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Cisco Systems’ buying spree is continuing this week, with the networking giant spending $139 million to buy a company that offers cloud-based software to manage recurring customer contracts.
Cisco officials announced the acquisition of MaintenanceNet July 7, with the closing of the deal coming later this year. Cisco and MaintenanceNet have worked together since 2009 to offer Cisco distribution partners and resellers a better way to manage service renewals and to find new product opportunities, according to Debbie Dunnam, senior vice president of global customer success at Cisco.
“As more of the business models in IT shift to a recurring revenue model for products, software, solutions and services, the ability to easily implement, track, manage and renew contracts is critical to maximizing revenue potential,” Dunnam wrote in a post on the company blog. “These transitions create opportunities and change for our customers, our partners, and for Cisco.”
Eleven-year-old MaintenanceNet offers cloud-based data analytics and automation software that enables businesses to identify customer service contracts that are coming up for renewal or are overdue, or that don’t cover all the products they need to, according to Cisco officials. The products enable automated quoting, notifications and online ordering.
“This helps Cisco partners capture high-volume and low-dollar sales opportunities that may risk being overlooked,” Dunnam wrote. “This streamlined process enables services contract opportunities to be pursued quickly and efficiently.”
Once the deal closes, MaintenanceNet will become part of Cisco’s Global Customer Success (GCS) organization. The deal is part of Cisco’s larger strategy to have GCS simplify and digitize its business processes, she wrote.
The acquisition will enable MaintenceNet to grow its capabilities, according to CEO Scott Herron.
“Our focus will continue to be on bringing you the technology and services you need to drive success with your services business,” Herron wrote in a post on the company blog. “The difference is, that with Cisco’s investment in our future, we gain the capability to scale more rapidly, to serve you more comprehensively and to advance our team and our technology to meet your needs—with greater resources behind us.”
The MaintenceNet news comes a week after Cisco announced it is buying OpenDNS, a company that provides cloud-based security capabilities to a broad array of devices.