Salesforce continues M&A spree with latest $1.35bn acquisition

CRM vendor shells out on field-service specialist ClickSoftware just days after closing $15bn Tableau deal

Salesforce has splashed out $1.35bn (£1.12bn) to acquire field management solutions provider ClickSoftware.

The news comes just a week after the CRM giant closed a deal to acquire data virtualisation platform Tableau for $15.7bn - the largest deal in its history.

US-headquartered ClickSoftware was founded in 1997 and counts Bosch, Ericsson and Unisys among its customers. It was a publicly listed company for 15 years until private equity firm Francisco Partners bought it for $438m in 2015.

Salesforce has partnered with ClickSoftware since it launched its own Field Service Lightning capabilities in 2016, which keeps track of personnel who go out to perform maintenance for customers.

The field service unit falls under the umbrella of the vendor's Service Cloud business, which hit $1bn in revenue for the first time during Salesforces's Q1 this year.

"Delivering exceptional field service is an increasingly important priority for companies across industries, with more than 70 per cent of customer service leaders making significant investments to transform their mobile workforce," said Bill Patterson, EVP and GM of Salesforce Service Cloud.

"Our acquisition of ClickSoftware will not only accelerate the growth of Service Cloud, but drive further innovation with Field Service Lightning to better meet the needs of our customers. We are thrilled to welcome the ClickSoftware team to Salesforce."

Mark Cattini, CEO at ClickSoftware, stated: "Our mission has been clear since the beginning - to be the global leader in field service management and deliver significant value to our customers. Joining Salesforce provides a tremendous opportunity to accelerate this vision.

"As a part of Salesforce, we will be able to innovate faster, enabling our joint customers to deliver even better experiences to their customers.

"This is an exciting milestone, and I look forward to what we'll deliver to our respective customers as one company after close."

The deal is valued at $1.35bn in cash and stocks and is expected to be finalised in Salesforce's third quarter, which ends 31 October 2019.

Earlier this week, the CRM firm appointed Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia as CEO of its UK and Ireland operations.