by Jim Lundy
On October 7th, customer revenue optimization (CRO) provider Altify was acquired by Upland Software, a cloud-based enterprise work management provider backed by private equity. For those wondering what CRO is, think guided selling, but take the paper methodology and digitize it.
Customer revenue optimization (CRO) aims to help sales managers and their reps close more deals by automating the selling process.
Upland Software plans to leverage Altify to be included as a core component of Upland’s Sales Optimization suite. Altify—which used to be called the TAS Group—was pushing the envelope in CRO and with this deal, we expect the demand for CRO to continue to expand. This blog discusses some of the key aspects of the deal and why the category is just getting started.
Altify’s Acquisition by Upland: Time to Turn on the Gas
Altify was purchased for $84 million in cash, and Upland expects the company to generate $24 million in revenue on an annual basis. With a 4x premium, that is a solid valuation for Altify. While no plans were announced, a number of Altify’s executive team members are expected to stay on. This move also should signal to investors that the category has potential. In fact, we expect to see even more investment as the realization that CRO is to sales as agile is to engineering development processes.
Customer Revenue Optimization Is Gaining Momentum
CRO is a new category that automates the selling process into a set of definable actions that sales reps and sales managers need to take to win deals, grow accounts, and maximize revenue—whether it be new business or upsells in an account. CRO represents a critical digital transformation of sales organizations by replacing legacy analog selling methodologies with a digital selling approach. Altify had been leading the charge in CRO but there are a number of others including ClosePlan, Scout by Miller Heiman Group, Revegy, and more.
Bottom Line
Upland Software’s acquisition of Altify is just one proof point that customer revenue optimization is a category that is taking off. The need to digitize sales methodologies will only get stronger. If there is one thing you do in 2020, you need to deploy a CRO offering.
To learn more about CRO and other new sales technologies Aragon has identified as being strategic, download your complementary eBook.