EnvisioNet merger seen as positive Possible buyers looking for quality, analysts say

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EnvisioNet founder Heather Blease does not believe that filing for bankruptcy protection a couple of weeks ago means the beginning of the end for her 6-year-old technology customer-support company.

Chapter 11 is just another part – albeit an unexpected one – of her ever-changing business plan that until a little more than a month ago produced a wall full of awards and a growth explosion grander than a fireworks finale on the Fourth of July.

“This to me is more of a speed bump than a financial reorganization,” Blease said Thursday, one day before meeting with some of the more than 700 employees at EnvisioNet’s Orono campus to outline her company’s new strategy.

EnvisioNet is seeking a buyer, a partner that will encourage the firm to think even bigger yet allow it to maintain its individuality.

“We as a company know that the best way to emerge is to merge,” Blease said.

According to a few international computer industry analysts, Blease’s plans may be right on target.

“As an outside observer on this, I think it’s a bump, too,” said Bruce Zureck, an analyst with Forrester Group in Cambridge, Mass.

EnvisioNet is seeking suitors while also being courted by a number of firms that see more pluses than minuses with the company. Although EnvisioNet’s balance sheet shows assets of $15 million and liabilities of more than $25 million, those figures are not deterrents to potential buyers in the customer relationship management field.

What hurt the company was that it did not diversify its client base sooner. It relied too much on the dot-com companies, and when they started floundering, it counted too much on Microsoft and Dell as sources of income, the analysts said.

In mid-May, Microsoft notified EnvisioNet that it expected a 50 percent reduction in customer support calls for its Internet service, MSN. A few days later, EnvisioNet laid off more than 600 employees. A month after that, it was in bankruptcy court looking for time to regroup.

“It sounds like they got lopsidedly reliant on one customer,” said Allie Young, an analyst with Gartner Dataquest in Stamford, Conn.

“They should have been doing that in the first place,” said Zureck of EnvisioNet’s pressing need to diversify.

But what will sell the company, the analysts say, are EnvisioNet’s usually solid revenue stream, its technological infrastructure that is equipped for greater capacity, and its work force that exceeds performance standards attained by similar call centers.

“This is where the value of the company resides,” Blease said. “Anyone considering a merger with EnvisioNet is purchasing our capabilities and our capacities.”

“What it all comes down to is brand,” said Peter Alternative, an analyst with RCW Mirus, an investment brokerage firm in Boston. “If you can’t deliver excellent [customer relationship management] then you’re doing yourself a disservice.”

Alternative said his comments are general observations of the CRM industry. This month he wrote an article on the industry, which is posted on his company’s Web site, www.merger.com.

He stressed, however, that his thoughts were not a reflection on the newly formed relationship between EnvisioNet and RCW Mirus, which was hired to shop EnvisioNet around, find and hopefully secure a suitable partner.

So what company will buy EnvisioNet? More than a week ago, Blease said there were 15 potential buyers on a list, some that her firm contacted and some that asked to be considered.

On Thursday, she said EnvisioNet’s options are limitless. There is a possibility of merging with a few companies the same size, she said, and there is a possibility of joining with a bigger firm.

“Essentially the world’s on the list right now,” she said.

In his article and again in a telephone interview Thursday, Alternative said numerous larger customer relationship management companies are purchasing smaller ones with the goal of becoming the biggest player in the industry. But what makes acquisitions difficult is that the industry is highly fragmented, with many needing to buy new software just to meet the entire organization’s needs, he said.

Alternative said “there’s a lot of noise” in the CRM field, with customers demanding “larger, complete and integrated CRM suites. “That’s making rapid consolidation all the rage.

“It’s a smart business decision to open up dialogue with larger companies,” Alternative said of EnvisioNet.

In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week, RCW Mirus tells one of EnvisioNet’s venture capitalists that finding a buyer shouldn’t be much of a problem.

“Although market conditions have softened, there are a number of well-financed, privately held firms, including Dakotah Direct, CyberRep.com, ClientLogic, Stream and PeopleSupport.com that would benefit from the customer relationships, superior processes and ongoing revenue stream that EnvisioNet can bring to a transaction,” wrote Jameson J. Grant, managing director of RCW Mirus, to Village Ventures Inc.

Analyst Zureck also mentioned Stream, which recently advertised for employees in The Boston Globe.

“They would be a good company to merge with,” Zureck said. “Hey, why advertise? Why not get yourself a good deal and pick up EnvisioNet?”

Also tossed around as possible buyers were EnvisioNet’s biggest clients, Microsoft and Dell.

Not until the economy turns around, said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group in California.

“If they can hold on until the market is viable, 2002 is probably the earliest” that Microsoft and Dell might be considered as buyers, he said.

Dell representatives visited EnvisioNet officials Wednesday, Blease said, but they were not talking about buying the company. Rather, the Dell representatives were conducting a quarterly inspection of services, she said.

“It’s unlikely it’s going to be Dell in the next few months,” Enderle said.

In the last two weeks, Microsoft asked to be served all papers filed in bankruptcy court regarding EnvisioNet, said John McVeigh, Microsoft’s Maine attorney.

But not because it is looking to buy the company, he said.

“Microsoft’s interest is to get the services Microsoft wants provided and to pay its bills,” McVeigh said. “It would like to have its needs continued to be serviced.”

Enderle said if Microsoft, which recently announced it would spend $1 billion to market its new operating server, Microsoft XP, realizes that it underestimated its call volume from customers seeking help with the product, it may ask EnvisioNet for help.

“They may buy EnvisioNet or work with them,” Enderle said.

Currently Microsoft’s MSN contract with EnvisioNet is in place through November. Microsoft XP will be released Oct. 25.

Microsoft, Blease said, is helping EnvisioNet diversify its client base.

Through it all, EnvisioNet has given its Orono branch a “super priority,” said Orono Town Manager Gerry Kempen. In the bankruptcy proceedings, the company has told the court it wants to hold on to the lease on its facility at the Maine Development Park near Interstate 95.

Blease said she believes a partner will be found, and is confident the company will grow regardless of what is happening to others in the high-tech industry. The reason, she said, is “a solid business model.”

“We are a solid company,” Blease said. “We are not a dot-com. We have real revenues. We have clients that are sticking with us and are continuing to do business with us.

“I don’t think we as a company should be locked into the dot-com sector at all,” she continued. “The services that we provide are going to continue to be provided in this industry. If it’s not EnvisioNet, it’s another company that will be providing these services.

“I view the merger as the best path for us. That would be success, as far as I’m concerned.”