HCL Technologies Acquires CRM Services Provider PowerObjects

IT services provider HCL Technologies on Thursday said that it has acquired Minneapolis-based PowerObjects - a leading North American provider of Microsoft Dynamics customer-relationship management (CRM).

"This will bolster HCL's global applications business, which offers transformational programs and complex application management for a myriad of clients' technology landscapes," HCL Technologies said in a release.

It justified the acquisition citing market research firm Gartner's forecast that CRM will be a $36 billion (roughly Rs. 2,35,096 crores) worldwide market by 2017, and will grow faster than any other enterprise software category, as businesses look to build upon long-term customer relationships.

Also, within the CRM market, Microsoft Dynamics CRM outpaced market growth at 21.7 percent growth in 2014.

"Together, HCL and PowerObjects will now offer one of the largest Microsoft Dynamics practices in North America," said Greg Palesano, executive vice president and global head of application services. "The acquisition reinforces our commitment to helping clients who rely on Microsoft as a strategic platform. We look forward to combining our global scale with PowerObjects' capability and expertise to build a world-class Microsoft Dynamics CRM business positioned to capture the growing opportunities in the CRM services market."

"We are excited that HCL will carry on the PowerObjects heritage of innovation," said Dean Jones, CEO of PowerObjects. "As clients attempt to grow their revenues by improving their CRM processes and technologies, we believe that blending our teams and areas of expertise will result in increasingly transformational products and services."

"As companies look for new and more effective ways to engage their customers, technology plays an important role in enabling them to gain greater insights, become more responsive and create business value," said Susan Hauser, corporate vice president, Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft. "HCL and PowerObjects are well positioned to help drive business transformation by helping companies intelligently engage with their customers."

As part of the acquisition, the existing leadership team of PowerObjects will remain in place, and no workforce changes are planned. The total cash consideration for this transaction is approximately $46 million (roughly Rs. 300 crores), including contingent payments subject to certain financial milestones. PowerObjects had trailing twelve-month revenues of approximately $37 million as of September 30, 2015. Over 250 PowerObjects employees will be welcomed into the HCL family.

Written with inputs from IANS