Has the endgame in the IWMS industry started?
In January San Francisco based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners caused substantial rumor in the IWMS industry with their acquisitions of Intuit Real Estate Solutions (IRES), and more recently Accruent. Both IWMS vendors are considered to be the in the top-10 IWMS vendors worldwide.
Now another major player enters the IWMS industry; IBM. (although they were already present)
In their latest press release IBM announced to make buildings smarter with Drawbase Software. They state that:
By licensing Drawbase code, IBM is extending its intelligent facilities solution to also include space planning capabilities such as move management, space utilization, occupancy tracking, capacity planning, and lock and key management. The integration of Drawbase technology into the IBM portfolio also allows organizations to visualize vital information across the enterprise to accurately and efficiently maintain business operations.
To me, this is a clear indication that our market is mature enough for the capital powerhouses to claim their share of the IWMS pie. I’m convinced that by the end of this year, the IWMS arena will be quite different from what it is today. Through mergers and acquisitions, the vendor landscape will change dramatically.
I think the endgame has started…
Isn’t this what they said a few years ago when SAP and Oracle announced products that pushed into the IWMS/Lease Administration space? I agree that over the past 10 years we have seen a consolidation of the industry but there still is no single dominant player. IBM/Drawbase will most likely be very FM/Datacenter focused and not address other key areas of IWMS. SAP and Oracle have failed to capture a significant share of IWMS. Not to mention, the global IWMS is much more fragmented than the North American market in terms of companies competing for market share. It will be very interesting to see what the IWMS market looks like in 5 years, 10 years from now.
Ken,
thanks for your comment. Yesterday, a trustworthy source with one of the major IWMS players has indicated that another acquisition will be announced within two weeks.
Perhaps that will change the game forever?
Yours sincerely,
Steven
I found the article extremely helpful yet disturbing. IBM/Drawbase has acquired extensive capabilities to potentially overstep personal priviacy. With there ability for occupancy monitoring and (according to an IBM employee’s blog)monitor outside the builing and into the streets. They are not “asset managing” the building. These are advanced forms of “security”. The lock and key managment can easily become detention systems. This is not design and building managment. It’s complete control of the building and everyone in it, who are clearly not the building. IBM has been known to attend Builderburg Group conferences every so often. I would expect the government to be looking into this since it allows organizations to visualize vital information across the enterprise to accurately and efficiently maintain business operations. The “government” will get tight with IBM just like Google, and IBM will acquire more companies. Just like Goldman-Sachs, Pepsi, and the many other companies that attend Builderburg. They all do it.