Barak Eilam

Barak Eilam is the Chief Executive Officer of NICE Ltd. He became the CEO in 2014, after spending over 15 years with the company. Eilam played an influential part in evolving the strategic direction of the company, leading its transition into an enterprise software company. This was done through the sale of a number of subsidiaries to create a cloud and analytics focus. This was achieved through organic developments as well as acquisitions of a number of businesses based in the United States.

Barak Eilam
Born
Barak Eilam

Tel Aviv, Israel
EducationTel Aviv University
Alma materElectrical Engineering
OccupationCEO
EmployerNICE Ltd.

Eilam's acquisition strategy has led the share price of NICE Ltd. to rise substantially between 2014 and the present day. While CEO of NICE Ltd., Eilam has won multiple awards for his achievements including some in his country of birth, Israel.

Education and early life

Eilam studied at the Tel Aviv University, where he received a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering. He also attended INSEAD Management in France.

Career

Early in Eilam's career, he joined NICE Ltd. and later became Vice President of the Interaction Analytics Group, an extension of NICE.[1] He later moved to the United States and became Head of Sales and the General Manager for the company's Enterprise Group in the Americas. He served as President of NICE Americas, where he focused on expanding the customer base and regional reach of the company throughout the Americas.[2]

Eilam was announced as the CEO in 2014. He replaced Zeevi Bregman, who retired from the post.[3] Following the announcement, David Kustman as Chairman of the Board stated, "Barak has proven success in establishing business units and achieving results, and has made a significant contribution to NICE's growth and success. During his career he has demonstrated a high ability to lead organizations, including product and sales teams, to introduce new technologies and foster innovation. His appointment points to the depth of the managerial avenue at NICE. I am confident that he is the right person to motivate NICE to realize the many opportunities in the market and to lead the company to continued growth in the coming years."[1] When Eilam was announced as the CEO, many Israeli newspapers stated that NICE Ltd. was one of the largest Israeli companies to be floated on the NASDAQ.[4]

Eilam underwent a restructuring operation of the company, which led to selling various services and making a number of new acquisitions. In 2015, the company sold a number of intelligence related services for $158 million to the firm Elbit Systems.[5] along with physical security division for $100 million.

This led the company to acquire a number of companies, mainly based in the United States. This included the cloud-based customer service provider, inContact, based in Utah. The acquisition was the largest in the history of NICE Ltd. and completely repositioned the company. According to Fortune it allowed the company to focus more on mid-market, but also on large financial companies to integrate their existing product range.[6] The acquisition was for a total of $940 million.

They also acquired analytics firm Nexidia for $135 million during a similar period.[7] This was seen by many in the media as Eilam further repositioning the company into the customer interaction analytics market. In late 2017, the company also announced the acquisition of workforce analytical software provider, WorkFlex.[8] Previous acquisitions such as Causata enabled NICE Ltd. to have a diversified portfolio of analytical products.[9] The ongoing acquisitions and strategic realignment meant the stock price of the company also grew by 27% between 2017 and 2018.[10]

In 2018, it was rumored that Eilam and NICE Ltd. were considering an acquisition offer for Mattersight Corporation. The deal was eventually completed later that year for a total of $90 million. The company which was a SaaS-based enterprise behavioral analytics software provider, became a subsidiary product offering of NICE Ltd. following the acquisition.[11] During the same year, NICE Ltd. and Eilam posted a number of positive results regarding company growth. These results were mainly focused on two products, CXone and X-Sight. Following the launch of CXone, the cloud business arm of the company grew its revenues by 29% during Q4 of 2018. During an earnings call, Eilam explained how X-Sight was growing in stature within the financial crime market. During this year, Eilam also oversaw the integration of IFM-X into X-Sight, which would give clients an integrated fraud management suite, using machine learning to reduce the cost of operating a fraud management system.[12]

Since becoming the CEO of NICE Ltd., the company has regularly posted strong financial results. In the third quarter of 2018, it was announced that the financials were better than expected for the quarter. Cash held by the company reduced following the acquisition of Mattersight, but reached a market cap of $6.6 billion by the end of 2018, following a 25.5% rise in share price over the previous twelve months.[13] This coincided with overall growth in revenue of 9% over the entire year.[12] Towards the end of 2018, Eilam was interviewed on CNBC, speaking about the success of NICE Ltd. and the growth it has experienced over recent years. Eilam stated that since he had become CEO, the company had experienced a fivefold growth in a little over four years at the helm of the company.[10]

Eilam outlined a strategy on how NICE Ltd. would further expand in the coming years. He believed that by increasing the quality of analytics across all sectors of the business, for both internal and customer requirements, it would create more efficient software. He expected NICE Ltd. to reach a turnover of $2 billion in a short timeframe, with an operating margin of 30%.[12]

Accolades
  • Globes - People of the Year, 22nd (2014)[4]
  • People & Computers magazine - CEO of the Year (2015)[14]

References
  1. "Barak Eilam was appointed CEO of Nice" (in Hebrew). News1.
  2. "Barak Bilam bio". Nice Ltd.
  3. "NICE appointed CEO Barak Elam, one of its patent inventors". TheMarker.
  4. "Barak Eilam CEO of Nice". Globes.
  5. "Elbit Systems buys Nice's cyber unit for up to $158 mln". Reuters.
  6. "Here's Why Software Maker Nice Systems Made This Acquisition". Fortune. May 18, 2016.
  7. Reich, Dror. "ce Extends Mattersight Tender Offer for the Fourth Time". C Tech.
  8. "Cincinnati call center startup acquired by public company". Biz Journals.
  9. Brinsmead, Aphrodite (January 14, 2016). "Nice's acquisition of Nexidia strengthens its market position for customer interaction analytics". Ovum Ltd.
  10. "Top analytics company grew its market opportunity 'fivefold'". CNBC. May 11, 2018.
  11. "NICE Systems buys US cloud analytics co Mattersight". Globes. April 26, 2018.
  12. "NICE-Systems Limited (NICE) CEO Barak Eilam on Q4 2018 Results - Earnings Call". Seeking Alpha.
  13. "Nice Systems beats analysts, raises guidance". Globes. November 8, 2018.
  14. "Who are the CEOs of the year in 2015". People & Computers.
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