Activant
Encyclopedia
Activant Solutions Inc. was a privately held
United States technology company specializing in business management software solutions serving retail and wholesale distribution businesses
. Activant Solutions was acquired by Apax Partners
and merged with Epicor
in May 2011. The combined entity is continuing under the Epicor name.
Activant provides customers with tailored proprietary software, professional services, content, supply chain
connectivity, and analytics. The company was also the first to provide an electronic catalog to the automotive aftermarket.
Serving the automotive, hardlines and lumber, and wholesale distribution markets, Activant is one of the top 10 ERP
providers in the United States and one of the top 40 software companies in the world.
Revenues that flow through Activant Order Entry products are estimated to be 1% of US GDP annually.
Headquartered in Livermore, California
, Activant employs more than 1,700 people across more than a dozen locations including operations in California, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
on July 7, 1973.
— involving the distribution of automotive replacement parts — used 3x5 index cards
for inventory control
. The founders of Activant created a computer, the Series 10, that used new, cost-effective disk drives to store the inventory information for the automotive parts distributors. The Series 10 gave the automotive parts distributors, also known as jobbers, precise inventory control. It was the first affordable automation for the automotive aftermarket, offered at $50,000–$100,000 per unit. It was also the first mass-produced computer the company offered to the automotive aftermarket industry.
In the 1980s, the Series 10 was followed by the faster Series 12. The company also created a system for larger warehouse distributors, the Triad 80. These systems, along with many other features, enabled communication capabilities between jobbers and warehouse distributors and suppliers.
(POS) cash terminal system. In 1984, the company modified the POS system to serve lumberyards.
By 1984, Activant launched the first electronic parts catalog (simply called Electronic Catalog) for the automotive aftermarket which replaced racks of cumbersome paper catalogs, and by 1990, provided customers with more than 8.8 million automobile parts available electronically. The electronic catalog became one of the company’s most successful products. In 1987, the company began selling a stand-alone Electronic Catalog on CD-Rom (renamed as Activant LaserCat) to smaller automotive jobbers who didn’t have an Activant system. By 1989, the company continued its focus on innovation and began to develop the Activant Prism system as a future replacement for the Series 12 for the automotive aftermarket. The system for the hardlines and lumber industry was upgraded, sporting a new UNIX operating system, and became Activant Eagle by 1992.
In the mid-’90s, Activant acquired assets from the companies of Gemini, CSD, Eclipse, and Ultimate to bolster the company’s presence in the lumber and automotive industries. The Radio Frequency (RF) Suite was also launched during the mid-’90s. RF enabled bar code scanning which helped businesses manage and control their inventory with a higher degree accuracy. Businesses were also able to significantly decrease manpower and reduce the time it took to receive items into inventory.
The company launched Activant Eagle for Windows in 1997. The Eagle for Windows system was the first massively available Windows product for the hardlines industry.
By 1997, CCI purchased Activant (then Triad). Glen Staats became CEO of CCITRIAD. A year later, the owners of the company, Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst brought in a new CEO, Mike Aviles, to replace Staats. Aviles was CEO from late 1999–2004. Over The next five years, the company continued to expand its customer base by entering into partnerships with TrueValue, ACE, and Do It Best hardware stores.
In 2003, the company changed its name from CCITRIAD to Activant Solutions Inc. In 2004, the board of directors brought in Larry Jones as CEO to drive an aggressive growth strategy. Pervez Qureshi, current president and CEO, took over in May 2006.
Activant purchased Speedware Corporation Inc., including its operating divisions Enterprise Computer Systems (ECS) Inc., Prelude Systems Inc., OpenERP Solutions and Speedware Ltd. in 2005. Speedware’s Prelude platforms helped Activant make strides in the wholesale distribution segment. With Speedware’s Enterprise Computing Systems, Activant strengthened its product and service offerings in the lumber and building materials segment. That same year Activant acquired The Systems House Inc., a technology solutions provider for distributors primarily in the automotive aftermarket and office products industries, and Prophet 21, which made Activant one of the leading providers in the wholesale distribution market.
In May 2006, Activant was purchased by Hellman & Friedman LLC, Thoma Cressey and JMI Equity, private equity firms.
Continuing along its acquisition path, in 2007 Activant acquired Silk Systems Inc., including its wholly owned subsidiary Silk Dimensions Systems Inc., one of the leading computer software solutions providers for the Canadian home improvement, wholesale distribution and building materials markets. That was soon followed by the acquisition of Intuit Eclipse Distribution Management Solutions Business, a leading enterprise software provider to the wholesale distribution segment.
Annual revenue for fiscal year 2009 was $378.9M.
Privately held company
A privately held company or close corporation is a business company owned either by non-governmental organizations or by a relatively small number of shareholders or company members which does not offer or trade its company stock to the general public on the stock market exchanges, but rather the...
United States technology company specializing in business management software solutions serving retail and wholesale distribution businesses
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...
. Activant Solutions was acquired by Apax Partners
Apax Partners
Apax Partners LLP is a global private equity and venture capital firm, headquartered in London. The company also operates out of eight other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel-Aviv, Madrid, Stockholm, Milan and Munich. The firm, including its various predecessors, have raised...
and merged with Epicor
Epicor
Epicor Software Corporation is a company selling business software to the manufacturing, distribution, retail and services industries. Epicor claims to have more than 33,000 customers in over 150 countries...
in May 2011. The combined entity is continuing under the Epicor name.
Activant provides customers with tailored proprietary software, professional services, content, supply chain
Supply chain
A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...
connectivity, and analytics. The company was also the first to provide an electronic catalog to the automotive aftermarket.
Serving the automotive, hardlines and lumber, and wholesale distribution markets, Activant is one of the top 10 ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
providers in the United States and one of the top 40 software companies in the world.
Revenues that flow through Activant Order Entry products are estimated to be 1% of US GDP annually.
Headquartered in Livermore, California
Livermore, California
Livermore is a city in Alameda County. The population as of 2010 was 80,968. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California's San Francisco Bay Area....
, Activant employs more than 1,700 people across more than a dozen locations including operations in California, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
History
Activant was known as Triad Systems Corporation until it was renamed in 2003. Triad Systems was founded in 1971 by Henry M. Gay, William W. Stevens and Donald J. Ruder and was incorporated in 1972. The company installed its first system at Northgate Auto Parts in Mill Valley, CaliforniaMill Valley, California
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. The population was 13,903 at the 2010 census.Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay...
on July 7, 1973.
Beginning with the Automotive Aftermarket
Prior to automation, the automotive aftermarketAftermarket (automotive)
The automotive aftermarket is the secondary market of the automotive industry, concerned with the manufacturing, remanufacturing, distribution, retailing, and installation of all vehicle parts, chemicals, tools, equipment and accessories for light and heavy vehicles, after the sale of the...
— involving the distribution of automotive replacement parts — used 3x5 index cards
Index card
An index card consists of heavy paper stock cut to a standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. It was invented by Carl Linnaeus, around 1760....
for inventory control
Inventory control problem
The inventory control problem is the problem faced by a firm that must decide how much to order in each time period to meet demand for its products. The problem can be modeled using mathematical techniques of optimal control, dynamic programming and network optimization. The study of such models...
. The founders of Activant created a computer, the Series 10, that used new, cost-effective disk drives to store the inventory information for the automotive parts distributors. The Series 10 gave the automotive parts distributors, also known as jobbers, precise inventory control. It was the first affordable automation for the automotive aftermarket, offered at $50,000–$100,000 per unit. It was also the first mass-produced computer the company offered to the automotive aftermarket industry.
In the 1980s, the Series 10 was followed by the faster Series 12. The company also created a system for larger warehouse distributors, the Triad 80. These systems, along with many other features, enabled communication capabilities between jobbers and warehouse distributors and suppliers.
Looking to New Markets
In 1980, Activant turned to new markets. The company found that the hardlines market had similar inventory management and accounts receivable requirements as jobbers and warehouse distributors. To cater to the hardware retailers, the company created a point-of-salePoint of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
(POS) cash terminal system. In 1984, the company modified the POS system to serve lumberyards.
By 1984, Activant launched the first electronic parts catalog (simply called Electronic Catalog) for the automotive aftermarket which replaced racks of cumbersome paper catalogs, and by 1990, provided customers with more than 8.8 million automobile parts available electronically. The electronic catalog became one of the company’s most successful products. In 1987, the company began selling a stand-alone Electronic Catalog on CD-Rom (renamed as Activant LaserCat) to smaller automotive jobbers who didn’t have an Activant system. By 1989, the company continued its focus on innovation and began to develop the Activant Prism system as a future replacement for the Series 12 for the automotive aftermarket. The system for the hardlines and lumber industry was upgraded, sporting a new UNIX operating system, and became Activant Eagle by 1992.
Activant Vista
In 1993, Activant released Activant Vista, a product movement service which compiled monthly point-of-sale movement reports and revealed how certain products performed against their competition and in the market in general. Vista was the first of its kind in the hardlines industry and brought in over $12 million annually.In the mid-’90s, Activant acquired assets from the companies of Gemini, CSD, Eclipse, and Ultimate to bolster the company’s presence in the lumber and automotive industries. The Radio Frequency (RF) Suite was also launched during the mid-’90s. RF enabled bar code scanning which helped businesses manage and control their inventory with a higher degree accuracy. Businesses were also able to significantly decrease manpower and reduce the time it took to receive items into inventory.
The company launched Activant Eagle for Windows in 1997. The Eagle for Windows system was the first massively available Windows product for the hardlines industry.
By 1997, CCI purchased Activant (then Triad). Glen Staats became CEO of CCITRIAD. A year later, the owners of the company, Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst brought in a new CEO, Mike Aviles, to replace Staats. Aviles was CEO from late 1999–2004. Over The next five years, the company continued to expand its customer base by entering into partnerships with TrueValue, ACE, and Do It Best hardware stores.
Becoming the Company It Is Today
Under Mike Aviles, Activant’s revenue grew to over $225M.In 2003, the company changed its name from CCITRIAD to Activant Solutions Inc. In 2004, the board of directors brought in Larry Jones as CEO to drive an aggressive growth strategy. Pervez Qureshi, current president and CEO, took over in May 2006.
Activant purchased Speedware Corporation Inc., including its operating divisions Enterprise Computer Systems (ECS) Inc., Prelude Systems Inc., OpenERP Solutions and Speedware Ltd. in 2005. Speedware’s Prelude platforms helped Activant make strides in the wholesale distribution segment. With Speedware’s Enterprise Computing Systems, Activant strengthened its product and service offerings in the lumber and building materials segment. That same year Activant acquired The Systems House Inc., a technology solutions provider for distributors primarily in the automotive aftermarket and office products industries, and Prophet 21, which made Activant one of the leading providers in the wholesale distribution market.
In May 2006, Activant was purchased by Hellman & Friedman LLC, Thoma Cressey and JMI Equity, private equity firms.
Continuing along its acquisition path, in 2007 Activant acquired Silk Systems Inc., including its wholly owned subsidiary Silk Dimensions Systems Inc., one of the leading computer software solutions providers for the Canadian home improvement, wholesale distribution and building materials markets. That was soon followed by the acquisition of Intuit Eclipse Distribution Management Solutions Business, a leading enterprise software provider to the wholesale distribution segment.
Annual revenue for fiscal year 2009 was $378.9M.
Acquisitions
- Speedware Ltd. (2005)
- Prelude Systems Inc. (2005)
- Enterprise Computer Systems (ECS) Inc. (2005)
- OpenERP Solutions (2005)
- The Systems House, Inc. (2005)
- Prophet 21, Inc. (2005)
- Silk Dimensions Systems Inc. (2007)
- Intuit Eclipse Distribution Management Solutions (2007)