Leading cloud communications innovator, 8×8 recently announced the arrival of its new CEO, Dave Sipes. Dave will also be joining the 8×8 board of directors. The introduction of a new CEO comes accompanied by new guidance for the full-year fiscal and third quarter of 2021.
Previously, Sipes was the COO of RingCentral, where he was responsible for the company’s 12-year growth from a $10 million to $1 billion revenue stream. 8×8’s previous CEO, Vik Verma, will be assisting the transition in an advisory position after leading the organisation for a full 7 years, through both business and product model transformations. Verma was instrumental in building a business in the SaaS space worth over $500 million and adding over $1.5 billion market capitalisation.
As part of the new shifting roles, Jaswinder Pal Singh will become Chairman of the Board for the company, replacing Bryan Martin, who will continue to serve on the board going forward, while Vik Verma retires from the director space.
Leading the Way to Innovation
Commenting on the recent appointment of the new CEO, Jaswinder Pal Singh said he was thrilled to have had Dave take the helm at 8×8 and that the whole team is excited about the future. 8×8 is currently participating in one of the world’s biggest SaaS markets, cloud communications, and Dave’s operational background is sure to be useful here.
Singh thanked Verma for the incredible efforts he had made up until now, too. Dave noted that he’s looking forward to leading 8×8, and recognises that it’s one of a select series of SaaS businesses to reach a revenue of around half a billion dollars, with an expanding customer base. The work-from-home and cloud environment is having a huge impact on business communications right now, and 8×8 is in a great position to leverage this growth.
Sipes said that he believes 8×8 has the potential to be at the heart of the transformation of the work environment, particularly thanks to the Open Communications Platform.
Updated Financial Guidance
Aside from announcing new information about their CEO, 8×8 also reaffirmed its guidance for the third quarter of 2021, ending on December 31st, 2020. The company also shared insights on the full fiscal year, which ends in March 2021.
For the third quarter financial outlook, 8×8 expects total revenue somewhere between $132 and $133 million, representing 11-12% growth year over year. Service revenue should be between $124 and $125 million, which equates to 12-13% growth, and Non-GAAP pre-tax loss should be around $3 million. For the full-year fiscal 2021 ending in March, the total revenue guidance is in the range of $519 and $522 million, representing 16% to 17% year-over-year growth.
Service revenue guidance for the full year is at about $489 to $492 million, representing around 18-19% growth, and 8×8 expects a Non-GAAP pre-tax loss of around $16 million.
