Interesting developments at Telligent..
It’s like buses isn’t it – no collaboration posts from me for weeks and then two come along at once!
In a piece of news I missed last week, online communities vendor Telligent has strengthened its board with the addition of David Mitchell, who is currently CEO at BPM vendor Global 360. Mitchell has become known in recent years for his skills in preparing companies for either flotation or acquisition – having previously worked for webMethods and VYCOR Corporation in the lead up to their acquisitions by Software AG and McAfee, respectively.
The question inevitably follows as to “where next” for Telligent – while they are a relatively small player in a highly competitive and growing market, they are one of the more established startups with over 100 staff and 3000 customers, as well as a strong technology platform including some interesting analytics capabilities which are a major differentiator for them. From an acquisition perspective, I would have thought (not being a financial analyst) that they would be a very appealing proposition for a larger company looking to enter or strengthen their existing capabilities in this market – so let’s take a punt…. Microsoft maybe? It would complement the predominantly internally-focused and project-centric collaborative capabilities of SharePoint.. Perhaps Oracle? This is an area where the applications giant has so far failed to gain any traction or profile..
It is no doubt too early to say – but I wouldn’t have thought that a public flotation is the principal focus – at least not from a long term perspective. While there hasn’t been much in the way of consolidation among the online communities players yet (except Newsgator’s acquisition of Tomoye in January), I’d expect some activity in this area in the near future. I’ll be watching their progress with interest over the coming months!
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Posted by Angela Ashenden on July 14, 2010
