Industri-Matematik Acquires Customer Relationship Management Business from Astea International
MARLTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 4, 1999--Industri-Matematik International Corp. (NASDAQ:IMIC), a global provider of supply chain management software, today announced it has acquired the Abalon customer relationship management software operations, formerly Abalon AB, from Astea International (NASDAQ:ATEA) for approximately $9.5 million.
As part of the agreement, all eighty Abalon employees in Europe and the United States, including its three founders, will join Industri-Matematik.
The acquisition, which will be accounted for as a purchase, is expected to result in an undetermined one-time charge for in-process research and development. The charge will be recorded in the third quarter of fiscal 1999. Excluding the one-time charge, Industri-Matematik does not expect the transaction to impact earnings in fiscal 1999. The company does expect the acquisition to enhance its earnings before goodwill amortization for fiscal 2000.
The combined Industri-Matematik and Abalon capabilities redefine supply chain and front-office applications by bringing together in one solution the strategic processes in revenue generation, including marketing automation, sales management, order capture, global fulfillment and service management. The joint solution will enable companies to acquire, develop and retain customers more profitably by effectively managing the complete lifecycle of their business interactions.
Industri-Matematik will integrate Abalon Customer Management Solution (CMS) software, which supports sales, marketing, service and call center operations, with its Advanced Supply Chain Execution Suite for managing customer-driven fulfillment in complex logistics environments. Both products support the multi-language, multi-currency environments of global companies and provide e-commerce capabilities that allow companies to collaborate with customers and partners.
"Leading companies recognize that profitable customer relationships are their most important asset," said Stig Durlow, president and CEO at Industri-Matematik. "The companies that successfully 'own' those relationships over the long-term will increase market share and profitability, and become tomorrow's winners. This strategic acquisition positions Industri-Matematik at the forefront of helping companies continuously adapt their supply chains to gain, develop and retain profitable customers."
According to Bjorn Candler, president at Abalon, who will join Industri-Matematik and continue to be responsible for Abalon operations, "Industri-Matematik has a compelling vision of helping companies make their supply chains customer-driven. This acquisition advances that vision by creating an innovative, new application that allows companies to simplify customer relationships across all revenue-generating interactions. Given our complementary corporate cultures and technology architectures, we expect to combine operations and products quickly."
Industri-Matematik will move rapidly to integrate the Abalon team into its operations. The company will immediately leverage Abalon's expertise to train personnel worldwide on the CMS software. The product will be sold by Industri-Matematik's global sales organization to companies in fast-moving goods industries, including consumer durables, high technology, business equipment and wholesale/distribution. Additionally, the existing Abalon sales organization will continue to sell to and service its traditional markets. Industri-Matematik will also continue to support Abalon's strategic reseller and distributor agreements.
According to AMR Research, an industry and market analysis firm specializing in enterprise applications, the total aggregate revenue of the Customer Relationship Management market is expected to grow from $1.2 billion in 1997 to $11.5 billion in 2002, sustaining a 58 percent cumulative aggregate growth rate over five years.
The existing Abalon support team will join Industri-Matematik, enabling the company to provide customers with continued high levels of support. The Abalon solution has been implemented in over 250 organizations, including the Swedish PTT Telia, Canon, Ericsson, Eircell, Mandarin Communications and Sun Microsystems, which has deployed the software in eight countries.
Complementary, Customer-Driven Software
Abalon CMS software supports the complete customer management cycle, from identifying prospects and winning business to maintaining ongoing customer relationships that generate repeat business. It is a suite of integrated, modular applications that provides marketing automation, technically assisted sales activities and customer support, including call center operations. The software maintains a central repository for all information about customers, business partners, competitors and suppliers, allowing companies to respond quickly and accurately to customer inquiries.
The software uses object-oriented programming that makes it extremely adaptable to changes in organizations. It supports Microsoft Windows, Web-based and Java clients to extend applications across and outside the enterprise.
Industri-Matematik and Abalon CMS software share complementary, component architectures. This will enable fast process-to-process integration, such as allowing a call center to answer a question on availability while quoting a product to a prospect, and providing single screen access to all marketing, sales, order fulfillment and service activities for individual customers. Additionally, both products are Year 2000 and Eurocurrency compliant, and have been designed to integrate with leading ERP applications. Integrated components of the combined solution are planned to be available in mid-1999.
Industri-Matematik's Advanced Supply Chain Execution Suite synchronizes customer-driven supply chains from order capture to global fulfillment to reduce inventories, increase velocity, and improve customer satisfaction and profitability. The suite includes modules for order capture, global fulfillment, advanced warehouse management, demand planning, service management and strategic profitability analysis.
The Industri-Matematik software supports Java-based clients that make it easy and cost-effective for companies to conduct business over the Web. The software includes comprehensive tools that allow companies to measure the performance and profitability of their products - helping them connect business strategies to supply chain operations.
About Industri-Matematik
Industri-Matematik International Corp., with worldwide revenues for the fiscal year ended April 1998 of $95 million, is a leading supplier of customer-driven supply chain management solutions for providers of fast-moving, high-volume products. The company was named the market leader in supply chain execution software by AMR Research in its 1998 supply chain management software report. Industri-Matematik has implemented logistics management systems worldwide at brand-leading organizations such as British Airways, Campbell Soup, Canadian Tire, Canon, Carlton and United Breweries, Hartz Mountain, Kellogg's, Skyway Freight Systems, Starbucks, VWR and Warner/Elektra/Atlantic.
"The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts contain forward-looking statements with respect to plans, projections, or future performance of Industri-Matematik, its combination with Abalon, and further versions of their software solutions that involve certain risks and uncertainties. The word "expects" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Industri-Matematik's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors including, but not limited to, problems and delays in integrating Abalon's products and business, the impact of competitive products and pricing, uncertainties regarding continued market acceptance of Industri-Matematik's products, delays in the introduction of new product enhancements, hiring, training, and retaining a rapidly increasing level of employees, risks associated with managing the company's rapid growth, as well as those uncertainties detailed in Industri-Matematik's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed in July 1998."
Editors: For Industri-Matematik company and product information, and press releases, access the Industri-Matematik site on the World Wide Web at im.se.
CONTACT:
Industri-Matematik
Tim Walsh, (609) 797-4438
tiwa@im.se
OR
Copithorne & Bellows for Industri-Matematik
Albie Jarvis or Dan Mees, (617) 450-4300
dan.mees@cbpr.com |
