Barak Eilam () is an American–Israeli executive. He was the chief executive officer of
NICE
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millioncloud enterprise software company. This transition was achieved through organic innovations as well as acquisitions of multiple companies of businesses, as well as the divestiture of a number of
subsidiaries
A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...
to focus the company on cloud and analytics. These strategic moves drove the company's accelerated growth in the last 7 years. On May 16, 2024, it was announced that Eilam would resign from NICE by 31 December.
Eilam's strategy and execution has led to a substantial rise in the company valuation and its
share price
A share price is the price of a single share of a number of saleable equity shares of a company.
In layman's terms, the stock price is the highest amount someone is willing to pay for the stock, or the lowest amount that it can be bought for.
B ...
between 2014 and the present day, supported by many investment banks. While CEO of
NICE
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million
Education and early life
Eilam served as an officer in the
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...
intelligence corps for six years. He has been working in various positions at NICE since he left the army in 1999. He studied at the
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...
, and received a BSc in
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
Eilam started his career as an engineer at NICE in 1999 and he held multiple senior roles in R&D, product management and sales. Later, he became Vice President of the Interaction Analytics Group, an extension of NICE. Eilam established and led the company's Analytics business, spearheading NICE's transformation into an enterprise software company. Prior to becoming the CEO, Eilam served as the President of NICE Americas, expanding NICE's customer base.
Eilam was announced as the CEO in 2014. 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. During his career he has demonstrated a high ability to lead organizations, including product and sales teams, to introduce new technologies and foster innovation."'' When Eilam was announced as the CEO, many Israeli newspapers stated that
NICE
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionNASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
.
This led the company to acquire a number of companies, mainly based in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. This included the cloud-based customer service provider, inContact, based in
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
. The acquisition was the largest in the history of
NICE
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionFortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fate
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (19 ...
it allowed the company to focus more on mid-market, but also on large financial companies to integrate their existing product range. The acquisition was for a total of $940 million.
They also acquired analytics firm Nexidia for $135 million during a similar period. This was seen by many in the media as Eilam further repositioning the company into the customer interaction
analytics
Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...
market. In late 2017, the company also announced the acquisition of workforce analytical software provider, WorkFlex. Previous acquisitions such as Causata enabled
NICE
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionNICE
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionMattersight Corporation
Mattersight Corporation, formerly known as eLoyalty, is a publicly traded company that provides SaaS-based enterprise behavioral analytics software. Its software focuses on customer-employee interaction and behavior. The company is headquartered i ...
for a total of $90 million. The company which was a
SaaS
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...
-based enterprise
behavioral analytics
Behavioral analytics is a recent advancement in business analytics that reveals new insights into the behavior of consumers on eCommerce platforms, online games, web and mobile applications, and Internet of Things ( IoT). The rapid increase in th ...
software provider, became a subsidiary product offering of NICE following the acquisition. During the same year, NICE and Eilam posted a number of positive results regarding company growth. These results were mainly focused on two of the company's cloud platforms CXone and X-Sight.
Since becoming the CEO of NICE, the company has regularly posted strong financial results. Towards the end of 2018, Eilam was interviewed on
CNBC
CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
, speaking about the success of NICE and the growth it has experienced over recent years. Eilam stated that since he had become CEO, the company had experienced a fivefold total addressable market growth in a little over four years at the helm of the company.
Eilam outlined a strategy on how NICE 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 to reach a turnover of $2 billion in a short timeframe, with an
operating margin
In business, operating margin—also known as operating income margin, operating profit margin, EBIT margin and return on sales (ROS)—is the ratio of operating income ("operating profit" in the UK) to net sales, usually expressed in percent.
...
of 30%. By the end of 2020 the market cap of NICE reached new record high. Shared price reached $275, representing a 7-fold increase since he became a CEO.
In July 2021, Eilam announced that NICE would be acquiring British-based ContactEngine for an undisclosed sum. It further pushed NICE's focus on AI, with ContactEngine having the ability to anticipate customer questions and reach out proactively in certain situations with outbound texts. NICE soon after launched CXone SmartReach, which included the technology acquired as part of the ContactEngine deal. In September 2022, Eilam wrote for
FastCompany
''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually.
History
''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webber ...
about the progression of measuring customer experience. He was also interviewed by
Calcalist
''Calcalist'' (, a Hebrew wordplay on ''The Economist'', from כלכלה, ''kalkala''; economics) is an Israeli daily business and economics newspaper and website.
History and profile
''Calcalist'' was first published on 18 February 2008, and c ...
in mid-2022, explaining that NICE had "$1.5 billion in our account," which he felt gave NICE an advantage with acquisitions as many competitors would have to fund large deals with debt. During the earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2022, Eilam confirmed that NICE Ltd. had reached its target of surpassing $2 billion in annual revenue. He stated that this was partly down to a continued growth in of the AI adoption and automation. Throughout the entire financial year of 2022, the NICE share price increased 17%.
In May 2023, Eilam spoke to
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...
about the importance of AI and how it is likely to impact customer service in the future. A month later, he was a keynote speaker at NICE's Interactions 2023 event. During the event, the future of
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
was discussed, again focusing on how it impacts the CX industry. He likened AI to a ''"CX alchemist conjuring up a completely new world of possibilities of how technology and customer service can be melded together."''
On May 16th 2024, Eilam announced he will step down from his role as CEO by the end of the year.
Personal life
Eilam lives in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
with his two daughters, wife, and cat.
Accolades
*
Globes
A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe o ...
– People of the Year, 22nd (2014)
* People & Computers magazine – CEO of the Year (2015)
*
Calcalist
''Calcalist'' (, a Hebrew wordplay on ''The Economist'', from כלכלה, ''kalkala''; economics) is an Israeli daily business and economics newspaper and website.
History and profile
''Calcalist'' was first published on 18 February 2008, and c ...
– 50 best managers, 7th (2019)
*
Calcalist
''Calcalist'' (, a Hebrew wordplay on ''The Economist'', from כלכלה, ''kalkala''; economics) is an Israeli daily business and economics newspaper and website.
History and profile
''Calcalist'' was first published on 18 February 2008, and c ...