Business software behemoth Salesforce has announced that it will acquire field service management (FSM) software company ClickSoftware in a $1.35bn deal.

ClickSoftware has been providing businesses with workforce management and service optimisation solutions since 1997. It will now join Salesforce’s field service offerings, as the company looks to continue the growth of its Service Cloud divisions, which generated more than $1bn in revenue for the first time in quarter one 2019.

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FSM software allows businesses to manage employees that work outside of the company’s property, such as delivery drivers or repair services.

Salesforce already offers this through its Field Service Lightning product, but it is hoped that the ClickSoftware acquisition will help to speed up innovation in this area.

“Our acquisition of ClickSoftware will not only accelerate the growth of Service Cloud, but drive further innovation with Field Service Lightning to better meet the needs of our customers,” general manager of Salesforce Service Cloud Bill Patterson said in a statement.

The acquisition purchase price will be made up of cash and Salesforce common stock, and is expected to be completed by the end of Q3 in October 2019, should it be approved by regulators.

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This is the second acquisition announced by Salesforce this month, following its $15.7bn purchase of data visualisation company Tableau Software – the biggest deal agreed by Salesforce so far.

Salesforce ClickSoftware acquisition presents an opportunity in FSM market

By acquiring ClickSoftware, Salesforce is absorbing one of its biggest competitors in a market that is expected to grow to $6bn by 2024.

According to Marne Martin, president of FSM rival IFS Service Management, this is testament to the positive growth of the market. However, it has also left a gap at the top, with only Salesforce and IFS among the “leading players” left in the global market.

While Salesforce, combined with ClickSoftware, will make it the undisputed market leader, Martin believes it will also provide an opportunity for IFS to step up and provide businesses with more choice:

“There are a large number of organisations out there – especially those which are not Salesforce CRM customers – which want to integrate the best field service, presenting a significant market opportunity.

“We’re excited about this opportunity, and about offering such organisations greater choice: choice in what they buy, and how they implement it.”

Read more: Salesforce’s $15.7bn Tableau acquisition heralds new wave of AI and big data M&A