Emptoris acquires Click Commerce
Acquisition adds labor services procurement capabilities to Emptoris suite
By Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 5/14/2009 11:26:00 AM EDT
Emptoris has acquired the contract and service management (CSM) business of Click Commerce, a software provider owned by Illinois Tool Works. Previously, the business was known as Elance. Burlington, Mass.-based Emptoris provides software and services for supply and contract management.
Click Commerce CSM provides software and services for buying contingent labor and professional services. It helps users find, evaluate, purchase, manage and pay for all types of these services including business process outsourcing, facilities management, temporary labor and information technology (IT) consulting.
CSM has workflow capabilities; configurable rules by geography and category for simple tasks such as hourly rate staffing through those that are more complex such as IT outsourcing contracts and robust global features including support for multiple languages, currencies, and labor and tax laws.
Emptoris had surveyed its customers and found that buying services such as flexible staffing for IT programming, business consultants, IT outsourcing contracts and administrative services was a massive and growing challenge, says Kevin Potts, senior vice president, product management and marketing at Emptoris.
“Our customers told us that the problem cannot be solved using their ERP systems, and very few have deployed dedicated software to manage it,” he says. “We want to help them be as successful as possible, and we believe we found the best solution on the market and are excited to add it to our suite.”
Emptoris plans to offer CSM as software-as-a-service (SaaS) or as enterprise software, hosted or installed.
Emptoris plans to retain the 80 or so employees of the business which is based in Chicago. “We are committed to continue to invest in the CSM product and integrate it with the rest of our suite,” says Avner Schneur, president and CEO at Emptoris. “With the acquisition, Click Commerce customers will continue to have their contract and service management software and services maintained by their existing team and they will gain access to an expanded team and award-winning suite of contract and supply management solutions and capabilities.”
Marlin Equity Partners made a significant capital investment in Emptoris in December 2008 to support the company’s growth plan for its operations and its software suite. Marlin had specifically allocated capital to fund future organic growth as well as strategic acquisitions.
Schneur added that Emptoris would continue to evaluate other acquisition opportunities, specifically where a strong strategic fit is evident.
See also: Four tips on spend analysis for small companies
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