Persistent Systems Acquires CloudSquads; Accelerates Social Community Platform Offerings

PUNE, INDIA and SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 5, 2014) - Persistent Systems (BOMBAY: PERSISTENT) (NSE: PERSISTENT), the global leader in software product and technology services, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held CloudSquads, an innovative consultancy that has created social communities for over 70 global companies. CloudSquads deploys, integrates and runs social communities on all leading social customer platforms. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed and are subject to certain closing conditions which are expected to be completed in the coming financial quarter.

According to Forrester Research Senior Analyst, Kim Celestre in her July 9, 2013 blog post entitled Just Published: The Forrester WAVE: Social Depth Platforms, Q3 2013, "Social media has transformed the way that buyers discover, explore, and engage with a brand. As a result, many marketers have invested in establishing a presence on popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter yet are struggling with how to convert interactions on these social networks to a purchase."

CloudSquads helps companies develop a strategy for engaging with the modern social customer across all customer facing functions including brand, marketing, sales and support. The company implements platforms which provide rich capabilities that transform these interactions into healthy communities and then integrates those platforms with companies' internal systems allowing them to better know and serve their customers.

"Social communities are now an increasingly critical part of the digital transformation in enterprises, and this market is poised for significant growth. Persistent Systems is delighted to welcome on board the entire CloudSquads' team of social computing domain and technology specialists," said Ranga Puranik, President, Persistent Systems, Inc. "CloudSquads complements our software product development and SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud) technology expertise with consulting, IP connectors and implementation services around social community platforms and is perfectly aligned to better serve our ISV and enterprise customer base."

"Social communities are the natural next step in the evolution and enhancement of external systems of engagement with customers, following the 1-800 number and corporate web presence," said Ashish Seth, Co-Founder of CloudSquads, Inc. "CloudSquads helps global brands unlock the power of social to realize dramatic increases in employee productivity, double digit improvements in marketing and sales effectiveness and dramatically lower support costs, said Henry Bruckstein, Co-Founder of CloudSquads, Inc. "Combining the global reach and broad technology capabilities of Persistent Systems will allow us to multiply the transformative impact in the market."

About Persistent Systems:
Persistent Systems (BOMBAY: PERSISTENT) (NSE: PERSISTENT) is a global company specializing in software product and technology services. For over two decades, Persistent has consistently been selected as the trusted innovation partner for the world's largest technology brands, leading enterprises and pioneering start-ups. Persistent has a global team of more than 7,500 employees worldwide including offices and delivery centers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Persistent develops best-in-class solutions in key next-generation technology areas including Analytics, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Mobility and Social, for the telecommunications, life sciences, healthcare, and banking & financial services verticals. For more information, please visit: http://www.persistent.com.

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