IT giant Cisco has agreed to acquire IMImobile, a cloud communications company, for around $730m (£540m), paying 595 pence per share.

Cisco will look to use the acquisition to offer customer-facing businesses an end-to-end customer interaction management solution and rich customer experiences by coupling its Webex Contact Center solution with IMImobile’s software and services.

IMImobile provides cloud communications software and services to help enterprises connect with customers via social, messaging, and voice.

“A great customer relationship is built on consistently enjoyable interactions where every touchpoint on every channel is an opportunity for businesses to deliver rich, engaging and intuitive experiences,” said Jeetu Patel, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s security and applications business. “We look forward to working with IMImobile to help create a comprehensive CXaaS solution for the market – one that gives businesses a platform to provide delightful experiences across the entire customer lifecycle journey.”

Cisco’s acquisition of IMImobile is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. The IMImobile team will join Cisco’s contact center business unit.

“We are excited to join Cisco and become part of one of the world’s leading technology companies as they seek to enable great customer experiences,” said Jay Patel, IMImobile CEO. “We believe there will be a world of dynamic, always-on connections between global businesses and their customers and the combination of our respective technologies will enable to us make every interaction matter more for our clients.”

Cisco’s Webex web conferencing business has also agreed to acquire audience interaction platform Slido. Slido will be integrated into the Webex platform but continue to operate as a standalone product.