Testing services and escrow specialist NCC Group has tucked another company into its portfolio with the acquisition of Scottish-based website monitoring software company Axzona.
With a purchase price of up to £1.7m (£1.2m in cash plus performance-related payments) it is a small transaction for NCC Group who spent £14.4m acquiring iSEC in October 2010 (see NCC tests the US with iSEC), £15m on SDLC Solutions in April 2010 (see NCC tests out SDLC), and £5.9m on Escrow Associates in March 2011. Axzona will be folded into the Site Confidence business line, which provides website performance monitoring and load testing.
Although Axzona has capabilities in the same areas as Site Confidence, there is a subtle difference because Axzona says it also concentrates overtly on “customer perspective monitoring” – monitoring what website visitors experience. This front line customer experience focus addresses a different part of the market and one that has substantial potential given the emphasis businesses are putting on differentiation through service and customer experience. The acquisition is not of the same scale or strategic importance as NCC's other recent purchases (iSEC and Escrow Associates were designed to improve its position in the US) but it is a neat little tuck-in that will allow the company to use the "customer experience" buzz phrase.