Confirmit today announced its acquisition of Information Research Management Pty Ltd (IRM), its exclusive value-added reseller in Sydney, Australia.
The acquisition of IRM will enable Confirmit to better serve the expanding Australian, New Zealand and Asian markets with the optimum level of local support. This in turn will enable its customers to develop and deliver world-leading Voice of the Customer (VoC), Voice of the Employee (VoE) and Market Research (MR) programmes. It also demonstrates Confirmit’s ongoing strategy to expand its offering to meet market needs and its determination to deliver the highest quality and most comprehensive range of services and solutions to new and existing customers around the world.
IRM has acted as Confirmit’s long-term reseller for over 11 years, providing local sales, support, training and consulting services for Confirmit’s award winning solutions in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Existing customers include the NRMA, The Online Research Unit, Pure Profile and Fairfax Media Limited.
The acquisition follows the recent launch of Confirmit’s Australian SaaS environment which introduced a highly resilient, low-latency service to customers in the region. The increased commitment to the region will leverage growing market interest in the role of customer experience in Asia and support the recent expansion of operations in the area by several leading MR agencies.
Commenting on the announcement, Confirmit’s President and CEO, Henning Hansen added: “The acquisition of IRM is part of our continued global growth strategy that will enable us to deliver our industry-leading solutions around the world. We’re committed to strategically expanding our business through endeavours that will benefit our customers and the wider market.”
Tim Hannington, EVP EMEA & APAC, added: “I’m delighted to welcome the team from IRM and their customers to Confirmit. By consolidating our presence in Australia, we’ll be able to work more closely than ever with businesses in this vital region. There is a huge opportunity for us to work with organisations working to transform their businesses through the cutting edge Market Research techniques, Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Employee programmes.”
The popularity of the mobile channel and social media as a way to share customer experiences and to communicate across the region is proven. 47% of shoppers in developing Asia will share poor in-store experiences with friends and family, versus 36% in developed countries, according to CustomerExperienceAsia.com. 87% in developing Asia report sharing retail experiences via social media channels versus 43.5% in developed countries.
IRM General Manager, Chris Breslin, joining Confirmit as Country Manager, commented: “Joining forces with Confirmit is an entirely logical step for IRM. We’ve worked closely together for over a decade and by becoming part of the core business, we’ll be able to draw on the wide range of technology, solutions and expertise held across the company. This move represents a great step forward not only for Confirmit but for companies in Asia Pacific looking to run world-class feedback and research programmes.”
Virginia Meikle, Senior Manager Consumer Insights, NRMA, an IRM customer explained: “We’ve worked very successfully with IRM for 7 years and have enjoyed a great working relationship with the team there. We’re excited by the possibilities of greater access to a wider range of Confirmit’s solutions and we’re really looking forward to working closely with the expanded team to learn more about how this can help us to drive our business forward.”
The newly combined business will be based in Sydney and will be known as Confirmit Australia Pty Ltd. Confirmit previously acquired Integrasco in 2013, CustomerSat in 2012, Techneos in 2011 and Pulse Train in 2007.