Contact: Scott Denne Sheryl Kingstone
Nuance Communications breaks a two-year M&A dry spell with the $215m purchase of TouchCommerce. Building off its earlier acquisitions of Varolii and VirtuOz in 2013, today’s announcement gets Nuance deeper into the customer service segment with analytics software and tools for both self-service and agent-assisted service via multiple mobile and desktop channels.
Amid flat revenue and a cost-cutting program, Nuance hadn’t announced a new acquisition since its tuck-in of document software provider Notable Solutions in July 2014. In previous years, it directed some of its M&A spending toward customer service, although most went toward building out its medical transcription division – its largest business and one that declined slightly through its last fiscal year and the first two quarters of its current one.
Nuance isn’t the only one increasing its investments in customer service. According to 451 Research’s M&A KnowledgeBase, acquirers have spent $1.4bn on that category so far in 2016, putting it on pace to be the second-largest year on record. Our data suggests that the investments, particularly in mobile-heavy players like TouchCommerce, is warranted. According to a recent 451 Research Voice of the Connected User Landscape survey, 37% plan to deploy customer self-service capabilities over the next 24 months.
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