Both Wall Street and the channel applauded Nice’s $955 million acquisition of Cognigy that delivers the CCaaS vendor crucial agentic AI technology.

Nice’s stock price, which had declined 10% over the past year, rose sharply on the news while channel partners gave Nice high grades for the move. Hoboken, NJ-based Nice paid approximately $955 million for the German company.

“Together, we are significantly advancing the future of AI-first customer experience,” said Nice CEO Scott Russell, who called the deal “a landmark moment for Nice.”

Nice CEO Scott Russell

Cognigy.AI allows enterprises to deploy AI agents, and is available in more than 100 languages. Its customer list includes Lufthansa, Mercedes-Benz and Nestle.

The deal gives CX and CCaaS titan Nice a proven agentic AI technology from Cognigy. After the deal closes – probably in the fourth quarter – Nice will integrate Cognigy.AI into its CXone platform, specifically CX Mpower. The integration is expected to go smoothly because Cognigy already uses Nice's Agent Assist and Virtual Agent Hubs within Mpower.

Several Nice partners told Channel Futures’ James Anderson they approved the deal.

“This is much simpler for the business enterprise to acquire and manage,” said Jacqueline Catala, principal partner at Nice partner Forge Technology Advisors. "It’s a great move for Nice and solves the problem of point solutions vs. all-in-one for the client, essentially making the tech advisors’ job easier."

Rise Technology Advisors founder Eric Ludwig added: "Human-like chatbots are high on the list for every organization integrating AI into their CX environments, allowing for self-service, but in a way that's more personal. This is a great acquisition for Nice and really helps round out their capabilities, either using the existing Nice tools or other third-party platforms like Microsoft, AWS and others."

During a conference call to discuss the deal, Nice’s Russell called it a game-changer.

“By bringing a market leader in enterprise-grade conversational and agentic AI into the fold, we are accelerating global AI adoption, expanding into new global markets, and creating game-changing value for our customers, partners, and shareholders,” he said.

Cognigy founder and CEO Philipp Heltewig called the transition a “pivotal step forward” for the company.

“Nice is an exceptional organization whose global reach, deep expertise, and relentless focus on innovation will accelerate our growth and enhance the value we bring to our customers and partners,” he said. “Together, we are uniquely positioned to shape the future of customer experience, uniting the best of trusted AI and human interactions.”