell off parts of their business which no longer fit the cloud based model.
Shoretel is understood to be continuing to review options for reshaping, including selling of parts of the business. It has already confirmed the hire of JP Morgan as financial advisors and Fenwick and West as lawyers on a board-level advisory panel charged with restructuring the business.
Reports last year, meanwhile, suggested that Avaya could be broken up to relieve the company’s large debt burden. Reuter’s reported in August that US call centre tech firm Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories were in talks over a possible $4bn purchase of Avaya’s contact centre business.
Mitel also very recently then went on to sell their mobile division Mavenir, to allegedly generate cash for their next big purchase.
Cloud Growth
According to research firm Gartner, the trend towards consolidation in UC is a sign of the market maturing. Gartner UC analyst Bern Elliot said:
“The integration of on-premises UC with cloud and hybrid UC services continues to play an increasingly important role. As the enterprise UC market continues to mature, we’re expecting more consolidation.”
The reason why so many companies are rushing to enter the cloud UC market is clear. Analyst Marketsandmarkets expects the global UCaaS market to grow at an average of 11 per cent year on year, adding two thirds to its value between 2016 and 2021 to reach $28.7bn.
Joe Rittenhouse, president of business development at Microsoft and Shoretel partner Converged Technology Professionals, told CRN:
““What you are seeing is a realisation, strategy, concern of some organisations. It’s indicating that they are looking to see if they have a strong cloud model that’s sustainable, scalable and how they can capitalise on it.”
Who do you think is going to be the next unified comms vendor to make an acquisition?
