Cloud-based call center software company Five9 Inc. said today it’s acquiring workforce optimization provider Virtual Observer for an undisclosed fee.

The announcement came as the company reported fourth-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Virtual Observer was formerly known as Coordinated Systems Inc. until a rebranding last year. It has been a partner in Five9’s ecosystem for the last three years.

Five9 sells cloud-based contact center software and services that enable enterprises to track and manage their interactions with customers, including regular calls and also chats, emails and social media interactions. The company’s service is entirely web-based, and it supplies the actual telephone hardware and phone lines itself. What that means is that customers only pay a monthly subscription fee and can avoid investing in expensive contact center infrastructure and equipment.

Virtual Observer’s software seems like a good fit for Five9, since it allows companies to better manage their contact center agents.

Five9’s decision to acquire the company is not such a surprise, because its rivals in the cloud contact center market, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. and NICE inContact, both offer integrated workforce management tools of their own. Meanwhile, Talkdesk Inc. is currently said to be building its own offering.

That left Five9 as the only major cloud contact center provider without a workforce optimization component, so the acquisition of Virtual Observer puts it on a more equal footing with its rivals.

Five9 didn’t disclose financial terms but said it expects to close the transaction by March 20. Virtual Observer’s workforce, including Chief Technology Officer Dan McGrail, will move over to Five9.

For its fourth quarter, Five9 reported a profit before certain costs such as stock compensation of 27 cents per share on revenue of $92.3 million, up 28% from a year ago. Wall Street had forecast earnings of 22 cents per share on revenue of $86.7 million.

“Technology is at its best when it empowers human connection,” Five9 Chief Executive Rowan Trollope said in a statement. “To create these memorable moments, contact centers need to empower agents and supervisors to better focus on the customer. The addition of Virtual Observer to the Five9 portfolio strengthens our ability to inspire agents and maximize the quality of customer interactions while reducing costs and maintaining regulatory compliance.”

Trollope spoke with SiliconANGLE Media’s video studio theCUBE last year, about the rising role of cloud computing in call center operations:

Image: SiliconANGLE