KANA & IBM’s SOA Layer – What Will Happen Now That KANA Has Been Acquired?
At the tail end of 2009, private equity firm Accel-KKR announced it would be purchasing KANA Software for $41 million. The acquisition has been finalized, and more details have come to light, and the main difference is that KANA will no longer be a public company.
KANA’s VP of Marketing, Keith Goldberg, noted that company executives fielded many questions regarding KANA’s stability as a publicly-traded company in a tough economic time, so the move makes sense. The nice thing is that the KANA brand will remain intact, and in face Accel-KKR was especially interested in furthering KANA’s “vision,” and taking them to new levels regarding various trends in the CRM software market.
Goldberg also points out that another KANA asset will remain unchanged by the acquisition: KANA’s alliance with IBM to create a customer service solution based on a collaborative SOA. Whether or not the relationship will cool remains to be seen, especially considering the boon this joint venture provides. According to an analyst at Forrester Research, the IBM collaborative SOA element makes KANA’s product auspicious for both customer service and CRM professionals, allowing them to implement changes quicker and overall provide a more efficient customer experience.
There have already been myriad CRM trends predicted for 2010, and it’ll be interesting to see if KANA and IBM’s collaborative SOA layer makes a splash, or takes a backseat with the former company’s purchase.
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