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SALT LAKE CITY — Simplus, a Salt Lake City-based Salesforce partner, has been acquired for $250 million by a multinational corporation in India called Infosys.
The move is expected to bring about 300 jobs to the Salt Lake area in the next year.
Simplus is essentially a “geek squad” for Silicon Valley giant Salesforce — a cloud-based software company that offers customer relationship management services. Simplus goes in and installs Salesforce software for customers and teaches them how to use it, said Amy Osmond Cook, Simplus' vice president of marketing.
Infosys does something similar for a variety of different companies, but its acquisition of Simplus allows the company to boost its Salesforce presence.
“This acquisition is key to staying relevant to the digital priorities of our clients and demonstrates our commitment to the Salesforce ecosystem,” Infosys Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao said in a news release.
The 300 jobs coming to Simplus will be for those certified on the Salesforce software platform, and compensation for those with three to four years experience will be over $100,000, Simplus CEO Ryan Westwood said.
“Salesforce itself has an enormous skills gap between what they’re selling and having the qualified people to implement it. So, the whole industry is hurting for more qualified talent, and … compensation is surging because there’s a supply and demand problem,” Westwood said.
Simplus has received several offers over the years from companies looking to acquire the business, Westwood added, but Simplus agreed to the Infosys acquisition for two reasons:
- Simplus will remain a separate subsidiary of Infosys.
- The acquisition will require reverse integration, meaning Infosys will adapt to Simplus.
“We’ll have the opportunity to ... bring on more employees within Infosys. So that creates an opportunity for us to grow Simplus that much faster. And we’ve had this vision of creating a billion-dollar business for a long time. And this will enable us to do that quicker,” Westwood said, adding that the company hopes to reach its billion-dollar goal within five years, though Simplus was only founded six years ago.
Another reason the company agreed to Infosys’ acquisition request was the way the companies’ two cultures aligned, Osmond Cook said. And the only real change company employees are likely to see because of the acquisition is a new boss for Westwood, the CEO added.
“All leaders are committed to the future and vision of the company,” Westwood said. “We’ve all signed on for the long-term vision.”
No jobs will be cut, he guaranteed, though many of Infosys’ North American employees may come to Simplus, he explained. The company’s current headcount stands at 556.
“By acquiring Simplus, it allows Infosys to grab more market share while extending Salesforce capabilities to offer existing clients,” Brent Leary, a veteran of the customer relationship management industry, told TechCrunch.
Simplus has acquired seven companies within the last three years and raised about $50 million, according to Crunchbase. Its acquisition is Infosys' largest.
The acquisition is set to be completed in 30 days.
