Cisco acquires sales automation software maker MaintenanceNet for $139 million
Cisco on Tuesday announced plans to acquire MaintenanceNet, a maker of sales automation software, for $139 million.
The deal, which is relatively small for the networking giant, adds a key ingredient to Cisco's software arsenal.
MaintenanceNet is known for its cloud-based contract management platform ServiceExchange, which captures fragmented warranty and service contract data for sales and marketing teams to help them spot new or lost service sales opportunities.
Featured
The software will make Cisco well positioned to deal with the ongoing IT shift to a recurring revenue model for products, software and services. What's more, Cisco plans to use MaintenanceNet's technology both internally and as a service to its customers.
"The ability to easily implement, track, manage and renew contracts is critical to maximizing revenue potential," Cisco SVP of customer success, Debbie Dunnam, wrote in a blog post. "These transitions create opportunities and change for our customers, our partners, and for Cisco."
Cisco says it has worked with MaintenanceNet since 2009, offering the privately-held company's software to Cisco distribution and reseller partners. Going forward, MaintenanceNet will join Cisco's Global Customer Success (GCS) organization, the company's customer engagement group. MaintenanceNet CEO Scott Herron said in a blog post that there are no plans to dismantle the company or its offerings. MaintenanceNet's headquarters will remain in Carlsbad, California.
The MaintenanceNet deal caps off a busy buying season for Cisco, which has acquired six software firms so far this year. Last week Cisco nabbed threat protection security firm OpenDNS in a deal worth $635 million.
In early May Cisco announced its acquisition of Tropo, a company that provides a cloud application programming interface platform. The deal allowed Cisco to extend its developer network and ecosystem, and essentially become more of a cloud collaboration player as well as an application provider.