More signs of Deltek expansion

Deltek makes another acquisition as it continues to widen its base into more markets that need software solutions built around project management needs.

When I interviewed Deltek’s CEO Mike Corkery a few months back, he talked about his strategy on expanding what it can offer customers in the company's various markets.

One of the markets he mentioned was marketing and communications because, often, the work companies in that field do is project based, so they need, according to Corkery’s reasoning, enterprise resource software that is built around the needs of project management.

Corkery and Deltek pushed that strategy forward this week with the acquisition of Sohnar, an enterprise software provider best known for its Traffic LIVE solution. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Sohnar is a London-based company, but it has offices in New York and Sydney, Australia.

Traffic LIVE is a traffic management solution used by marketing agencies to manage projects and the flow of creative jobs within those firms, Deltek said in its release.

It’s also a tool for managing people – generally the most expensive assets these companies have – in a cost effective and profitable manner.

Deltek describes Traffic LIVE as a professional services automation solution. It’s also a cloud-based offering. I found this interesting because it’s another sign of how important technology has become to delivering service what you might not typically thing of as needing technology.

Traffic LIVE will be integrated into Deltek’s Maconomy ERP solutions, the company said.

While the acquisition of Sohnar doesn’t have a direct government market impact, I think it’s worth pointing out because of Deltek’s close ties to the contracting industry.

It’s also good to follow a company as it pursues its strategy and puts concrete actions behinds its words.

Of course, Deltek is no stranger to making acquisitions. It’s been very active in recent years, practically cornering the market for research around government contracts with deals for Input, FedSources and Centurion Research. Another related deal was the purchase of MySBX, a kind of social network for connecting companies.

It’s also acquired Maconomy, which bolstered its access to engineering and architecture firms.

So, I’d expect Deltek to continue to expand. There is no reason to think it won’t.