IBM Buys Meteorix, Bolsters Cloud Service Offerings

6 Ways To Ask Smarter Questions Of Big Data

IBM went shopping earlier this week and acquired Meteorix, a consulting firm specializing in implementing Workday solutions for corporate clients. Terms of the deal between the two companies were not disclosed.

Specifically, the Sept. 28 acquisition was made by IBM's Global Business Services, which is the service and consulting arm of the company. The announcement was made to coincide with the Workday Rising customer conference in Las Vegas this week.

Meteorix is only four years old and fields only 200 consultants who specialize in implementing the cloud-based HR and financial apps offered by Workday, one of the largest software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers in the US.

"We felt there was an opportunity out there," Sam Spector, CEO of privately held Meteorix, told InformationWeek. The opportunity cost of not pursuing the IBM deal made refusal impossible. "It's a no-brainer." The options were merger or "go it alone."

One challenge companies face in general when purchasing a SaaS service is the contract. Corporate IT departments have to buy no more services than are needed, and require a way to avoid buying excess capabilities and capacity.

Filling that knowledge gap is what Meteorix does.

[Read about IBM's acquisition of StrongLoop.]

"We're 100% focused on Workday. We know the product line. We know the product suite," Spector continued. The typical corporate client can be confronted by an overwhelming range of solution choices when signing on to Workday. "We help roadmap, sort it out, and pick out the sweet spots."

While Meteorix offers its expertise implementing Workday solutions, IBM has its massive corporate client base to sell to. Global Business Services is already consulting on cloud solutions, and corporate customers are generally interested in shifting their IT to cloud, noted Mark Chapman, manager for partner services at IBM.

One service product in the Meteorix line-up is COMPaaS -- Continuous Optimization, Measurement, and Performance-as-a-Service. It is offered as a three-year fixed contract to accelerate a Workday solution deployment, with automated upgrades, within the context of a Workday subscription agreement.