8×8 Confirms Samuel Wilson as its New CEO
8×8 has appointed Samuel Wilson as its new Chief Executive Offer this week.
Wilson had been acting as interim CEO since November 2022. He stepped up to the role after 8×8 terminated the contract of then-CEO Dave Sipes with immediate effect. Wilson performed the CEO duties while 8×8 processed a candidate search following Sipes’ departure. Wilson has now been appointed in the position permanently and also appointed to 8×8’s Board of Directors.
“I am honoured and thrilled to accept the role of CEO at 8×8,” Wilson said. “We have an exceptional team, a remarkable product portfolio, and a relentless focus on innovation, mixed with a commitment to exceptional customer service. I am excited about the opportunity to lead 8×8 into its next chapter, driving growth and delivering unparalleled value to our customers around the world.”
As well as Chief Financial Officer, Wilson has held various executive positions within 8×8. He was formerly Chief Customer Officer and Managing Director of EMEA, and Senior Vice President for e-commerce, global small business and U.S. mid-market.
In its announcement, 8×8 stated its ambition to expand its integrated Contact Center and XCaaS platform under Wilson’s stewardship. Among its other plans were investments in “building its ecosystem of innovative technology and service partners to expand the portfolio of AI/ML solutions available on the XCaaS platform”.
RingCentral and 8×8 Stocks Soar as Acquisition Rumours Resurface
RingCentral and 8×8’s stocks surged after an investor disclosed significant stakes in both companies, with filings seeking business combination discussions with management.
Sylebra Capital, an activist investment firm based in Hong Kong and controlled by investor Daniel Patrick Gibson, disclosed an 8.7 percent position in RingCentral (worth around $250 million) and, in a separate filing, a 12.4 percent stake in 8×8 ($60 million). Sylebra had previously disclosed a stake in 8×8 under form 13G, signalling a passive position on business operations. However, Friday’s filings were 13D forms requiring investors to be active figures.
Both filings included language signposting Sylebra’s potential intention to discuss merger-and-acquisition plans with RingCentral and 8×8. Under Item 4, “Purpose of Transaction”, of the filings for 8×8 and RingCentral, was written: “Such discussions may include proposals regarding possible strategic transactions including possible business combinations.”
There was a rumour about a RingCentral acquisition of 8×8 last year after an unnamed Investing.com source told the financial news website that RingCentral had approached 8×8 about a possible takeover.
However, at the time of writing, the deal murmurs and share price hikes are based on inferences formed by the connection between Sylebra’s two filings. There was no explicit mention of 8×8 in Sylebra’s RingCentral filing and vice versa, and it is as yet unconfirmed whether a merger or acquisition is Sylebra and Gibson’s intent.
Open Letter Urges Slack to Implement End-to-End Encryption
Over 90 organisations have signed an open letter to Slack pushing the UC and collaboration company to implement end-to-end encryption to its platform.
The letter suggests that Slack is putting marginalised communities, human rights and climate activists, and political journalists at risk without the security enabled by end-to-end encryption.
The letter to Slack read:
We are businesses, organizations, communities, and individuals who depend on tools like Slack to connect online. We are activists organizing for change; journalists who communicate with sources and about sensitive stories; nonprofits providing care and support for our communities; companies that need to streamline our processes and share ideas; students, creators, gamers, alumni, artists, athletes, and other communities that use the Internet to connect with people all over the world.”
The concern of the letter’s coalition is that hackers and law enforcement agencies have access to messages that aren’t encrypted without user authorisation. The letter also voiced worries over the lack of blocking and reporting tools that Slack users can turn to to help protect them from abuse.
Among the organisations to have signed the letter so far are technology-centred nonprofits and communities such as Mozilla, the Open Data Charter and Tor. Civil and human rights groups like the Dangerous Speech Project, Reproductive Health Access Project, and the Lawyering Project have also signed the letter.
Industry Experts Believe ‘Hard Work Begins Now’ for Avaya
Avaya’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy was a cause for celebration and a significant step in returning the business to stability and confidence. However, there are plenty of obstacles still to overcome for Avaya to fulfil its ultimate growth ambitions, as highlighted by industry experts that UC Today spoke to this week.
Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst at ZK Research, told UC Today: “Right now, (Avaya CEO Alan Masarek) is going to have to start executing. He needs the chief product officer, he needs the chief marketing officer, and he needs a new CFO. So his executive bench is pretty devoid. He’s got a whole new Advisory Board.”
Kerravala also underlined that Avaya would have to expand its product innovation. “They did roll up the CCaaS product, but they’ve got some product integration issues and a whole bunch of different products for different markets,” Kerravala said. “(Masarek) talks about innovation with disruption, but you can’t really do that without the innovation half of that. It’s a lack of disruption from a lack of innovation.”
Irwin Lazar, President of Metrigy, also noted that Avaya is currently a “pretty good acquisition target”:
They do well in the very complex, large-scale contact centre. So if you think about a company that’s a partner of theirs — and an investor at this point — RingCentral can potentially look at Avaya’s bank balance now and say, ‘You know what, they’re a lot more attractive now. They get us into that larger enterprise; they give us that on-premises portfolio for those complex situations.'”
WhatsApp Rivals Teams with Screen-Sharing Feature
WhatsApp is matching rivals like Microsoft Teams by introducing a screen-sharing feature that allows other users to view your phone screen while on a video call.
This adds another valuable feature to WhatsApp for personal communications, but also internal business meetings and connecting to third-party organisations, which could draw users away from other popular video platforms.
Introducing the update, What’s App commented: “WhatsApp keeps working on improving voice and video calls in the Android app. After introducing changes regarding the colour for missed calls in the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.10.4 update, WhatsApp is now rolling out a new feature that allows users to easily share their screen during a video call.”
By selecting the screen-sharing tab on the bottom navigation bar, between the flip camera and switch-off video icons, a message will appear asking whether the user wants to “start recording or casting with WhatsApp?”. They then press “Start now” to begin sharing their screen. When users start sharing their screens, everything will be recorded and shared with the viewer.
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