SolarWinds†(NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Samanage, a highly reviewed and highly rated IT service desk solution company based in Cary, NC. Over the past 7 years, Samanage has built a strong, well-respected product guided by a customer-centricity that aligns well with SolarWinds’ mission and commitment to the technology professional community. SolarWinds plans to add the Samanage products to its IT Operations Management portfolio beginning in Q2 2019. The SaaS-based offering will complement the on-premise products the company offers today to serve the needs of IT organizations at businesses of all sizes – from the SMB to the large enterprise.
“For 20 years, SolarWinds has been committed to making IT look easy by arming technology pros with the powerful tools they need to solve today’s IT management challenges. We do this by responding to well-understood, everyday problems based on input and feedback from our customers and the IT professionals that we serve,” said Kevin Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, SolarWinds. “The IT Service Desk is core to any IT professional’s job and it is something that they interact with every day to serve their employees.”
According to IDC, IT Service Management (ITSM) represents an over $6 billion market today and is forecasted to reach over $8.5 billion by 2023.†This size reflects the evolution of the ITSM market. ITSM is no longer the domain of large enterprises. Businesses of all sizes increasingly depend on technology to achieve optimal levels of productivity and efficiency, and drive business outcomes and success. There are very few providers who are positioned to serve the entire IT market, from small businesses to the Fortune 500, the way that SolarWinds and Samanage do. Mid-market and smaller businesses are underserved in the space, as existing offerings tend to focus on complex enterprise solutions that require dedicated staff and expensive professional services engagements.†
Most IT departments continue to use phone (77%) and email (87%) as their main support channels, but by adopting service desk software they could reduce resolution time by 13% improving not just IT service efficiency, but also employee productivity. This is even more pronounced in small and mid-sized businesses. In a recent SolarWinds survey, IT pros indicated that cost (76%) and ease of use (84%) were the critical, driving factors in the selection of an ITSM offering.†This supports the need for a SolarWinds approach to ITSM – powerful, affordable, and easy to use products designed to solve problems the way that IT pros want them solved.
Thompson continued, “We believe that a powerful, market-leading ITSM solution offers us another compelling product to enhance our ability to serve IT professionals in organizations of all sizes while meaningfully expanding our total addressable market, including additional cross-sell opportunities within our large and expanding customer base of more than 300,000 customers.”
“IT departments increasingly find themselves at the center of employee service and digital business transformation. As IT leaders pursue new technologies to transform their business, they have the ability to grow the role of service management from an IT help desk to intelligent employee service management across all departments,” said Doron Gordon, Founder & CEO, Samanage. “Deploying an employee service management mindset, coupled with an enterprise-wide service desk platform that supports it – like Samanage — can help increase employee productivity and better connect employees to their customers. We are excited about the opportunity to bring our products together with the reach and strength of SolarWinds to enable IT organizations in companies of all sizes to achieve better business outcomes.”
SolarWinds plans to acquire Samanage for a purchase price of $350 million in cash or approximately $329 million net of cash acquired. SolarWinds plans to fund the transaction primarily with its existing cash balance. The transaction is expected to close before the end of Q2 2019. SolarWinds will provide additional details about the acquisition and its expected impact to 2019 financial results on the company’s†Q1 2019 Earnings Call scheduled for April 24, 2019.
Goldman Sachs & Co. served as exclusive financial advisor to Samanage.
