Five9 Q1 2025 Earnings Teardown
Financial Performance Highlights: Five9 delivered solid financial results in Q1 2025, beating expectations and showing improved profitability.
Financial Performance Highlights
Five9 delivered solid financial results in Q1 2025, beating expectations and showing improved profitability. Key metrics include:
Revenue Growth: Q1 revenue was $279.7 million, up 13% year-over-year, marking a new record. This topped consensus estimates (~$272.3M) and was driven primarily by subscription revenue growth of 14%. Usage-based revenue (which can be seasonal) grew more slowly, and professional services remained a small portion of sales.
Segment Mix: Subscription revenue comprised 80% of total revenue, usage 13%, and professional services 7%. Five9’s focus on larger enterprise customers is evident – enterprise clients contributed ~90% of trailing-twelve-month (TTM) revenue, while the commercial/SMB segment (10% of TTM revenue) declined in the single digits (partly by design, as Five9 concentrates on upmarket deals). This strategy has made revenue more enterprise-heavy, reducing exposure to churn but also intentionally shrinking the small-business segment.
Margins and Profitability: Profitability improved significantly. Adjusted gross margin expanded to 62.4% (up 160 bps YoY) and Adjusted EBITDA margin reached 18.8% (up 360 bps YoY) – a record level for Q1. Operating expense discipline (including lower cloud infrastructure unit costs and a reduction in workforce) drove this expansion. Non-GAAP net income was $47.3M (17% of revenue) with EPS of $0.62, up 29% YoY. This beat analyst EPS estimates by ~$0.13. On a GAAP basis, Five9 was slightly profitable for the first time in a while (GAAP net income $0.6M vs a loss last year), reflecting narrowing stock-based comp and other adjustments.
Cash Flow: Cash generation was strong. Operating cash flow hit a record $48.4M (17.3% of revenue) and free cash flow was $34.9M (12.5% margin). Free cash flow conversion was 66%, indicating that a good portion of non-GAAP earnings are translating to actual cash. This cash performance is notable for a SaaS company of Five9’s size and was helped by efficient customer collections (DSO ~33 days) and expanding margins. Five9 plans to redeem $434M of convertible debt (maturing June 2025) entirely with cash, which will significantly deleverage the balance sheet. After this repayment, the next debt maturity isn’t until 2029, and Five9 expects to become net cash positive on the balance sheet as free cash flow continues to accumulate. This reflects a position of improving financial flexibility.
Retention and Customer Expansion: Five9’s dollar-based retention rate (DBRR) for the trailing year was 107%, a tick down from 108% in the prior quarter. The slight dip was expected due to tough comps (the prior year had a large customer ramping up and unusually high seasonal usage in consumer/healthcare sectors). A 107% DBRR indicates healthy net expansion (existing customers grew usage by 7% net of churn). The vast majority of Five9’s growth is coming from upselling and expanding within its enterprise customer base, as opposed to broad-based seat growth in the SMB segment. Management noted that the installed-base bookings (upsells/cross-sells) had their highest YoY growth rate in three years, reflecting success in expanding usage within existing accounts despite a tougher macro environment.
Cost Management: Five9 has been reining in expenses to drive operating leverage. Stock-based compensation (SBC) expense was $39M in Q1, down 12% YoY and representing 14% of revenue (versus 18% a year prior). This moderation of SBC helped improve GAAP results and indicates a focus on more disciplined employee compensation. Additionally, on April 3 the company enacted a 4% reduction in workforce, targeting $20–$25M in annualized cost savings (non-GAAP). This cut affected most departments (mainly U.S.) and is intended to “surgically” trim costs while freeing up resources to reinvest in key growth areas (more on that below). One-time charges of ~$8M will be incurred for the reduction, but those are excluded from non-GAAP results. Overall, Five9’s Q1 results show a company balancing **“top-line growth +13%” with “bottom-line growth +29%”, demonstrating operating leverage as it scales.
Executive Commentary and Tone
On the earnings call, Five9’s executive team struck an optimistic but measured tone. CEO Mike Burkland opened by highlighting that Five9 exceeded expectations across key metrics in Q1 while remaining “laser focused” on balanced growth for both revenue and profitability. The management’s messaging emphasized confidence in Five9’s strategic direction (especially in AI-related offerings) and pride in the Q1 execution, but also a cautious outlook given macroeconomic uncertainties.
Forward Guidance and Tone: Despite the Q1 beat, Five9 chose to maintain its full-year 2025 revenue guidance at $1.140–1.144 billion (approximately 11–12% growth). CFO Barry Zwarenstein noted they had started the year with what they believed was conservative guidance due to the macro backdrop, and given “recent heightened macro uncertainty,” they are taking a slightly more prudent stance rather than raising top-line forecasts. In other words, Five9 is effectively banking the Q1 beat as cushion for the rest of the year, rather than upgrading the revenue outlook – a cautious approach that suggests awareness of potential headwinds ahead. Notably, the Q2 revenue guidance is ~$275M at the midpoint (flat to Q1, ~11% YoY growth), which is in-line with Street estimates (so no top-line surprise). Management expects sequential growth to resume in Q3 and Q4, with a typical end-of-year budget flush giving Q4 a bigger uptick.
While revenue forecasts were held steady, Five9 did raise its earnings guidance for the year. The FY2025 non-GAAP EPS guidance was increased to ~$2.74–2.78 (midpoint $2.76), up 6% from the prior guide of $2.60. Likewise, Q2 EPS guidance of $0.64–0.66 came in well above consensus (~$0.56), marking the first time Five9 has ever guided Q2 to sequential EPS growth (Q2 is often a higher-spend quarter seasonally). This upside reflects the cost actions (workforce reduction savings) and ongoing expense discipline flowing through to the bottom line. In essence, Five9 is signaling confidence in achieving higher margins even if revenue growth remains in the low-teens. Executives reiterated a goal of expanding Adjusted EBITDA margin by at least 2 percentage points in 2025 (vs 18.8% in 2024) through the combination of cost cuts and targeted investments.
Strategic Priorities: Throughout the call, management underscored AI innovation, enterprise expansion, and go-to-market focus as core strategic priorities. Mike Burkland repeatedly referenced Five9’s “massive TAM opportunity” in cloud contact centers that is “further expanding with AI”. The team’s strategy is to capture this growth by doubling down on AI capabilities (to both win new customers and upsell existing ones), and by targeting the upper end of the market (large enterprises) where cloud adoption is still in early innings. Burkland noted that the enterprise segment is the fastest-growing category of Five9’s business and also the least penetrated part of the market, leaving significant runway.
Five9’s tone was optimistic regarding demand, with President Andy Digen (recently elevated to that role) stating that new logo win volume increased year-over-year in Q1 and that the sales pipeline remains strong. He highlighted that installed-base sales (upselling to current customers) saw record growth, validating investments in customer success and expansion selling. At the same time, Digen and Burkland acknowledged a mixed macro environment: they have observed lengthening sales cycles for larger deals (enterprises taking longer to sign, likely due to more budget scrutiny) and some geopolitical headwinds internationally (certain regions showing “resistance to doing business with US vendors”). This latter point is notable – it suggests that outside North America, Five9 may face trust or data sovereignty concerns that could slow deals (a possible reference to European or other foreign clients wary of U.S. cloud providers). Management is “monitoring closely” but wanted investors to know such macro and geopolitical factors are a watch item.
Overall, the executive commentary balanced enthusiasm about Five9’s execution and AI momentum (“off to a strong start in 2025” and “continued momentum in AI for CX” in Burkland’s words) with a prudent outlook (not raising revenue guidance, citing macro caution). The strategic message was clear: Five9 will continue investing in areas like AI and key partnerships (even as it trims in less critical areas) to drive durable growth, but it is also prepared to adjust (and cut costs) if the environment gets tougher. This measured tone boosts management’s credibility – they are not blindly optimistic; they’re willing to tighten belts and call out risks while still pursuing growth opportunities.
AI and Product Strategy
AI was the centerpiece of Five9’s narrative this quarter. Management portrayed Five9 as a leader in applying AI to contact center (CX) workflows, and they provided concrete examples and new product announcements to back this up. A substantial portion of the call was devoted to detailing Five9’s AI capabilities, recent innovations, and real-world impact for customers.
Current AI Capabilities & ROI: Five9’s Genius AI suite spans virtual agents (intelligent self-service bots), agent assist, and analytics/insights. Burkland shared several customer success stories that underscore the ROI from these AI offerings:
A fast-food restaurant chain with 3,000+ locations deployed Five9’s AI Voice Agents to automate order-taking and inquiries. They saw a ~40% improvement in call containment (i.e. significantly more calls resolved fully by the bot). Simultaneously, they used Agent Assist (AI that transcribes calls in real-time and suggests next-best actions to human agents), which cut after-call work time by 35%. These efficiency gains translated to an estimated $1.1 million in annual labor savings, and since implementing Five9’s AI, the customer’s ARR with Five9 is up 37% (meaning they’ve expanded their usage of Five9’s services significantly, presumably because the AI is delivering tangible value).
A global payments provider in the UK deployed Five9 AI agents and achieved a 10% increase in self-service within the first year, reaching a 50% containment rate (half of inbound queries handled by AI with no human). They also added Five9’s AI Insights product in Q1 to analyze interaction data and hunt for new automation opportunities. Since using AI, their Five9 spend (ARR) has grown 49%. This implies the client expanded licenses or added more Five9 modules as the initial AI agents proved successful.
A personalized healthcare supplies company introduced AI agents to handle routine questions (like checking delivery status or insurance coverage). This led to a 15% reduction in call volume to live agents. They then expanded into chatbots and agent assist to further improve efficiency. As a result, their ARR with Five9 has more than doubled after adopting the AI solutions.
These stories serve to illustrate the “hype to substance” transition – Five9 can point to real, quantifiable improvements (containment rates, handle time reduction, cost savings) delivered by its AI. This helps validate that Five9’s AI products aren’t just vaporware or slideware; they are driving meaningful outcomes for customers. It’s also notable that in each case the customer subsequently expanded their Five9 usage (double-digit to near-50% ARR growth from those accounts), indicating high satisfaction and ROI that justifies broader deployment. Five9 mentioned that virtually all new large customers (>$1M ARR deals) are now attaching AI modules in their purchases. In fact, over 20% of the annual contract value (ACV) of enterprise new deals in Q1 came from AI products – a striking figure that shows AI is becoming a significant piece of the pie in new sales. For the quarter, enterprise AI-related revenue grew 32% YoY, making it the fastest-growing part of Five9’s product portfolio (albeit from a still modest base, representing ~9% of enterprise subscription revenue).
Product Innovation & Pipeline: Five9 isn’t resting on early wins; they continue to roll out new AI features to maintain differentiation. Two notable product innovations discussed on the call were:
“Spotlight” for AI Insights: Five9 announced a new offering called Spotlight, an enhancement to its AI Insights analytics tool. AI Insights already uses Generative AI (GenAI) to mine through “troves of interaction data” (calls, transcripts, chats) to find emerging customer topics, trends, and root causes of issues. Spotlight takes this further by leveraging GenAI to automatically surface specific trends or metrics that are hard to spot otherwise, and presents them in a powerful visualization interface. Essentially, it helps contact center leaders “unlock the voice of the customer” buried in millions of conversations. The goal is to empower not just contact center managers but also business leaders with actionable insights – to improve products, refine processes, and enhance CX based on what customers are actually saying. This kind of analytics capability is crucial in a world where unstructured data (like voice transcripts) can hold valuable feedback. Five9 is pitching Spotlight as a differentiator that brings GenAI analytics to a new level for their clients.
“Dial of Trust” for GenAI: Recognizing that not all AI outputs are equal, Five9 introduced a concept called the Dial of Trust. This feature lets organizations adjust the degree of generative AI used in their AI solutions on a spectrum. The rationale: GenAI (like large language models) is powerful but can sometimes produce incorrect or overly “creative” answers – a risk many brands are wary of. Different industries and use-cases have different tolerance for AI autonomy. Five9’s Dial of Trust acts as a control knob – for some interactions a company might set a high GenAI level (allowing the AI agent to handle complex conversations), whereas for sensitive topics they might dial it down (keeping responses more constrained to script or requiring more human verification). Burkland described this as “essential for delivering trusted AI” because it helps companies manage the accuracy-risk tradeoff in AI-driven customer service. This is a savvy move: by giving customers fine-grained control, Five9 addresses the “black box” fear of GenAI and differentiates from competitors who might offer a one-size-fits-all AI. It shows Five9 is attuned to the trust and compliance considerations that enterprises have when deploying AI.
In addition to proprietary innovations, Five9 is expanding its AI ecosystem via partnerships:
They launched Five9 Fusion for Salesforce, a new “native” integration with Salesforce Service Cloud. This was announced just before earnings (late April) and packages Five9’s contact center platform tightly with Salesforce’s CRM. Fusion combines Five9’s real-time interaction data (calls, customer intents, etc.) with Salesforce’s customer record data to enable “AI-elevated” experiences out-of-the-box. For example, a customer calling might get a Five9 AI virtual agent that already knows their Salesforce profile and can deliver personalized service, or an agent using Salesforce can see Five9’s AI-summarized transcripts and next steps embedded in the CRM. The integration promises easier setup (pre-built connectors) and “hyper-personalized self-service” by leveraging the best of both platforms. This deepening of the Salesforce partnership indicates Five9’s strategy to meet customers in the ecosystems they already use – many enterprises rely on Salesforce, so being the contact center solution tightly integrated there can be a competitive edge. It may also help Five9 win deals in Salesforce-centric shops (versus, say, a competitor like Talkdesk or NICE that might not have as tight a link).
The ServiceNow partnership (announced last November) is also yielding new capabilities. Later in Q2, Five9 will integrate its real-time transcription stream into ServiceNow’s platform. Agents using ServiceNow for case management will no longer need to take notes; Five9 will automatically feed live call transcripts into ServiceNow, and ServiceNow’s “Now Assist” (GenAI engine) will generate call summaries and resolution notes from that. This will reduce after-call work and handle times by automating wrap-up notes. Five9 is also enabling its routing engine to handle ServiceNow digital channels and cases, creating a more unified workflow between the two systems. Additionally, ServiceNow will feed case metadata into Five9’s Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) suite to help managers optimize staffing across both platforms. In short, the ServiceNow alliance extends Five9’s reach beyond voice into digital channels and back-office case management, using AI to streamline processes across the two systems. This kind of tight coupling could be compelling for large enterprises that use ServiceNow for IT or customer support and want to leverage Five9’s voice/AI strengths alongside it.
Five9 also partnered with IBM to integrate WatsonX (IBM’s enterprise AI and large language model platform) into the Five9 Genius AI environment. This gives Five9 customers the option to choose IBM’s AI models as their preferred LLM for things like virtual agent brains or speech understanding. The benefit here is flexibility: some enterprises might prefer IBM Watson for its focus on data privacy and industry-trained models, as opposed to, say, OpenAI’s GPT. By being model-agnostic, Five9 can cater to different customer preferences and trust requirements. Burkland said this WatsonX integration will “drive the next wave of innovation in AI-powered CX” by letting businesses leverage multiple AI engines on Five9’s platform. In practice, Five9 could eventually let customers plug in other LLMs (Google’s, OpenAI’s, etc.) as well, positioning Five9 as an AI orchestration platform that sits on top of best-of-breed models. This is a smart play to avoid being locked into one AI technology and to court large enterprises (and government customers) that may have strict AI vendor requirements.
Thanks to these initiatives, Five9 boasts that it has a “differentiated approach to accelerate AI adoption” across the customer journey (from self-service bots to agent augmentation to operational analytics). Management clearly sees AI as the growth engine: they described the AI-related business as the fastest-growing category for Five9 and a key reason they’re bullish despite macro headwinds. Importantly, Five9 is not just building tech for tech’s sake – they have a structured AI Blueprint program where they work with customers to identify high-ROI AI use cases and develop an adoption roadmap. In the last few months, about 50% of customers who went through Five9’s AI Blueprint consulting process ended up purchasing AI products. This conversion rate is encouraging and suggests Five9’s consultative approach is helping overcome hesitancy and generate demand. It essentially acts as a sales accelerator by educating customers on what AI can do for them, then cross-selling the appropriate Five9 solutions.
Competitive Differentiation in AI: It’s worth noting that while every CX vendor is talking up AI, Five9 is trying to differentiate on actual deliverables and flexibility. Features like the Dial of Trust (to calibrate AI autonomy) and multi-LLM support (IBM WatsonX partnership) are relatively unique in the CCaaS space – these address enterprise concerns around control and choice. Additionally, Five9’s emphasis on “trusted AI” and providing tooling to manage AI accuracy hints at a go-to-market strategy that might resonate with risk-conscious large customers. Five9 is effectively saying: we have AI that works, we’ll help you implement it intelligently, and we won’t force you into a one-size model. This is a nuanced stance compared to some competitors who simply tout how great their AI is; Five9 is acknowledging AI’s pitfalls and positioning itself as the safe pair of hands to navigate them.
Of course, the challenge will be living up to the hype. Right now, Five9’s AI-related revenues are growing fast (32%) but still only ~9% of its large-customer revenue. There is ample room to expand that, but also a question of how much AI can boost the overall growth rate beyond the low-teens. The examples given show strong ROI, which is promising. Five9’s ability to continue innovating ahead of rivals (or at least on pace) will be critical. The contact center AI space is crowded with claims; Five9 has made a credible case that it’s in the leading pack, but the pace of innovation must remain high to maintain that edge as others (NICE, Genesys, Talkdesk, cloud giants, startups such as EndeavorCX) are all pouring investment into AI for CX.
So far, Five9 is executing well on product: the AI suite is expanding (more features, more integrations), and customer adoption is growing. The big question will be how much this translates into competitive wins and sustained revenue acceleration, which leads us to examine customer metrics and competition.
Customer Metrics and Trends
Five9’s Q1 results and commentary shed light on the health of its customer base, new sales momentum, and any areas of concern like churn or slowdown. Overall, the picture is generally positive, with growth in enterprise customers and upsells offsetting macro-induced softness in smaller accounts and certain verticals.
New Customer Growth: Five9 added new clients in Q1 at a healthy clip. Andy Digen (President) noted an “increased volume of new logo wins year-over-year”, despite the longer sales cycles on big deals. While exact customer counts weren’t given on the call, this phrasing implies Five9 is landing more new accounts than they did in Q1 last year. These aren’t small deals either – management emphasized larger deal sizes and gave examples of significant wins:
A new deployment for a Fortune 50 financial services company’s subsidiary, replacing legacy on-prem systems with Five9 for scalable, compliant voice integrated with Salesforce CRM. This deal brings over $2.8 million in ARR to Five9. The customer chose Five9 for its compliance features (important in banking), Salesforce integration, and to improve branch call routing. This indicates Five9’s strength in highly regulated, large-scale environments where uptime and compliance are crucial.
A leading vehicle mobility solutions provider (serving auto repair, insurance, fleet, etc.) moved from a difficult-to-manage on-prem system to Five9’s cloud. Key factors were Five9’s deep integrations (they needed it to work with Microsoft Dynamics, Teams, and to preserve their investment in Verint workforce software) and Five9’s “extensive portfolio of AI solutions” which promised significant ROI by automating simple tasks. This win was worth ~$1.7M ARR for Five9. Notably, the customer valued that Five9 could integrate with Verint – a third-party workforce engagement management tool – implying Five9’s openness and API flexibility helped win the deal (versus competitors who might force a rip-and-replace of ancillary systems).
A non-profit health plan (~400k members) in California chose Five9 to modernize from an on-prem PBX, aiming to leverage Five9’s full AI suite (AI voice agents, agent assist for transcription, AI insights) across voice, text, chat, and email channels. Integration with healthcare systems (Jeeva patient records, HSP claims) and Microsoft Teams, plus Five9’s WEM and analytics capabilities, sealed the deal. Initial ARR is about $900k. This case shows Five9 can meet complex omni-channel requirements and comply with industry-specific needs (like healthcare regulations and state reporting obligations mentioned on the call).
In addition to new logos, existing customers are expanding significantly:
Five9 highlighted an upsell with a longtime customer (10+ years) in the Medicaid/healthcare services sector, who won a major state contract. To handle the increased volume, they expanded their Five9 usage, especially investing in Five9 AI agents for self-service to automate more interactions. With this expansion, the customer’s ARR with Five9 jumped from $1.5M to over $5.5M – a massive ~267% increase. This is a testament to Five9’s land-and-expand model: even after a decade, a client can triple their spend when new projects or AI initiatives come along, provided Five9 continues to deliver value.
These examples underscore a few trends:
Deal sizes are growing (multi-million ARR wins are becoming common).
Vertical traction in finance, healthcare, insurance/auto – industries that traditionally had a lot of on-prem contact centers – suggests Five9 is successfully migrating sophisticated use-cases to cloud.
AI offerings are a differentiator in deals (both new and expansion). Customers explicitly chose Five9 for AI capabilities and projected ROI from automation. We can infer that in competitive evaluations, Five9’s AI may have helped tip the scales.
Churn and Retention: There were no red flags on gross churn mentioned; the DBRR of 107% implies churn plus downsell was roughly ~7% of starting revenue, which in the enterprise software world is reasonable (and likely includes some SMB churn, as enterprise churn tends to be very low). The fact that DBRR only ticked down 1 point sequentially despite macro pressures suggests Five9 is retaining customers well. Management didn’t highlight any unusual customer losses, which is a good sign. The slight retention decline was attributed mostly to usage normalization in consumer/healthcare verticals – some customers (like maybe telehealth or e-commerce clients) had spiked usage previously and came down from that high, which is more of a usage revenue fluctuation than true customer loss. In sum, churn seems contained, and customers that do adopt Five9, especially larger ones, tend to stick and grow.
One metric that stands out is Five9’s Net Retention vs competitors – Five9’s 107% net retention, while healthy, is below some peers (for instance, Genesys has reported net retention >120% in recent years). This could reflect Five9’s heavier reliance on smaller customers historically (who have higher churn), or possibly that Five9 hasn’t yet achieved the same “expand within every account” penetration of add-on products as some rivals. It will be worth watching if Five9’s net retention climbs as AI cross-sells increase (a higher mix of enterprise and more modules per customer could boost NRR over time).
Sales Cycle and Pipeline Quality: As mentioned, large deal cycles are elongating due to macro concerns – CFO Barry Zwarenstein described the environment as requiring more prudence in forecasting because enterprise buyers are more careful now. However, demand is not disappearing: the pipeline is strong enough that Five9 kept its full-year sales targets. There’s a hint of conservatism: by not raising guidance, management implicitly acknowledges deals could slip or take longer. They did comment that Q4 should be the strongest quarter (typical seasonality and maybe the big expansion deals slated then). So, investors should expect a back-end loaded year.
Another interesting point: International vs US. Andy Digen’s note about some regions being hesitant to use US tech vendors suggests Five9 might face headwinds in certain international markets (possibly Europe given GDPR and data concerns, or certain APAC regions). Five9 is a U.S.-based cloud, so some foreign prospects might favor local or non-U.S. alternatives for sovereignty reasons. Five9 will have to manage this, perhaps via local data centers or partnering with regional firms, to not lose those opportunities. The majority of Five9’s business is still North America, so this is more of a growth limitation than an immediate problem, but it’s a factor in global expansion.
Customer Base Evolution: The deliberate move upmarket means Five9’s customer count growth might slow even as revenue grows, because small clients are a smaller focus. Instead, average deal sizes and ARR per customer are rising. This can be positive for unit economics (enterprise clients have lower churn and can adopt more of the platform), but it also means Five9 is increasingly competing in the enterprise arena – which brings stiff competition (NICE, Genesys, Cisco, etc.). The good news is Five9 is showing it can win in that arena (the wins cited are all displacing either legacy on-prem incumbents or beating cloud rivals in significant deals).
In summary, customer metrics reflect a healthy growth story with some caution:
Expanding enterprise penetration (success in $1M+ ARR deals, enterprise mix now 90%).
Robust upsells and cross-sells (record growth in installed base bookings).
Slight pressure in SMB and certain verticals due to macro, but intentional deemphasis on that segment anyway.
No alarming churn issues visible; retention remains solid.
Pipeline is strong but conversion is slower – indicating deals are there, just taking a bit longer to close in the current climate.
This sets the stage for how Five9 stacks up against competitors – both traditional and emerging – in terms of these metrics and strategic positioning, especially around AI and large enterprise focus.
Competitive Benchmarking in Context
Five9 operates in a highly competitive Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) market, going up against both established players (like NICE and Genesys) and younger cloud-native or “AI-native” entrants (like Talkdesk, and even tech giants offering contact center solutions). In its earnings call, Five9 didn’t explicitly name competitors, but to critically evaluate Five9’s performance and strategy, it’s important to benchmark it against peers:
Other Competitors: Beyond the above, Five9 also contends with legacy on-prem vendors (Avaya, Cisco) who still have large installed bases. Many of those customers will eventually migrate – either to those vendors’ new cloud offerings or to players like Five9. Avaya’s financial troubles (bankruptcy in 2023) have opened opportunities for cloud competitors to capture its customers, and Five9 has mentioned displacing legacy systems in wins this quarter. Cisco’s Webex Contact Center is another cloud option, but Cisco’s presence in cloud CCaaS is still smaller compared to Five9 or Genesys.
Additionally, big cloud providers like Amazon and Google are in the mix: Amazon Connect is a cloud contact center platform offered by AWS, often attractive for its usage-based pricing and easy integration with AWS’s AI services (Lex bots, Transcribe, etc.). It tends to appeal to technically savvy teams that want a DIY approach. Google offers Contact Center AI (CCAI) building blocks and partners with companies like Ujet or Genesys to provide complete solutions. These tech giants bring strong AI capabilities (for example, Google’s CCAI can do natural language virtual agents and sentiment analysis out-of-the-box). Five9’s strategy of partnering (e.g., being on Google’s marketplace, using Watson) indicates it recognizes the need to play nicely with the giants rather than compete head-on with their toolkits.
There are also AI-focused startups (so-called “AI-native” players) tackling pieces of the contact center problem: for instance, Replicant.ai (voice bots for call deflection), Cresta (real-time agent coaching using AI), Observe.AI (QA and analytics from AI), Ada and Yellow.ai (chatbot platforms), etc. These point solutions can potentially eat into aspects of Five9’s business (e.g., a company might keep their legacy call routing but add Replicant to automate calls, instead of buying Five9’s IVR). Five9’s answer is to offer a broad, integrated suite where the AI is built-in – and to highlight the benefits of a single platform versus a patchwork of point solutions. Still, the proliferation of AI startups means Five9 has to continuously justify its value-add. The bar for “AI differentiation” is rising, as many companies claim to do AI-driven CX. Five9 having both the platform stability and an open ecosystem (so you can plug in new AI as it comes) will be key to fend off these specialists.
Competitive Position Summary: Five9 appears to be holding its own. It’s smaller than the 800-pound gorillas (NICE, Genesys) but growing a bit faster than NICE’s overall business and has better profitability metrics than a younger firm like Talkdesk. Genesys is growing faster in cloud, courtesy of a massive push of their base to cloud, but Five9 is more focused (pure cloud, no legacy burden) and already showing solid cash flow. In AI, Five9 is certainly innovating at a pace comparable to anyone – the features and partnerships announced are on-trend and sometimes ahead (the Dial of Trust concept, for example, hasn’t been prominently touted by others yet).
However, no competitor is standing still:
NICE is integrating generative AI into every corner of its platform (they recently announced an alliance with Microsoft Azure OpenAI for AI features, and have their own large dataset to train models).
Genesys is leveraging its high NRR to cross-sell AI deeply and even expanding into areas like workforce forecasting with AI, etc.
Talkdesk and others are marketing very aggressively around AI, which can create a lot of “AI noise” in the market.
Five9’s competitive advantage will hinge on execution – delivering the promised ROI quickly and reliably. Enterprise clients will choose the platform that can actually implement AI at scale without risk. Five9’s strong reference cases and focus on trust/control give it a credible story here.
One potential weakness for Five9 relative to some competitors is the breadth of portfolio: Five9 has basic Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) capabilities (they acquired a WFO company in 2020), but companies like NICE and Genesys have very deep WEM, analytics, and AI-driven quality management tools. Five9 often integrates with partners (like Verint, as seen in the deal example) to fill those gaps. This partner-friendly approach is good for flexibility but also means Five9 doesn’t capture 100% of the contact center wallet (a customer might spend some budget on Verint or Calabrio for WEM). Five9’s expanding analytics (AI Insights) and likely further development in WEM will be important so that it can offer more of an end-to-end solution and boost net retention (selling more modules to each customer).
In conclusion on competition: Five9 is positioned as an agile, innovative contender that’s big enough to win Fortune 100 deals but (so far) nimble enough to differentiate on AI and service. It faces larger rivals who are also investing heavily in AI, and new entrants trying to undercut or out-innovate. The Q1 results show Five9 can compete effectively (given the major customer wins and AI uptake). Going forward, keeping this edge will require continuous innovation and perhaps careful messaging to cut through competitors’ hype.
Market Reaction and Stock Performance Context
Investors reacted positively to Five9’s Q1 report, though the stock’s move was relatively moderate given the strong beat on earnings. Following the earnings release (which came after market close on May 1, 2025), Five9 shares rose about 4% in after-hours trading. The next day, the stock sustained those gains, and at one point was up around 8–9% intraday (before settling up mid-single-digits by the close). This pop reflects relief and optimism from the market on a few fronts:
Better-Than-Expected Results: Five9 handily beat consensus on both top and bottom line. As noted, revenue of $279.7M vs
$272M expected and non-GAAP EPS $0.62 vs $0.49 expected impressed investors. The revenue beat ($7M) and especially the EPS beat (26% above consensus) signaled that Five9’s business is performing above the cautious forecasts set earlier. Beating and raising EPS guidance (even if revenue guidance held) showed management’s confidence in ongoing cost execution.Guidance Reassurance: The reaffirmed full-year revenue guidance, while not a raise, at least did not disappoint – it matched consensus, meaning the Q1 outperformance isn’t assumed to evaporate later. More importantly, the hike in profit outlook (FY EPS from $2.60 to ~$2.76, and strong Q2 EPS guide) was taken as a positive surprise. It suggested Five9 will drive higher earnings even if the macro environment remains lukewarm. This balance of steady growth and improving profitability is generally well-received in the current market, which has favored tech companies showing profit leverage.
AI Momentum Narrative: The stock market in late 2024 and 2025 has been very attuned to “AI stories.” Five9’s report gave concrete evidence that it is an “AI beneficiary” – with AI contributing to growth (32% increase in AI revenue, many large deals including AI) and not just a buzzword mention. The call likely reinforced investor perception that Five9 can capitalize on the AI trend (and not be left behind by more AI-native startups). The mention of new AI products and partnerships (Salesforce, IBM, etc.) indicates Five9 is at the forefront, which can attract interest from growth investors looking for AI exposure. In short, the qualitative commentary on AI and execution helped underpin the quantitative beat, making the story more compelling.
Short-Term Sentiment vs Long-Term Context: It’s important to note that even after this post-earnings bounce, Five9’s stock is well below its historical highs. (For context, Five9 traded above $200 in mid-2021 at the peak of cloud software valuations. As of early 2025, it was around the mid-$20s to $30, reflecting a massive reset in valuation.) The stock had been under pressure due to a combination of factors: slowing growth rates from the heady 30%+ to low-teens now, broader market rotation out of high-multiple software, and perhaps concerns about competition and the failed Zoom takeover in 2021. Going into this earnings, sentiment was guarded – the stock had underperformed many tech peers over 2024. The 9% one-day jump (at the peak) thus partly represents a relief rally that Five9’s fundamentals are stabilizing/improving. It also narrowed the gap between Five9 and some peers’ postures – for instance, NICE’s cautious outlook in Feb 2025 had hurt sentiment for the contact center space, so Five9 delivering a confident report may have caused a re-rating of its stock upwards.
Valuation and Wall Street View: Before the earnings, analysts had a median price target around the low-to-mid $40s on FIVN (implying a hefty upside from pre-earnings prices in the mid-$20s). The stock’s reaction closing around ~$28-30 suggests there’s still skepticism baked into the price. Investors likely want to see a few quarters of consistent execution (and perhaps an inflection to higher growth) to fully restore confidence. Five9’s current valuation metrics (not provided in the doc, but based on context) are much more modest than in the past – roughly ~4-5x forward revenue, which is reasonable for a company growing ~12% with 20% margins. That means the stock isn’t priced for perfection, and positive surprises (like this quarter) can move it up, whereas any stumble could hurt given competitive concerns.
In the wider contact center sector, Five9’s stock move can be contrasted with peers:
NICE Ltd had seen its shares drop sharply earlier when it guided conservatively for 2025 (investors were disappointed with only ~6% total revenue growth and 12% cloud growth guidance). Five9’s ability to beat and maintain ~12% growth forecast might have reassured investors that not all CCaaS players are facing a severe slowdown – Five9 is still finding pockets of growth and controlling costs.
Pure-play cloud competitors like RingCentral (which has a smaller contact center offering) or others haven’t reported similar beats, so Five9 may stand out this quarter as an execution winner in its niche.
It’s also notable that Zoom’s attempted acquisition of Five9 for ~$14.7B collapsed in late 2021 (Five9 shareholders rejected it). Since then, Five9’s market cap fell to a fraction of that value. The Q1 report helps build the case that Five9 can thrive as a standalone entity – something management has been keen to prove after the deal fell through. If Five9 continues to show strong cash flow and solid growth, the market may gradually rebuild trust in its trajectory (and possibly revisit the idea that Five9 could be an acquisition target again, though likely at a much lower price than Zoom’s original offer). For now, the stock movement indicates cautious optimism: Five9 cleared the low bar set by the market, but it will need to string together more wins to regain its former premium valuation.
In summary, the immediate market reaction was positive but not euphoric – a sign that Five9 delivered what investors wanted (beat & raise on EPS, confirm growth durability) and eased some concerns. The stock’s context (down ~80+% from peak) means there’s potential upside if Five9 can accelerate growth via its AI initiatives, but also that investors are watching carefully for consistency. After Q1, Five9 has some wind at its back in terms of sentiment, which is a welcome change from the more pessimistic view a year ago.
Forward-Looking Outlook: Opportunities, Risks, and Execution Considerations
Looking ahead, Five9 faces a mix of promising opportunities and meaningful risks. Management’s guidance and commentary provide a baseline: ~12% revenue growth for 2025 with improving margins. The key question is whether Five9 can accelerate growth or not in the coming years, and how credible its plans are, given external and internal factors.
Opportunities and Tailwinds:
Enterprise Cloud Shift & TAM Expansion: The contact center market is massive (estimated ~$24 billion TAM) and still in early cloud adoption for large enterprises. Five9’s focus on the “upper end of the market” means it is playing where the largest pools of seats and spend are still largely on-premises. Every legacy Avaya, Cisco, or Genesys on-prem system is a potential multi-million-dollar win for cloud vendors. Five9 has built the references and capabilities (security, compliance, complex integration) needed to credibly serve this tier. As more large enterprises overcome cloud hesitancy – often motivated by cost savings or agility needs – Five9 is well-positioned to capture those migrations. Notably, Five9’s partnerships with big enterprise software (Salesforce, ServiceNow, etc.) could act as a force multiplier in opening doors to those large accounts. The total market is growing as well, partly because AI is expanding the value proposition (contact centers can do more than before, and serve more strategic roles). If Five9 executes well, it can continue to grab share from both legacy incumbents and less focused competitors. There is a plausible path for Five9 to re-accelerate to mid-teens or higher growth by landing a few large migrations per year on top of steady upsells – especially once macro conditions improve.
AI Upsell and Monetization: Five9’s existing customer base (~2,500+ customers, many enterprise logos) represents a goldmine for upselling AI modules. As of now, only 9% of enterprise subscription revenue is from AI products – there’s a lot of headroom to grow this wallet share. The fact that AI attach rates on new deals are high (virtually all big deals including AI) and the success of the AI Blueprint program (50% conversion to purchase) indicate that further penetration is likely. Each additional AI capability sold (a few cents per minute for voice bots, or per-seat fees for agent assist, etc.) boosts Five9’s net retention and revenue growth. If Five9 continues to demonstrate ROI, customers will allocate more budget to these add-ons. Over the next 1-2 years, Five9 could potentially lift its net retention closer to 110%+ largely through AI cross-sell, which would organically raise its growth rate without needing as many new logo wins. Furthermore, being early with generative AI features could allow Five9 to command premium pricing or at least fend off discounting pressure, supporting both growth and margins.
International Expansion: While there was mention of some international resistance, overall there is still a vast opportunity outside North America where Five9 has been less penetrated. Europe and Asia contact center markets are huge. Five9 recently expanded its footprint (data centers in new regions, etc.) and could leverage strategic partners or even acquisitions to grow globally. Success abroad could add to growth on top of the core North America business. This is an opportunity and a challenge (see risks), but one worth noting as Five9’s next frontier.
Partnerships & Channels: Five9’s alliances (Salesforce, ServiceNow, systems integrators, and being on cloud marketplaces like Google/AWS) can significantly lower customer acquisition costs and drive deals that Five9 might not win alone. For example, a large enterprise choosing Salesforce could be nudged to also pick Five9 Fusion for an integrated experience. Likewise, Google Cloud’s marketplace funnel delivered $35M in ACV pipeline in just two months for Five9. These indirect channels could become a bigger contributor to bookings. As contact center becomes part of a broader CX tech stack, Five9’s strategy to plug into larger ecosystems is smart and could accelerate its reach.
Improving Profitability & Potential Buybacks/Acquisitions: Five9’s move into consistent GAAP profitability (however small) and robust cash flow means it will generate excess cash after paying down debt. Management has discussed a capital allocation framework balancing organic investment, M&A, and share buybacks. This flexibility is an asset. Five9 could, for instance, decide to repurchase shares if it feels the stock is undervalued, boosting EPS further. Or it could pursue tuck-in acquisitions – possibly acquiring an AI startup or a complementary technology (maybe something in workforce optimization or analytics to round out its platform) – to enhance growth. In the past, Five9 has been prudent with M&A, but with valuations down in tech, there might be attractive targets. Effective use of capital could strengthen Five9’s competitive position or share count, contributing to shareholder value.
Risks and Challenges:
Macro and IT Spending Environment: Five9’s cautious stance on the macro environment highlights a real risk – if the economy worsens (recessionary pressures, higher interest rates forcing cost cuts, etc.), enterprise software deals could slow further. We’re already seeing elongation of sales cycles; in a deeper downturn, deals could freeze or downsizes (customers buying fewer seats or delaying expansions). Contact center software can be somewhat resilient (as it’s critical operations), but new projects like AI expansions could be deemed postponable if budgets tighten. Five9 kept guidance conservative, which is wise, but an external shock could still cause them to miss targets. They assume conditions “not change materially” from early-year – an escalation of macro headwinds would force a re-evaluation. So far, the company is managing, but this is largely out of their control.
Execution Risk in Enterprise Transition: Five9’s pivot to focus on large enterprises brings execution risks. Enterprise sales cycles are long and complex, and often require exceptional account management and support. Five9 will be competing against very entrenched suppliers in that space. It has to ensure its salesforce and implementation teams can handle “big iron” projects flawlessly. Any major outage or failed implementation at a large customer could tarnish its reputation in that circle. Additionally, the ongoing workforce reduction means Five9 must “do more with less” in some areas – they cut 4% of staff mostly in the U.S.. If not managed well, that could strain resources, especially with big customers who expect white-glove service. Essentially, Five9 has to prove it can be as reliable and service-oriented as the legacy vendors while being more innovative. Scaling upmarket is a delicate balancing act; the company appears to be mindful of it, but it remains a risk until it’s a well-trodden path.
Competitive Pressure & Pricing: As detailed in the benchmarking, competition is intense. Larger players like NICE can afford to offer discounts or bundle services given their broader portfolios, potentially pressuring Five9 on price in deals. Meanwhile, smaller aggressive competitors like Talkdesk might undercut pricing to land marquee customers. Five9 has maintained healthy gross margins, which suggests it hasn’t had to engage in a pricing war yet – but that could change. If a competitor significantly lowers cloud CC pricing or if customers start to see CCaaS as commoditized, Five9 might face margin or win-rate pressure. Additionally, the competitors’ AI marketing hype could in some cases outshine Five9’s even if Five9 has equal tech – for instance, if Genesys or NICE rolls out a blockbuster AI feature or a compelling ROI guarantee, Five9 will need to respond in kind to not lose mindshare. The contact center world is relatively small (the analysts and buyers all see the vendors side by side in Gartner Magic Quadrants, etc.), so standing out is harder as everyone jumps on the AI bandwagon. Five9 must continue to demonstrate real differentiation, not just claim it, to avoid getting lost in the noise.
Hype vs Substance (AI Edition): While Five9 has been careful to show real examples, the company is also leaning heavily into the “AI-fueled growth” story. If for any reason AI in contact centers doesn’t live up to expectations (for example, if ROI cases fizzle out at scale, or customers become wary of GenAI due to regulatory reasons or well-publicized failures), there is a risk of an AI backlash. Five9’s TAM expansion argument rests on AI making the pie bigger – if AI adoption hit a roadblock (technical, ethical, or regulatory), Five9 could find its growth opportunity more limited to the baseline cloud migration trend. Furthermore, Five9 will have to show that AI revenue growth (32% this quarter) can be sustained or accelerated; high growth on a small base is easy one year, but gets harder as that base grows. Investors will be watching if that 9% of rev that’s AI can become, say, 15-20% over the next year or two – if it stalls, it might indicate the AI story was more one-time or hype. Five9 has set high expectations by calling AI the fastest-growing part of business; now it must deliver continuous innovation and sales execution to keep that true, otherwise the narrative could sour.
Retention and Upsell Risk: The slight dip in net retention to 107% isn’t alarming, but it does put pressure on Five9 to get that metric back up. If net retention were to slip further, it could signal that expansion rates are slowing or churn creeping up – either would be a concern. One factor is that Five9’s largest customer fully ramped last year, meaning that tailwind is gone. Also, some of the seasonal usage customers in retail/consumer might not come back strongly until the economy picks up. Five9 will need to offset those with new revenue sources (AI, new logos). Large customers can also consolidate vendors or push for lower prices at renewal, which is something to watch as Five9’s base matures. The good news is Five9’s enterprise customers tend to increase spend (as seen in examples), but there’s always a risk of a big customer deciding to switch to an all-in-one competitor or bring certain functions in-house (for example, a massive enterprise with a big IT department might attempt to build more DIY contact center tech on Azure/AWS). Losing a major account or seeing a big downsell could dent financial performance. Five9 hasn’t indicated any such issues, but it’s a background risk in B2B SaaS.
Global/Regulatory Risks: Data residency and compliance requirements (especially in Europe with GDPR, or in sectors like government, healthcare, finance) can be a barrier. Five9 might need to invest more in local data centers or certifications to win some deals, which could increase costs. Also, the mention of geopolitical concerns – if relations between certain countries and the U.S. worsen, U.S. tech firms could be sidelined in those markets. Five9 is likely a minor player internationally at present, so this risk is limited in impact for now, but it could cap expansion in, say, some APAC or Middle-East regions if anti-US sentiment or policies prevail.
Credibility of Guidance: Five9’s guidance for 2025 (12% growth, margin expansion) appears credible and arguably conservative:
They delivered 13% in Q1 and guided ~11% for Q2, which given normal sequential patterns, implies they have some cushion for H2 (and indeed they said they expect stronger H2). By not raising the revenue guide after a beat, they’ve given themselves room to still meet/full-year numbers even if some macro softness emerges. It’s a classic under-promise, over-deliver stance. This increases the likelihood of hitting or exceeding the revenue target, barring a serious macro downturn.
The EPS guidance raise is mostly locked in from cost actions already taken (the RIF, lower SBC, etc.). Those savings are relatively controllable. So the bottom-line guidance looks quite achievable – Five9 essentially has to execute on the planned cost run-rate, and revenue just needs to stay in the guided range.
One could argue they are too conservative on revenue – if trends hold and no new shock, they might end up beating 1.14B (perhaps coming in a few million higher). But given the macro uncertainty, this caution is understandable and even appreciated by investors (no one wants a guidance cut later).
The main swing factor is the macro and sales cycles: management is implicitly assuming no further deterioration (but also no improvement). If the economy surprises positively (e.g., budgets unfreeze in H2), Five9 could have upside to growth. Conversely, if things get worse, Five9 might land at the lower end of the range or slightly miss. The prudent midpoint suggests they want to ensure they can deliver even in a slower environment.
Considering track record, Five9 has generally met or modestly exceeded guidance in recent years, so their credibility is fairly good. The only overhang might be that prior management (former CEO Rowan Trollope) was very growth-focused, whereas the returning CEO Mike Burkland is clearly balancing growth with profit. The market seems to trust Burkland’s approach – he’s executed well historically (he led Five9 as CEO from founding through IPO to 2017, building its early success). So, the guidance being a bit cautious likely comes from a place of experience.
Red Flags: There aren’t glaring red flags in the Q1 report, but a few yellow flags to keep an eye on:
The slight decline in DBRR and commentary about seasonal usage drops suggest that parts of Five9’s revenue are economically sensitive. If consumer-facing sectors (retail, travel, etc.) have another dip, Five9 could see growth dips in that transactional usage revenue again.
Five9’s reliance on a few large deals to hit numbers could increase as they go enterprise. This introduces lumpiness. If a couple of $2M deals slip a quarter, it could swing growth down temporarily. The pipeline is there, but timing is fickle. So we might see some volatility in quarterly results – something to brace for.
Stock-based compensation still at 14% of revenue is high (though improving). This is a common issue in software companies, but it means GAAP profitability will lag and dilution is non-trivial (share count ~77M diluted). Five9 is addressing it (SBC down YoY), but if the stock price stays low, they may need to grant more shares to retain talent, which could bump SBC back up. Investors often scrutinize high SBC as an “expense” that shouldn’t be ignored.
The rapid pace of AI change means Five9 has to continually update its AI stack. For example, if a new breakthrough LLM comes out that customers prefer over WatsonX or the current models, Five9 must integrate it quickly (or risk customers choosing a competitor that does). The partnership strategy helps here, but it also means Five9 isn’t fully in control of the AI tech – it depends on partners like IBM, Google, etc. Maintaining those relationships and keeping flexibility could be challenging if, say, those big partners decide to enter the CCaaS space more directly.
Integration of acquisitions or new technologies (should Five9 pursue any) carries risk. Past acquisitions have been small and mostly smooth. But if Five9 decides to buy a larger asset (maybe a chatbot company or a workforce management firm), integration and culture could pose issues. This is speculative, but worth noting as a general risk for any growing tech firm.
Hype vs. Reality Check: Five9’s story has a lot of buzzwords – AI, GenAI, digital transformation, massive TAM. For an objective view, one should ask: Is Five9 truly transforming the industry, or just riding the wave? The evidence from Q1 suggests Five9 is actually delivering on many of its promises (substance):
Customers do see quantifiable improvements with Five9’s AI (hype would be if all we had were vague statements).
Five9’s revenue and cash flow trajectory is improving, which is real – if hype dominated and nothing materialized, we’d expect stagnation or deterioration.
The company is self-aware enough to address trust and risk in AI (which lends credibility vs pure hype players that claim AI is magic with no downsides).
That said, some elements of hype remain:
Phrases like “massive TAM expanding with AI” are forward-looking and optimistic by nature; TAM is not guaranteed revenue. Five9 must still capture that TAM from competitors.
Everyone is now selling “AI-elevated customer experiences” – Five9 included. It will need to keep backing up that marketing with unique case studies and referenceable wins.
Execution Imperatives: To wrap up, for Five9 to fully capitalize on its opportunities and mitigate risks, it needs to:
Continue Rapid Innovation – especially in AI. Keep the product a step ahead (or at least on pace) of competitors. The next 12-18 months in AI will be crucial (whoever best productizes GenAI for contact centers could gain an edge).
Deliver on Big Deals – ensure the Fortune 50 banks and large healthcare wins go live successfully and publicize those successes. Nothing sells like proof; more marquee case studies will feed a virtuous cycle of enterprise wins.
Upsell, Upsell, Upsell – make AI a standard expansion for every customer. If Five9 can get half its base using one of its AI products in the next year or two, that could significantly boost growth with minimal sales expense (since it’s farming existing clients).
Maintain Cost Discipline – the market is appreciating the margin uptick, so Five9 should keep showing incremental margin gains each year. The 2+ point EBITDA margin improvement target for 2025 is a start; beyond that, there’s room to eventually get to 25%+ EBITDA margins like more mature software peers. Doing so without undercutting growth investments will be key – a delicate balance.
Watch the Competition Closely – respond when needed (whether through marketing, pricing, or product tweaks). Five9 cannot be complacent; even as a leader in CCaaS, it’s in an evolving race. Execution includes not just internal performance but also competitive intelligence and strategic adjustments.
In conclusion, Five9 enters the remainder of 2025 with significant momentum and a favorable setup: Q1’s strong execution gives confidence, and its strategy aligns with the biggest trend (AI) reshaping its industry. The company is more profitable and financially secure than ever, which gives it staying power. If it navigates the macro and competitive challenges effectively, Five9 has the potential to accelerate growth and further cement its leadership in the CCaaS market. However, investors and observers should remain watchful of the risk factors discussed – any signs of slippage in sales execution, AI differentiation, or customer retention would warrant a reassessment. For now, Five9’s Q1 performance has bolstered its credibility, and it appears well on track to achieve its 2025 objectives, with a critical eye toward separating true signal (substance) from the noise (hype) in this dynamic AI-driven phase of the contact center industry.
Sources:
Five9 Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript (Investing.com) etc. (All in-text citations refer to this transcript and related press releases and news on Investing.com for Five9, NICE, Talkdesk, Genesys, as linked above.)