The two companies have previously worked closely on the development of Abacus’ ADvance audience development system. This platform allows B2B and consumer publishers to sell and manage their print and online subscriptions, registrations and events in a single coordinated fashion. For the first time, says the company, integrated print fulfilment and online access control can work hand in hand. Perhaps even more important in terms of supporting business growth, powerful BI and ETL tools give the marketers the opportunity to generate campaigns, and to mine and segment audience data from whatever source, that will in turn inform new product development. Several Alliance customers have already committed to move to the new system.
Alliance will continue to operate from its offices in Bushey, Hertfordshire and directors Caral Mracek and Charles Arthur will join the Abacus management team.
Abacus Managing Director Steve Feigen said: “Abacus is a leading digital partner in the publishing sector where its software powers many of the best known and award-winning websites. Increasingly, we’ve been involved in areas that overlap significantly with Alliance’s core competences around subscription marketing and fulfilment. This acquisition ensures that we have some of the most respected names in the field working inside our company.”
Speaking for Alliance, director Charles Arthur added: “Abacus offers Alliance fantastic opportunities to grow its client base and to offer truly innovative and effective solutions to our customers. We’ve been delighted by the reaction we’ve had for the ADvance platform and becoming part of Abacus will ensure we can maximise its potential.”
Subject to final legal and financial due diligence the formal takeover is expected to be completed in early August.
