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Ultimate Software

Ultimate Software – An American Tech Company that Merged with Kronos Incorporated to Form UKG.

Ultimate Software was an American-based technology company that eventually merged with Kronos Incorporated to form Ultimate Kronos Group. Scott Scherr is the founder of Ultimate Software, a company that is known for selling SaaS. The company sold UltiPro as its main product which is a cloud-based human capital management software. This SaaS product was sold to many enterprises by Ultimate Software. Founded in 1990, the company’s headquarters are based in Weston, Florida. Ultimate Software officially launched its first product in 1993. Last year, the company ranked second in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

About Ultimate Software

Ultimate Software is mainly known for its SaaS product, UltiPro, a single cloud-based system for recording HR, payroll, and talent management. Eventually, the software added many new features like employee onboarding, attendance maintaining, performance and compensation management, recruiting, etc. The rollout of UltiPro was a big success for Ultimate Software as in 2017 it generated a revenue of $940.7 million in the fourth quarter. Before it was merged with Kronos Incorporated, the company had more than 5,000 employees providing services in 160 countries. In 2019, Ultimate Software came under the acquisition of Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners for $11 billion. One year later, the company further merged with Kronos. The newly merged company is called Ultimate Kronos Group and is led by the CEO of Kronos Incorporated, Aron Ain.

Ultimate Software
Image source: wikimedia.org

History of Ultimate Software

Though Ultimate Software was established in 1990, the company launched its first product, UltiPro, after three years. After rolling out the first version of this SaaS software for better business management, the company kept improving the product by adding more features and optimizing it. In 1993, when UltiPro was launched for the first time, it was an on-premise software mainly for core HR and payroll. In 2002, the same product was launched as SaaS to provide HRs with a unified management tool.

The company went public in 1998 and was listed on NASDAQ as ULTI. After UltiPro was launched as SaaS, the total customers of the company exceeded 3,000 businesses over a small time span. The company eventually decided to expand overseas, and thus opened offices in London and Singapore. In 2014, the company partnered with the Center for Generational Kinetics to study the behavior of different generations in a workforce.

About Kronos Incorporated

Kronos Incorporated is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1977 by Mark S. Ain. The company specializes in workforce and human capital management cloud platforms. Kronos Incorporated is currently owned by Hellman & Friedman and its headquarters is located in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1979, Kronos rolled out its first product which was the world’s first microprocessor-based time clock, and a few years later launched a PC-based time and attendance product. Kronos became a publicly-traded company in 1992 and Aron Ain, brother of Mark Ain took over the charge of the company in 2005. Before the merger of Kronos and Ultimate Software, the former has acquired many other companies including Principal Decision Systems International, Stromberg, Empower Software Solutions, etc.

Formation of UKG

Both Ultimate Software and Kronos Incorporated were established in the same field and to multiply its impact on the human capital management system, they decided to merge and start a new venture. In February 2020, the two companies announced the merger and after two months Ultimate Kronos Group was launched officially. The valuation of the jointly established company is $22 billion making it one of the world’s largest cloud computing companies. UKG is keeping both the headquarters and made Aron Ain CEO of the new venture. Since Hellman & Friedman was the owner of both the companies, he is also the major shareholder of UKG.

Scott Scherr – Founder of Ultimate Software

Scott Scherr is the founder of Ultimate Software and after he established the company in 1990, he served as the CEO of the company as well. He remained as one of the board members of the company after resigning as the CEO. When Scott established Ultimate Software, he created jobs for more than 1000 people in Florida and his contributions were immense to develop the tech culture in the state as well.

ifs ab

IFS AB – A Sweden-based Enterprise Software Company Also Aiming To Improve Lives Of Underprivileged Population.

IFS AB also known as Industrial and Financial Systems was born in 1983 in Sweden. The company specializes in developing and delivering enterprise software. IFS AB focuses on project-centric industries where it uses a single code base and develops ERP. Some of the sectors where IFS AB delivers such products are aerospace, manufacturing, automotive, oil, and gas, etc. With 4,000 employees, the company offers its products and solutions on a global scale to more than 10,000 customers. IFS AB is one of the most recommended suppliers in its sector and is currently led by Darren Roos (CEO of IFS AB).

About IFS AB

Since its foundation, IFS AB has made a big impact both in terms of business and uplifting the lives of socio-economically backward people. In terms of its innovative products and solutions, the company became the winner of the European Digital Technology Award among 150,000 companies. It has also won the 2019 European Business Award. Last year, Darren Roos won the Best CEO of the Year award for leading the company to such great heights. IFS AB believes in serving people who are in need of better living conditions and proper education. So, the company founded the IFS Foundation that is currently focusing on helping poor people of rural Sri Lanka.

IFS AB
Image source: www.ifs.com

History of the Company

After founding the company in 1983, the company launched its first product in 1985. The name of the software product was IFS Maintenance which after five years was included in an entire product suite called IFS Applications. Being a European company, the company gradually expanded into the Scandinavian region. It opened offices in Norway, Denmark, and Finland. After the New Year, it also opened an office in Poland. In the early 1990s, IFS AB expanded to Asia and North America. In 1996, IFS got listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange. Eventually, the company opened up an R&D center in Colombo.

In less than ten years of its releasing the first graphical user interface, it gathered 500,000 active users. In 2008, the company again launched a new GUI and started acquiring companies from various fields. IFS AB was acquired by a private equity firm in 2015. To date, the main product of IFS is IFS Applications which is an integrated suite of enterprise applications for businesses. It includes software for asset and service management, project management, manufacturing, and supply chain.

Business Growth and Acquisitions

In 2015, IFS recorded more than 1 million users of its GUI. The company has expanded to many international grounds and its operational focus has been divided into four groups. The first two groups focus on European markets, and the other two groups are in charge of management in the America and Asia Pacific region. The company has made a series of acquisitions in various countries from the US to the UK in the past 1.5 decades. In 2009, the company acquired MultiPlus Solutions followed by 360 Scheduling, a UK-based scheduling engine in 2010. In 2017, it acquired three companies namely Field Service Management Limited, WorkWave LLC, and systems Limited. This year, to date, IFS acquired two US-based businesses which are Axios Systems and Customerville.

IFS as a Philanthropist

For years, IFS has focussed on education and the importance of STEM subjects and thus partnered with many schools for financial support and scholarship. The company is heavily inclined towards providing education to those who don’t have financial support and create a bright future for the younger generation. The company also currently focuses on serving the backward local communities of Sri Lanka for the past 20 years. The IFS Foundation is addressing healthcare, sanitation, education, etc in these areas.

Darren Roos – CEO of IFS AB

Hailing from South Africa, Darren Roos is a famous business executive who has worked in multiple companies before joining IFS. He served as the Executive Board Member of Software AG and also as the President of SARP ERP Cloud. He completed his education at the University of South Africa. He was directly appointed as the CEO of IFS in 2018 when he first joined the company.

Trimble Inc.

Trimble Inc. – A Software and Service Technology Company providing services in Global Industries.

Trimble Inc. is a technology company based in California, Sunnyvale. Comprehensive service for agricultural, building & building, geospatial, natural resources and services industries, government, transportation, and other sectors. Trimble also develops hardware for receivers, scanners, lasers for scope finders, aerial UAVs, inertial navigation systems, and software processing tools of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The company was established in November 1978 and uses the slogan “Converting the Work of the World.”

Establishment of Trimble Inc.

Trimble Inc. Navigation, which was initially established over the movie theatre in Los Altos, California, was created by Charles Trimble and two partners from Hewlett Packard in November of 1978. At the end of 2016, 8,388 employees were employed in the company, with over half of employees working outside the USA.

The most popular was their acquisition of Google’s SketchUp 3D modeling software package in 2012. As of 2014, they are also the owners of Tekla (BIM), Vico Office, and Gehry Technologies’ GTeam (BIM data management) (project coordination). Sefaira was purchased by Trimble in 2016. In an all-cash transaction of 1.2 billion dollars, the company Trimble entered into an agreement on 23 April 2018 that it should purchase privately-owned viewpoints from the investment company Bain Capital.

Trimble Inc.
Image Source: techherald.in

On 12 February 2019, the new division Trimble MAPS was launched, bringing together former ALK Technologies and Applications Final Mile companies from Trimble. On 30 October 2019, Trimble unanimously chose Robert G.Painter, as Chairman and CEO of Trimble on 4 January 2020, the first day of the 2020 Fiscal Year of Trimble, to succeed Mr. Steven W. Berglund. On 4 January 2020, Painter joins the Trimble Board.

The firm changed its name from Trimble Navigation Limited to Trimble Inc. and on the first day of October 2016, the name change and modification of the legal address became effective. Trimble Inc. continued operations for stakeholders without alterations or material impact.

Products And Services

Spectra Precision Laser AG402

Trimble offers a whole range of laser transmitters from Spectra Precision, which can be used for a variety of water management tasks manually and ensure a uniform distribution of the water on your field. Laser transmitter options are available for different needs and budgets.

NAV-500™ Guidance Controller

The guidance controller NAV-500 is a cost-effective precise solution for receiving corrections from multiple satellite GNSS constellations coupled with all GFX series displays. Get repeatable precision submeters and a high price of full farm covers for use in tillage, widespread seeding, spraying, and harvesting.

GFX-350™ Display

The Trimble GFX-350TM is Trimble Agriculture’s latest and easy-to-use AndroidTM Display. This cost-effective solution offers excellent functionality and an easy installation, providing access to automation and application control for all farms.

The Founder: Charles Trimble

The Trimble Navigation Limited (TNL) was originally founded in 1978 to produce Loran navigational products by Mr. Charles R. Trimble. Mr. Trimble left TNL in 1998 to chair the GPS Industry Council of the United States. In commercial and civil applications, while maintaining the military advantages of GPS, He has been active in the political development of GPS and has been closely involved in protecting the GPS range.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Trust Board of Caltech, the NASA Consultative Board, as well as a board of directors of several highly technical companies. He has served on the Governing Board of the Asia-Pacific National Center and is a member of the Foreign Relations Council.

Mr. Trimble has received numerous awards recognizing his achievements: INC Entrepreneur of the Year awards (1991), Financial World Magazine’s CEO of the Year (1996), IEEE’s Position Location and Navigation Symposium Kershner Award (1996), the American Institutes of Aeronautics and Astronautics Piper General Aviation Award for his pioneering research and technology (2002). He graduated from the California Institute of Technology (1963) with a B.S. Degree in Engineering Physical (1964).

Robert G. Painter: President and CEO

In January 2020, Robert Painter was elected Chairman and CEO of Trimble. He served as Chief Financial Officer for the worldwide financing operations of Trimble from 2016 to 2019. Mr. Painter was appointed Vice President, in 2015, of Trimble Buildings, a Trimble group focusing on BIM-centered firms covering the building lifecycle design-construction continuum.

Robert served as Managing Director of the Joint Venture of the Company and Hilti from 2011 to 2014 to support collaborative product innovation in the construction industry. He served as Managing Director of the Construction Services Division of the company from 2009 to 2010.

In 2006, he joined Trimble and took the lead in all acquisition and corporate strategy activities, leading Trimble’s business development activities. Prior to joining the Group, Painter has served at Cenveo, Rapt Inc., Bain & Company, Whole Foods Market, and Kraft Foods in a variety of management and financial positions. He graduated from West Virginia University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Finance degree and received an MBA in Business from Harvard University in 1998.

Ansys Inc.

Ansys Inc. – The Most Trustworthy Engineering Software Company In The World.

Ansys Inc. is a Canonsburg-based American company. It develops and markets multiphysics simulation software to design, test, and operate products and provides its products and services to clients around the globe. Ansys picked up a large number of engineering design companies in the 2000s, which gained additional fluid dynamics, electronics, and other physical analysis technology.

Ansys software fits seamlessly with existing systems thanks to their open ecosystem of computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering providers. Engineers can use Ansys simulation to explore and predict how products will work in the real world. This simulation superpower also accelerates time-to-market, reduces production costs, increases efficiency, and reduces risk.

The Establishment of Ansys, Inc.

John Swanson invented the concept for Ansys at the time of his work at Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory in the 1960s. At that time, engineers conducted hand analyses of Finite Elements (FEA). Westinghouse dismissed Swanson’s concept of automating FEA by designing software for general purposes, so in 1969 Swanson left the company to develop the software by itself. The next year, he created Ansys in his farmhouse in Pittsburgh with the name Swanson Analysis Systems Inc. (SASI). Swanson created Ansys’ initial punch card program and leased a mainframe machine by the hour.

Ansys Inc.
Image Source: facebook.com

By 1991, SASI had 153 workers with an annual turnover of $29 million, which was a 10 percent market share for software analysis for finite elements. SASI purchased Compuflo in 1992, and the software for fluid dynamic analysis was commercialized and developed. In 1993, Mr. Swanson sold his majority stake in the firm to TA Associates, a capitalist firm. The following year Peter Smith was appointed CEO and the software, Ansys, was renamed SASI.

Ansys Products and Services

Ansys Discovery and accurately addresses important design questions early in the process. It eliminates long waits for simulation results to increase efficiency and performance. Engineers can now concentrate on creativity and product success thanks to Discovery. With Ansys SpaceClaim, you can reduce simulation prep time and easily build 3D models. By accelerating the geometry development process, these tools enable designers and analysts to concentrate on the simulation performance.

With Ansys VRXPERIENCE, you will enjoy an active sound quality and sound design solution. Recorded sound, CAE acoustics simulation effects, and Active Sound E-Motor noise, Aeroacoustics sources, Engine vibrations, and EV all have their own special tools.

Ansys Additive Prep optimizes component orientation by auto-detecting support regions and individually configuring them to construct different 3D printing support types. Ansys Additive Print takes the guesswork out of printing. Gain insight into how parts can behave during a build and take corrective actions to ensure that the parts are installed correctly the first time.

To accelerate embedded software development ventures, Ansys offers model-based embedded software development and simulation environment with a built-in certified automatic code generator. Ansys embedded software solutions provide a wide range of powerful capabilities to assist you in developing secure and stable software designs more quickly.

They offer the industry’s gold standard simulators for antenna, RF, microwave, PCB, package, IC design, and even electromechanical devices. These solutions assist you in resolving any electromagnetic, temperature, SI, PI, parasitic, cabling, and vibration issues that can arise in your designs.

Ajei Gopal, The President and CEO of The Company

Ajei Gopal has been the president and chief executive officer of Ansys since January 2017. Ajei worked as an operating partner at Silver Lake, a major private equity technology investor, from 2013 to 2016. During his time at Silver Lake, he was seconded as interim president and chief operating officer at Symantec Corporation. He was a senior vice president at Hewlett Packard from 2011 to 2013. From 2006 to 2011, Ajei served as executive vice president at CA Technologies. He was executive vice president and chief technology officer at Symantec Corporation from 2004 to 2006.

Ajei Gopal previously served as CEO and a member of the board of directors of ReefEdge Networks, a company he co-founded in 2000. From 1991 to 2000, he worked at IBM, first at IBM Research and then in IBM’s Software Group. Ajei is also a director on the board of Citrix Systems, Inc., a multinational software corporation.