In today’s ever-consolidating ASP world, there are movers and there are sellers. Surebridge Inc. is definitely emerging as a mover.
The increasingly compelling ASP success story added another notch to its belt yesterday when it announced the acquisition of ManagedOps, an application outsourcer that specializes in Microsoft Great Plains, CRM Online and Exchange applications.
Financial terms of the deal were not announced. However, Surebridge reports that it will top the $50 million revenue mark based on the acquisition. Surebridge also reports that as a result of the transaction, it now has more than a 50 percent share of the hosted Microsoft Business Solutions application market.
Prior to the acquisition, Surebridge’s chairman and CEO Peter J. Boni, told ASPnews that Microsoft applications accounted for roughly 25 percent of the company’s business. With the ManagedOps acquisition complete that jumps to about 40 percent.
Surebridge reports that it will merge its Microsoft Business Solutions unit into the ManagedOps organization, which will become Surebridge’s Microsoft Business Solutions organization and be based in Bedford, N.H.
The acquisition will also result a reduction in headcount at the combined company. “Several people from both companies will be eliminated due to redundancies in job functions,” Boni said. The cuts will come across the board are and “are a reality of streamlining a business.”
The syngeries between Surebridge and ManagedOps are many. Geographically, the two companies are located in close proximity (Surebridge is located in Lexington, Mass. and ManagedOps is based just over the Massachusetts border in Bedford, N.H.). Like Surebridge, ManagedOps focuses on mid-size enterprises. Both target companies with above $10 million in revenue. ManagedOps customers fall into the $10 to $250 million range. Surebridge sets its sights a bit higher: companies between $10 and $1 billion in revenue.
Surebridge also reports that both companies target similar vertical markets: manufacturing/distribution, financial services, healthcare/pharmaceutical, services, publishing/media and communications, retail and public sector industries.
While ManagedOps has been known primarily as an outsourcer of Microsoft Great Plains (which now fits under the Microsoft Business Solutions brand), Boni said he is excited about the prospects of offering Microsoft CRM Online and the opportunities to provide front- and back-office connectivity by integrating CRM and ERP applications. The much-anticipated CRM offering from Microsoft was officiating launched on January 21.
Boni said that Surebridge will sell Microsoft Business Solutions direct in the New England states and will work with channel partners established by ManagedOps outside of New England.
The acquisition comes four months after Surebridge purchased Atlanta-based PeopleSoft ASP Transchannel (see Surebridge Acquires Transchannel). While Boni wouldn’t speculate on upcoming acquisitions, he did say that Surebridge has plenty of cash and that growth through acquisition is still included in the company’s five-part strategy (see Surebridge Finds Profits in Mid-market).
Surebridge and ManagedOps are both listed by ASPnews as Top 20 Service Providers.
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