Toku, Asia Pacific’s only dedicated cloud communications provider has signed an agreement to acquire the Southeast Asia operations of Activeo, a leading customer experience (CX) consulting firm headquartered in France. However, the financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“In today’s macroeconomic climate, global technology companies based mostly in the US or Europe have adopted a cautious outlook, scaling down investments in APAC to prioritise markets closer to their homes,” said Thomas Laboulle, Founder and CEO, Toku.
“But the region’s digital economy continues to grow, and there is a tremendous opportunity for APAC-first companies like Toku to fill this gap and boldly advance and accelerate our regional growth as others retreat.”
Activeo Singapore has an established business footprint in the city-state and currently supports more than 150 customers with their digital transformation projects, including 19 government agencies and 65 percent of national healthcare institutions.
Also Singapore-based, Toku creates bespoke cloud communications and customer engagement solutions to reimagine customer experiences for enterprises.
Realising greater synergies from existing partnership
For the past 12 months, Activeo Singapore has worked with Toku as an independent partner to deliver successful CX transformation projects to many customers in the country. This acquisition is a natural next step for both parties to realise the full synergies of their partnership.
As a technology provider, Toku builds digital solutions to power the backbone of modern customer experience. Activeo Singapore complements Toku’s offerings with strategic consulting expertise and large-scale enterprise project delivery.
To maintain its excellence and quality in architecting solutions globally, Activeo Singapore will continue operating as an autonomous business unit under the Toku banner.
Jonathan Mondon, Managing Director of Activeo Singapore, will assume a new role as Head of Consulting at Toku. Armed with more than fifteen years of multinational leadership experience, Jonathan has led Activeo Singapore’s regional business for close to a decade, spearheading their Contact Centre and Customer Experience focus.
Commenting on the acquisition, Jonathan said, “Activeo Singapore will continue to be tech-agnostic and deliver the best fit-for-purpose solutions that solves our customers’ pain points. In addition, Activeo Singapore customers will be able to add Toku’s proprietary technology and connectivity solutions to their arsenal, further supercharging their CX strategies.”
These solutions include Toku’s embeddable products, which enables businesses to embed communication channels within their app or platform using programmable APIs or SDKs, as well as Toku’s carrier-grade connectivity to provide their regional customers with better coverage and call quality.
Strengthening technology and channel ecosystem
The acquisition of Activeo Singapore is a key pillar of Toku’s regional expansion strategy as it sets up more local offices across Asia Pacific. With the addition of Activeo Singapore to its portfolio, Toku expects rapid year-on-year growth in 2023.
To support this growth, the combined team resulting from the acquisition will expand to more than 110 employees. This commitment to long-term growth in APAC will be reassuring to customers from government institutions to private companies seeking stable and committed regional technology partners.
The expansion will also include a physical presence in Malaysia and an enhancement of Toku’s channel programme to empower more partners to deliver customer success stories.
As an APAC-first organisation, Toku will also be in a better position to assist new and existing customers who seek to expand regionally with regulatory compliance and data residency requirements in the region’s local markets.
Armed with Activeo Singapore’s proven track record of driving end-to-end digital transformation journeys for customers, Toku will expand its value proposition and offer a holistic approach to delivering the contact centre of the future, whilst solving their customers’ CX pain points at scale.
“By combining forces, we will unlock bigger opportunities and better meet the needs of our customers in Singapore and Asia Pacific,” added Thomas. “This is a win-win acquisition that will strengthen our position as a leading CX solutions provider and enable us to deliver greater scale and efficiency to our customers across the region.”