Kofax stakes new ground in invoice processing

September 9, 2009:The acquisition of 170 Systems for $US32.9 million by Kofax has broadened the capture company's footprint in the growing market for end-to-end invoice processing solutions.

Last year Kofax acquired OptiInvoice, Scandinavian company that develops and markets electronic invoice and other document processing software

170 Systems is privately held, venture capital funded company headquartered in Boston, MA and has approximately 140 employees. The company's flagship product, the 170MarkView Financial Suite, is a workflow solution for invoice processing and related accounts payable (A/P) functions that is fully integrated and certified for use with bothSAP’s and Oracle’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

This is complemented by 170 MarkView Advisor, a real time financial process performance management and cash flow optimisation software, and SupplierExpress, a hosted software application that streamlines supplier interaction and enables timely, accurate payments. The company's customers include Bank of Montreal,BT, ConAgra, France Telecom, Juniper Networks, Reader's Digest, Sandia National Laboratories, Select Medical, Thomson Reuters, University of Pennsylvania, Verizon Wireless and over 150 other companies.

Commenting on the acquisition, Reynolds C. Bish, Chief Executive Officer of Kofax, said: “This acquisition is in line with our strategy of augmenting our organic growth with the acquisition of synergistic technologies or complementary companies that increase our competitive advantage or expand our market reach. In this specific case it addresses a significant competitive disadvantage we’ve publicly acknowledged and discussed in some detail over the past year, and should therefore allow us to better pursue our revenue growth strategies.”

By acquiring 170 Systems Kofax has achieved the ability to deliver a complete invoice processing solution that incorporates paper as well as electronic invoice capture and A/P workflow capabilities.Kofax’s management and Board believe this should allow Kofax to gain a larger share of the invoice processing market which, according toPaystream Advisors, is forecast to grow from $US1.1 billion in 2008 to over $US1.8 billion in 2012.

Less than 20% of 170 Systems’ customers currently utilise capture software. Kofax’s capture software is already integrated with the 170 MarkView Financial Suite and Kofax intends to market its capture software to those companies.

Most of 170’s Systems’ sales resources and customers are located in the United States. Kofax intends to market 170 Systems’ software on a global basis through its hybrid go-to-market strategy, which supports both direct customer engagements and indirect sales through over 1,000 channel partners in more than 30 countries.

The 170 MarkView Financial Suite is a proven workflow solution for A/P functions that can also serve as a flexible platform for automating other financial processes, such as “Quote-to-Cash” or Accounts Receivable (A/R) functions and other departmental activities within large companies. Kofax intends to develop and market additional solutions to further expand its market reach.