Planview, a global provider of portfolio and resource management software based in Austin, Texas, has acquired Projectplace (Stockholm, Sweden), a cloud-based project collaboration vendor with about 15 million users. Planview characterizes the acquisition as the next phase in its transformation, giving it the ability to unite leading project and portfolio management (PPM) and project collaboration solutions into a “No Matter How You Work” vision that can support a full range of customers, from large enterprises to small teams, making better use of limited resources through portfolio, resource and work management.
Greg Gilmore, CEO, Planview.
“With this acquisition we continue to transform Planview to fulfill a broader vision of portfolio and resource management,” comments Greg Gilmore, CEO of Planview. “Our transition to SaaS was only the first step. The addition of Projectplace pays off our ‘No Matter How You Work’ vision – one portfolio that spans the dominant work types and stays true to our resource management roots. These products are purpose built to support the unique needs of PPM and project collaboration users, and together they can provide a comprehensive view of resources across the enterprise.”
The vendor asserts that the Projectplace acquisition will provide a unique solution for addressing the variety of ways its customers work, from traditional PPM to collaborative projects and tasks to Agile development via partnerships with leading Agile ALM solution providers. Planview will now enable organizations to manage what it calls a truly integrated work and resource portfolio. A vendor statement reports that its strategy is informed by the perspectives of both the Gartner “PPM Product Usage Reference Model” and the Forrester “Above-the-Line: Strategic Planning and Below-the-Line: Work Execution” research.
“The essential activity of collaboration among people and the projects and processes in companies is driving demand for applications that are engaging and interactive,” comments Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer of Ventana Research. “Planview’s acquisition of Projectplace brings value beyond traditional approaches that are just schedules and projects in the cloud. The combination creates new potential for managing projects and portfolios of assets by establishing a new standard for business and IT to gain the best productivity and value from their workforce.”
The current Projectplace CEO Johan Zetterström will become the general manager of the new Projectplace business unit reporting to Planview CEO Gilmore.
Match in North American Market
“Projectplace and Planview will together create an exciting opportunity for all of our customers as we leverage each other’s complementary strengths in product offerings, geographic presence, cloud experience, and go-to-market models,” says Zetterström. “We have been searching for the perfect match in the North American market and I’m really glad that our two companies have found each other. Planview is an established market leader with a great team that shares our commitment to innovation.”
Projectplace will be added as a business unit within Planview, further cementing SaaS as the company’s primary delivery and business model, the Planview statement asserts. The combined entity creates a $125 million company with two product lines: Planview Enterprise and Projectplace. Planview will invest in continuing Projectplace product development, and will also integrate the product with Planview Enterprise.