Swedish IT services company WM-data AB has paid an unspecified sum for TjansteGruppen, a Malmo-based outfit specializing in troubleshooting. Hakan Petersson, head of WM-data’s Assistans division, which is responsible for this type of work, explained that the Stockholm-based services giant had, until now, offered only high-end services.
The acquisition of TjansteGruppen, therefore, had been determined by demands from WM’s corporate customers for a low-end offering. They have experience in the more basic services, like solving problems with printers, or reporting and analyzing, which was something our corporate clients had been asking use for, Petersson explained. TjansteGruppen operates in both the Microsoft and IBM environments, as well as having expertise in interfaces to enterprise packages such as SAP’s R3.
Without disclosing WM-data Assistans’ contribution to the group’s overall revenue, Petersson did say that his division employs 550 people out of a total of 7,000 in the entire company, spread across the various countries in the Nordic region. TjansteGruppen brings another 75 to the division, and Petersson said he expects to add a further 300 this year, of whom 35% will be recruited, the rest coming from further acquisitions.
Petersson said WM-data is alone in the IT services sector in getting into the trouble-shooting arena, more particularly in its expansion from the upper level downward. Its main competition is from companies coming from the staffing sector, such as the UK’s Manpower, which is going the reverse route, getting in at the lower end and seeking to move upwards.
