Robot hand typing on the laptop keyboard, 3d rendering isolated illustration
Intelligent automation consulting firm Ashling Partners has acquired low-code solutions provider fourTENS.This is technology M&A deal number 1,027 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2022. See more than 2,000 technology M&A deals involving MSPs, MSSPs & IT service providers listed here.Ashling Partners is based in Chicago, Illinois. The company has 168 employees listed on LinkedIn. Ashling Partners’ areas of expertise include robotic process automation, business process management, automation, consulting, intelligent process automation, artificial intelligence, change management, design thinking, operational excellence, business outcomes, software selection, intelligent automation, OCR, UiPath, ABBYY, K2 and RPA.FourTENS, founded in 2017, is based in Hastings, Minnesota. The company has 13 employees listed on LinkedIn. FourTENS’ areas of expertise include K2 smartforms, K2 blackpearl, workflow, business applications, consulting, business process, RPA, DPA, BPA, BPM, UiPath, K2 Five and K2 Cloud.
The acquisition will enable Ashling Partners to globally expand their efforts within the intelligent automation space and bolster the combined companies expertise in low-code technologies and applications, the companies said.
Marshall Sied, a co-founder of Ashling Partners, commented on the news:
"We always look to better serve our clients and people by expanding our automation capabilities and the subsequent value we create for our clients while also challenging Ashling members to consistently learn new technologies and techniques within hyperautomation. We found a great addition to Ashling in Dewald, Leonie, and the fourTENS team. We are excited to bring together some of the most talented people in automation to increase speed-to-value for our clients and continued opportunities for our people as a combined organization."
Don Sweeney, a co-founder of Ashling Partners, added:
"Continuous improvement is a mindset that we have cultivated at Ashling, and the fourTENS team embodies this growth mindset. Combining our skillsets across automation platforms and capabilities allows us to identify more business outcomes for our clients and usher in a more automated future. fourTENS brings additional capability within DPA (Digital Process Automation), BPM (Business Process Management), and RPA (Robotic Process Optimization) that complements our core strengths."
Dewald Bester, the founder of fourTENS, said:
"It truly is an exciting time in the Low-Code and Intelligent Automation arena with backing technologies maturing to their promise. Combined with shared visions and values, we cannot be more excited to join an industry leader to complement their existing highly skilled team and services. Together we can continue to deliver high-value results by bringing end-to-end automation capabilities to our combined and growing customer base."
RPA M&A
The fast-growing robotic process automation (RPA) software market continues to generate strong merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. An expansive RPA M&A deal list, updated regularly by ChannelE2E, is here.What’s driving all the RPA M&A activity? The short answer involves customer demand: The global RPA software market is expected to reach $13.74 billion by 2028, up from $1.57 billion in 2020. The market’s compound annual growth rate from 2021 to 2028 is expected to be 32.8%, Grand View Research predicts.RPA software allows businesses to write code and bots that rapidly automate manual tasks across multiple departments — from IT service desks to HR, finance, customer support and more.Much of the RPA software industry focuses on enterprise customers. Still, RPA may even eventually catch on in the SMB market as MSPs seek to further automate internal and customer operations.RPA software providers such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate frequently dominate headlines. But M&A activity is also influencing the market. And upstarts such as ElectroNeek and Rewst are striving to deliver RPA into the MSP and SMB markets.
Sharon is a master technology storyteller and editor with omnichannel experience: books and print magazines, digital, webcast, blogging, podcast, live events and video and associated brand-specific social media content. From 1999 to 2003, she acquired and edited technology books and certification exam prep guides.
After a year spent in publicity and editorial at mass-market book publishers, she returned to tech publishing and, since 2004, explored B2C and B2B news, issues and trends in consumer, lifestyle, software, software development, AI, ML, networks, big data, hardware, security, storage, cloud, equity, inclusion, diversity, women in tech, career development, IT management, H-1B visa issues and immigration, education, training and learning.
Her previous role was as the managing editor at Techstrong Group in charge of Cloud Native Now, DevOps.com, Security Boulevard and Techstrong ITSM and their brand-specific social media. She currently serves as editorial director for CyberRisk Alliance’s channel brands, ChannelE2E and MSSP Alert and acting editorial director for SC Media UK. Drop me a note and let’s talk!
