ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd., a provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of AST, which is marketed as The Contractor Office.

The terms of the agreement dictate that all assets of AST, including its technology, customers and employees, will become the property of ClickSoftware (News - Alert). The consideration for the transaction is roughly $1.7 million in cash. Much of the purchase price will be paid at the closing of the transaction while a small amount will be paid contingent upon the achievement of certain targets.

"Our vision is to provide field service management solutions for every size of service business from 5 employees to 50,000," said Dr. Moshe BenBassat (News - Alert), chairman and CEO of ClickSoftware, in a statement. "In order to meet the needs of small service businesses, we recognized that we needed to provide an affordable but powerful web-based field service management solution. Through this acquisition, we now have the platform, experience and capabilities to provide exactly that.”

In January, ClickSoftware announced the availability of ClickContact, a solution designed for customer interaction management. It was positioned as an addition to ClickSoftware’s ServiceOptimization Suite. With the addition of AST and The Contractor Office brand, ClickSoftware will be well positioned to drive greater dominance in the market.

"I am very pleased to see AST and The Contractor Office brand become part of ClickSoftware,” said Tamir Oren, CEO of AST. “Our companies share a unified vision of leading service businesses to excellence and a shared focus on customer satisfaction, leading-edge technology and innovative deployment models. Our customers have made it very clear that reliability, trust and ease of use are key criteria for small businesses. Becoming part of the ClickSoftware team serves to address these criteria as well as greatly extending AST's reach and visibility in the market.”

ClickSoftware has proven its value in the industry by promoting solutions that cater to the customer-facing aspects of the organization. As economic pressures continue to mount for companies in all industries, firms such as HickoryTech are implementing ClickSoftware solutions to drive efficiency and increased productivity.

"We are confident that the acquired technology in conjunction with the ClickSoftware brand and organization will provide a clear differentiator in the market," said BenBassat. "We were looking for a "Software as a Service" (SaaS (News - Alert)) company to complement ClickSoftware's portfolio of solutions. AST emerged as a leading player among On Demand Field Service Management vendors who offer a SaaS solution. This acquisition will join a broader SaaS initiative that will offer on-demand solutions to medium and enterprise sized service organizations."