Masergy is adding a mobile app to its cloud-based unified communications service, seeking to be more competitive in the hotly contested UC-as-a-service space.

The Masergy Connect app is bundled with the managed service provider's Global Unified Communication as a Service (Global UCaaS) product, bringing Masergy Communications Inc. up to speed with other UCaaS specialists such as RingCentral Inc. and 8x8 Inc. (Nasdaq: EGHT), who already offer mobile applications. [UPDATE: Masergy says it also has had a mobile app, but this is a better one.] In the competitive realm of UCaaS, increased support for mobile workers is paramount, says Dean Manzoori, vice president of global cloud communications for Masergy.

The new mobile app won't generate new profits, he explains, but it should make Masergy's UC offering more attractive.

"It increases the value of our UC overlay and so even though there is no direct incremental cost to this because it is already included in the UC overlay package, it does make our product more appealing," Manzoori says in an interview.

The UCaaS marketplace is a crowded space because it has become a service requirement for businesses who want to connect on multiple media and integrate mobile workers as well, letting everyone work to maximum productivity wherever they are. A wide range of players from one-time VoIP specialists like RingCentral to the big boys of telecom like AT&T, Verizon and BT and even Internet giants Microsoft and Google have all developed UCaaS offers. And that's on top of premises-based UC from the likes of Cisco and more.

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In the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant report, Masergy was listed as a challenger, well behind some of the larger players and market leaders RingCentral, 8X8 and Fuze.

Manzoori says the company continues to evolve its offer for its global customer base, building on the Masergy Communicator HUB functionality, which provides not just easy connectivity via phone, text, chat or conferencing but also the context for those communications. That is all now built into the Masergy Connect app.

"So when you have a call with a person, you also have, there in the app, the most recent emails from that person, to provide context for the call," he explains.

The cloud-based system also allows for easy synchronization of call logs, contact lists and user preferences across devices, and the ability to easily join meetings or video chats.

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading