Siemens Enterprise Communications announced a new global distribution agreement with inContact, a cloud-based call center software provider to privately label, resell and support inContact solutions with a $24M equity investment. Siemens has also committed to pay a minimum of $15M in net software revenue to inContact over the next 2 years.
This partnership adds an important component to Siemens’ OpenScape Cloud, which delivers a comprehensive suite of Unified Communications (UC) applications. In February 2011 Siemens introduced its OpenScape Cloud offering that expanded its UC and collaborative applications solutions to the cloud. The partnership with inContact broadens its offerings with a feature-rich SaaS contact center cloud offering. It also enables Siemens to enter new accounts by selling specific contact center or communication applications without requiring the customer upgrade its existing communications or contact center infrastructure. During the last year UC vendors have been adding more cloud services to their portfolio and offering a hybrid mix of cloud and premise solutions.
Siemens has taken a lead relative to other UC vendors by having its entire UC product portfolio including contact center applications available in the cloud today. Siemens also will continue its support for the Genesys contact center software solution, which is highly regarded among large enterprises and believes its inContact solution will attract those customers that want a simpler and less complex call center solution. Although more than 90% of companies have premise based solutions for their contact centers, the robust double digit growth in contact center cloud services is notable.
Cloud based offerings are becoming more in demand, as vendors address security and reliability concerns and deliver new services with cost-effective subscription based pricing. Siemens expands its ability to reach its global customer base with a more complete cloud offering and bolster it managed services opportunities with this announcement. It remains an important communication market leader with an extensive global reach, despite its lack of stellar performance in North America (NA). For inContact, a leading cloud based provider in NA, this partnership extends its global coverage and market presence. Siemens recognizes the cloud market potential and has chosen a good partner to grow its revenues in this area. The announcement lacked specifics on the timing of the full integration but sales for the combined cloud portfolio begin immediately.
