eResearch | Last week, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world, announced the acquisition of BlueJeans Network, an enterprise-grade video conferencing and events platform. According to Wall Street Journal, the price for the acquisition was less than US$500 million and BlueJeans has more than US$100 million in revenue.
BlueJeans’ video conferencing platform operates internationally and focuses on the corporate market, with almost 15,000 customers, including Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).
Verizon is one of the few telecommunication companies in the world who has the capabilities of offering 5G networks internationally, which it plans to integrate with the BlueJeans video conferencing platform to enhance security for real-time virtual engagement.
Verizon started as a reseller for BlueJeans, but after beginning sales in Q4/2019, a decision was quickly made to acquire the video conferencing platform to leverage Verizon’s 5G network and support its growing number of clients who are focusing on digital transformation.
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, mentioned on a CNBC interview that conversations to acquire BlueJeans started almost a year ago after Verizon tested the video platform’s security, features, and functionality.
This week, SoftwareReview, a division of Info-Tech Research Group, released a customer ranking report called the Data Quadrant Report on Web Conferencing, which involved 934 customer reviews for 14 companies including Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).
You can download and review the Data Quadrant Report on Web Conferencing HERE.
CHART 1: Top Ranked Web Conferencing Platforms
Cisco’s WebEx Meetings, the highest ranked platform in the report, recently gained 240,000 new customers after offering an upgrade to its free version of the platform including capabilities such as larger participant sizes and longer meeting times. Cisco is a larger, more diversified tech conglomerate and focuses on various areas of technology, but its video conferencing platform leads the market with a recorded 324 million users.
Zoom jumped to 2nd place this year as the platform experienced rapid growth after partnering with leading enterprise platforms such as Salesforce, and receiving significant media attention from listing publicly on the NASDAQ last year. Zoom has reached 200 million users, but recent concerns about security issues have created a backlash with schools and corporations banning the platform.
Microsoft falls short in the ranking, but Microsoft Teams has reached 44 million users by including the video conferencing offering in its Office 365 platform, which already has an existing network of 200 million users.
As the COVID-19 pandemic transforms workplaces into remote environments and expedites the adoption of digital transformation, video conferencing is becoming a necessity for enterprises of all sizes.
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For additional information on this subject, please refer to our previous article: “Dropbox, Slack, and Zoom: Essential Technologies for Transforming Businesses into Remote Environments.”
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