RightNow Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Q-go and Increases Guidance for the Fourth Quarter of 2010
Announcement posted by RightNow Technologies 19 Jan 2011
With Acquisition of Q-go, RightNow Adds Best-in-Class Natural Language Search Solutions; Elevates Great Experiences from the Support Page to the Home Page and Helps Consumer Organisations Increase Revenue
Sydney, 19 January 2011 - RightNow (NASDAQ: RNOW) announced today the Company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Q-go.com B.V., a best-in-class natural language search solutions provider. The Company is also increasing revenue and non-GAAP earnings guidance for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010.
Guidance Update
The Company currently expects revenue of approximately US$51 million, recurring revenue of approximately US$41 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately US$0.16 for the fourth quarter of 2010. This updated guidance exceeds the Company’s previous guidance for the fourth quarter of revenue of approximately US$49.3 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately US$0.15 as provided on October 28, 2010.
For the fourth quarter of 2010, expected non-GAAP earnings per share exclude stock-based compensation and a potential tax benefit related to valuation of deferred tax assets. The Company anticipates that in the final 2010 fiscal year results it will recognize a tax benefit related to valuation of deferred tax assets. As this tax benefit is expected to be significant, but the amount of the tax benefit is not currently determinable, the Company will provide GAAP earnings per share and a reconciliation to GAAP on February 2, 2011 when RightNow releases its earnings for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2010.
Q-go Acquisition Expected to Drive Further Growth
Greg Gianforte, CEO, RightNow, said, “I am excited to add Q-go’s solutions and talent to the RightNow organisation. We expect this acquisition to help further accelerate our growth, adding approximately US$8 million in revenue for the 2011 fiscal year. Q-go’s leading edge technology has been proven to drive higher conversion rates, increase revenue and improve web visitor experiences for companies. We will also gain additional critical mass in Europe with approximately 60 new clients and 70 talented employees. Also, I am pleased with our strong performance in the fourth quarter which includes record sales.”
In addition, the acquisition is expected to:
RightNow Adds Intent Guide, Best-in-Class Natural Language Search to RightNow CX
It’s easy for consumers to get lost and frustrated on a website. Consumers know what they are looking for but often fail to find the right content because they don’t understand a company’s terminology or website structure. And frequently, even after completing a search request, they are presented with irrelevant and confusing results that only serve to heighten their frustration. For example, “check my cash” and “cash my check” have similar words, but very different intents and meanings. Without a search solution that understands a customer's true intent, customers too often waste time wading through many irrelevant results.
With the addition of Q-go, RightNow CX elevates great service from the support page to the home page. Utilising the Q-go Natural Language Search technology, the new RightNow CX Intent Guide understands the intent behind what website visitors are seeking and immediately delivers high-value, highly relevant content, enabling companies to:
“RightNow CX Intent Guide with Q-go’s natural language search technology is a powerful addition to RightNow CX and will help us redefine the way consumers experience a brand. By capturing queries, understanding intent, and matching that to high-value content, RightNow CX can improve consumers’ online experiences, increase customer loyalty and drive sales,” said David Vap, Chief Solutions Officer, RightNow.
“Like RightNow, Q-go is committed to improving the customer experience with a suite of natural language search solutions. The acquisition expands RightNow CX’s ability to provide relevant answers to customers. We expect to be able to dramatically increase adoption of RightNow CX Intent Guide and leverage our joint expertise to develop the next generation of online customer experience solutions,” said Marcel E. Smit, CEO, Q-go.
Acquisition Details
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, RightNow will acquire all of the Q-go stock and the stock of Q-go’s subsidiaries, for approximately $34 million in cash. Q-go is headquartered in Amsterdam with subsidiary operations in Germany, Spain and the United States. The company anticipates the acquisition will add approximately US$1 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2011, approximately US$8 million of revenue for the 2011 fiscal year, and approximately US$3.5 million of expenses per quarter during 2011. RightNow expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in the first quarter of 2012. Additionally, RightNow expects increased expenses from the acquisition in amortisation of acquired intangibles, which will be finalised once the purchase price accounting valuation is complete. The acquisition will be recorded in the company’s March 31, 2011 quarter end financial statements.
About RightNow
RightNow is helping rid the world of bad experiences one consumer interaction at a time, eight million times a day. RightNow CX, the customer experience suite, helps organisations deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centres, all delivered via the cloud. With more than ten billion customer interactions delivered, RightNow is the customer experience fabric for nearly 2,000 organisations around the globe. To learn more about RightNow, go to www.rightnow.com
RightNow is a registered trademark of RightNow Technologies, Inc. NASDAQ is a registered trademark of the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Guidance Update
The Company currently expects revenue of approximately US$51 million, recurring revenue of approximately US$41 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately US$0.16 for the fourth quarter of 2010. This updated guidance exceeds the Company’s previous guidance for the fourth quarter of revenue of approximately US$49.3 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately US$0.15 as provided on October 28, 2010.
For the fourth quarter of 2010, expected non-GAAP earnings per share exclude stock-based compensation and a potential tax benefit related to valuation of deferred tax assets. The Company anticipates that in the final 2010 fiscal year results it will recognize a tax benefit related to valuation of deferred tax assets. As this tax benefit is expected to be significant, but the amount of the tax benefit is not currently determinable, the Company will provide GAAP earnings per share and a reconciliation to GAAP on February 2, 2011 when RightNow releases its earnings for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2010.
Q-go Acquisition Expected to Drive Further Growth
Greg Gianforte, CEO, RightNow, said, “I am excited to add Q-go’s solutions and talent to the RightNow organisation. We expect this acquisition to help further accelerate our growth, adding approximately US$8 million in revenue for the 2011 fiscal year. Q-go’s leading edge technology has been proven to drive higher conversion rates, increase revenue and improve web visitor experiences for companies. We will also gain additional critical mass in Europe with approximately 60 new clients and 70 talented employees. Also, I am pleased with our strong performance in the fourth quarter which includes record sales.”
In addition, the acquisition is expected to:
- Open new sales opportunities in key industries with both new and existing clients;
- Create a significant, new session-based revenue opportunity, as RightNow expands from the support page to the home page;
- Further strengthen RightNow’s relationship with senior marketing buyers, in addition to operations, support and IT.
RightNow Adds Intent Guide, Best-in-Class Natural Language Search to RightNow CX
It’s easy for consumers to get lost and frustrated on a website. Consumers know what they are looking for but often fail to find the right content because they don’t understand a company’s terminology or website structure. And frequently, even after completing a search request, they are presented with irrelevant and confusing results that only serve to heighten their frustration. For example, “check my cash” and “cash my check” have similar words, but very different intents and meanings. Without a search solution that understands a customer's true intent, customers too often waste time wading through many irrelevant results.
With the addition of Q-go, RightNow CX elevates great service from the support page to the home page. Utilising the Q-go Natural Language Search technology, the new RightNow CX Intent Guide understands the intent behind what website visitors are seeking and immediately delivers high-value, highly relevant content, enabling companies to:
- Increase sales by improving online conversion rates;
- Deliver premium customer experiences for high-value interactions;
- Drive loyalty through deep behavioural insight into consumer intent.
- Question Matching enhances existing website search and navigation to understand a customer’s intent, and increases online conversion rates.
- Virtual Assistant provides a personal, natural conversation interaction, enhancing a customer’s experience while driving conversion and reducing live assistance costs.
- Web Form Assistant increases online form conversions by proactively helping users complete forms using previously captured visitor information to pre-fill web forms.
- Contextual Online Offers deliver real-time, relevant offers based on the context of a page or the user’s intent, dramatically increasing conversion rates to drive sales.
- Intent Matching: Natural language search technology to capture queries, understand intent, and match it to high-value content and interactions. For example, “open a savings account” and “start an account for saving” are different phrases, but with the same intent.
- Industry-Specific Linguistic Dictionaries: Branded terminology is tailored with industry-specific dictionaries and linguistic fine-tuning to optimise the natural language search relevancy to the user’s intent. For instance, for a financial institution the word “bank” will always refer to a financial institution, not a river bank, and “interest” will always refer to the returns on savings or what one pays for a loan, not the emotion.
- Language Identification: Utilising localised language packs, the natural language search automatically recognises the user’s local language to identify their intent, such as “cuenta de ahorros” versus “savings account.”
“RightNow CX Intent Guide with Q-go’s natural language search technology is a powerful addition to RightNow CX and will help us redefine the way consumers experience a brand. By capturing queries, understanding intent, and matching that to high-value content, RightNow CX can improve consumers’ online experiences, increase customer loyalty and drive sales,” said David Vap, Chief Solutions Officer, RightNow.
“Like RightNow, Q-go is committed to improving the customer experience with a suite of natural language search solutions. The acquisition expands RightNow CX’s ability to provide relevant answers to customers. We expect to be able to dramatically increase adoption of RightNow CX Intent Guide and leverage our joint expertise to develop the next generation of online customer experience solutions,” said Marcel E. Smit, CEO, Q-go.
Acquisition Details
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, RightNow will acquire all of the Q-go stock and the stock of Q-go’s subsidiaries, for approximately $34 million in cash. Q-go is headquartered in Amsterdam with subsidiary operations in Germany, Spain and the United States. The company anticipates the acquisition will add approximately US$1 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2011, approximately US$8 million of revenue for the 2011 fiscal year, and approximately US$3.5 million of expenses per quarter during 2011. RightNow expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in the first quarter of 2012. Additionally, RightNow expects increased expenses from the acquisition in amortisation of acquired intangibles, which will be finalised once the purchase price accounting valuation is complete. The acquisition will be recorded in the company’s March 31, 2011 quarter end financial statements.
About RightNow
RightNow is helping rid the world of bad experiences one consumer interaction at a time, eight million times a day. RightNow CX, the customer experience suite, helps organisations deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centres, all delivered via the cloud. With more than ten billion customer interactions delivered, RightNow is the customer experience fabric for nearly 2,000 organisations around the globe. To learn more about RightNow, go to www.rightnow.com
RightNow is a registered trademark of RightNow Technologies, Inc. NASDAQ is a registered trademark of the NASDAQ Stock Market.