Verint Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNT) has acquired enterprise feedback management (EFM) solutions developer Vovici Corporation of the US for $76.4 million. Vovici has developed a survey and response analysis solution that enables companies to know what their customers think about them.
Verint will pay $57 million in cash at the closing, and the balance in 18 months, subject to Vovici meeting milestones. Verint will finance the acquisition from its own resources; it had $180 million in cash at the end of March.
Vovici is a private company, and Verint did not disclose its financial data, or its past results.
Verint develops vide and audio recording processing solutions for large enterprises and security agencies. It is a rival of NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) in many fields.
Verint CEO Dan Bodner told "Globes", "We've been operating in the customer call centers market for several years. Customers contact enterprises in several ways, by calling customer service, chat rooms, a company's website, and feedback on surveys. Until now, we analyzed the audio and video data, and the acquisition of Vovici will add feedback data processing capability. The acquisition supplements our portfolio with information that arrives from all these sources, enabling us to comprehensively analyze all the data, and provide a company with a full picture of what its customers think about it."
Vovici's customers include Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Marriott Hotels, and Toyota Motor Company. The Virginia-based company has 100 employees. Under the acquisition terms, Vovici CEO Greg Stock and other executives will keep their jobs.
Stock said, “Generating a unified view into the customer experience is a critical enabler for every business today… The addition of Vovici to Verint’s proven, market-leading solutions will greatly expand our ability to help unlock the value of customer experiences."
This is Verint's second acquisition this year, after acquiring Israeli security information management solutions company Rontal Applications three months ago. Rontal's technology processes data from command and control and incident management systems to create a 3D image.
Verint's share price fell 0.5% in early trading on Nasdaq to $35.49, giving a market cap of $1.35 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 20, 2011
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