InContact Acquires Workforce Optimization Provider Uptivity to Launch WFO into the Cloud

Cloud contact center software provider inContact announced the acquisition of Uptivity, a provider of on-premise workforce optimization (WFO) solutions. The strategic move comes at a time of rapid growth in the cloud contact center space, with roughly 30 percent of the growth throughout the past 18 to 24 months stemming from the WFO portfolio, Marianne McDonagh, chief marketing officer at inContact, says.

According to McDonagh, inContact has seen "strong success" after launching a Verint-powered WFO cloud solution for enterprise customers, but was looking for a provider that would deliver a solid solution to its midsize customers—the fastest growing market in the contact center space. "Folks are specifically interested in contact center infrastructure with ready WFO solutions," McDonagh says, "especially those in the midsize market, which has traditionally been and underserved market for WFO."

With the timing of the acquisition dictated by promising growth, company executives agree that inContact and Uptivity are a fit from both a technological and customer perspective. "We spent eighteen months getting to know Uptivity, and evaluating our cultural and technological synergies. It's the only company that has the full WFO portfolio we were looking for. They've also been growing rapidly, and are very customer centric, which appealed to us," McDonagh says. "InContact wasn't a direct competitor and there are no overlapping customers, but we serve the same ecosystem in terms of size and verticals, so it will be a good combination," Patrick Hall, chief marketing officer of Uptivity, adds.

For inContact, the acquisition gives the company a chance to "disrupt the WFO market" by cross-selling the "right size" solution, one that isn't too complex or too expensive for mid-size clients, McDonagh asserts. Furthermore, by acquiring Uptivity, inContact also gains its set of customers, a list that includes 30 Fortune 500 companies. On the Uptivity front, Hall says working with inContact represents a shifting opportunity path. "Most of Uptivity's solutions are on-premise now, so transitioning onto the cloud is an exciting step," Hall explains.

Once the acquisition is finalized, McDonagh expects most of the integration process to take "the better part of a year," though she says the company is ready to move "as quickly as appetite generates." Ultimately, the goal is to integrate Uptivity's technology into inContact's Workforce Intelligent Contact Center suite and deliver the tools as "a single unified solution with real-time, on-the-fly ACD, IVR and WFO capabilities," McDonagh says. "There isn't enough co-existence between these types of solutions right now," Hall adds, "and we're looking to change that."

The first step will be injecting the Uptivity technology into contact data center, followed by a more in-depth integration that will eventually bring the two together as "one big happy cloud family," McDonagh quips.

According to a company statement, inContact acquired Uptivity for $8.8 million in cash and approximately $37 million in stock. In March 2014, the company was named a CRM Rising Star for driving multichannel cloud experiences with dynamic and cost-effective solutions.

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