* Analysis of eBay’s proposed acquisition of Skype
At first glance, eBay’s proposal last week to acquire Skype Technologies seems a little like Wal-Mart buying MCI. However, the acquisition really does make quite a bit of sense when you look at the future of VoIP and the potential for VoIP to help eBay evolve and grow its business.
Here’s what I see as the advantage of the acquisition for eBay and its impact on the broader messaging industry:
* The acquisition is another clear signal that VoIP is a truly viable technology that all organizations should take seriously. Companies like Vonage have been pushing hard on the VoIP message with impressive results, but the Skype acquisition helps to further legitimize the notion that VoIP is a real and reliable technology.
* EBay’s acquisition of Skype’s technology, if done properly, should go a long way toward making the eBay buying process richer and easier for customers. Imagine finding three competing items to purchase on eBay and, just before you’re ready to make a bid, you determine which seller is available in real time for a quick VoIP conversation to ask a couple of questions. That could give a seller a competitive advantage if his fellow sellers aren’t so enabled, and it could provide eBay with another revenue stream. For customers, integrating presence and voice into the buying process could go a long way toward improving the eBay experience.
* For other businesses, the integration of VoIP can go a long way toward improving customer service. For example, having a VoIP link to a customer service agent when buying anything from auto insurance to baby strollers can definitely improve the buying experience by allowing potential customers to get quick answers to their questions.
More broadly, however, what the acquisition of Skype points out is the window of opportunity that organizations have to integrate VoIP into their business processes and to have it provide them with a competitive advantage.
For example, e-mail no longer provides a competitive advantage, since you must have e-mail in order to do business – you can experience only a competitive disadvantage by not having e-mail available 24/7.
VoIP, like instant messaging and presence, can provide a company that implements it properly with a competitive edge until everyone else in their industry catches up. That window for VoIP will likely last at least a couple more years, but probably not much beyond that.
