Recent Awards Showcase Appirio’s Cloud Leadership, Experienced Executive Team, and Culture

San Francisco, Calif. - July 30, 2013 - Appirio, a global cloud services provider, has been recognized this year by a number of leading organizations for its market leadership, influential executive team, and employee experience. Organizations such as Forrester, the San Francisco Business Times, AlwaysOn, The Bay Area News Group, CRN and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce have acknowledged Appirio in a variety of categories, ranging from workplace culture to Appirio’s service offerings in the Salesforce partner ecosystem.

“Two things that make Appirio stand out as a company are our culture and people,” said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio. “To be recognized in these areas, and our broader industry leadership, is an honor and reminder of the accomplishments we’ve made as a company.” 

Appirio’s recognitions thus far this year include:

• Forrester: Appirio was identified as a strong performer among Salesforce implementation services options worldwide by Forrester Research, Inc. Appirio leads the specialist firms in the evaluation and received the highest current offering scores of those vendors in the strong performers category.
• San Francisco Business Times 40 under 40: Appirio’s chief strategy officer and co-founder, Narinder Singh, was recognized as one of the Bay Area’s 40 most interesting and innovative young professionals. Narinder has played a key role in keeping Appirio at the forefront of cloud computing and helped create CloudSpokes, a crowdsourcing community for cloud development. In addition to his role at Appirio, Narinder serves as chairman of the board of the Sikh Coalition and executive sponsor of Appirio’s philanthropy program.
• AlwaysOn Global 250 Private Companies List: Appirio was named by AlwaysOn as a Global 250 winner, this year in the category of B2B Cloud and Infrastructure. For the fourth year in a row, Appirio has been acknowledged by AlwaysOn in a variety of areas, ranging from Top Private Company to its Global 250 list. 
• Bay Area News Group Top Workplaces: Appirio was named a Top Workplace in the Information Technology sector for the second consecutive year. Based solely on surveys about the workplace completed by employees, Appirio received high ratings on positive working environment and culture among coworkers.
• CRN Women of the Channel: Appirio’s senior vice president of agility services, Heidi Spirgi, was named to CRN’s 2013 Women of the Channel list for her executive leadership and strategic vision. Spirgi, who has played a key role in expanding Appirio’s strategy and HCM services, joined the company as part of last year’s Knowledge Infusion acquisition. 
• Indiana Chamber of Commerce Best Places to Work in Indiana: Appirio was named a "Best Place to Work in Indiana", ranking second in the large employer category. Determined by employer reports and comprehensive employee surveys, Appirio was identified as an organization that has set the standard for workplace excellence. 

Useful Links:

Visit Appirio’s website to learn more about these and other past awards.

About Appirio

Appirio is a global services provider that uses crowdsourcing and cloud, social and mobile technology to help enterprises reimagine their business and become more agile. Appirio brings together technology expertise with a deep understanding of the way people work, and the nearly limitless skills of a crowdsourcing community of 75,000 developers, to help enterprises transform relationships with their customers, partners and workforce. Appirio has worked with more than 500 enterprises, including organizations like Facebook, Intuit, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, The Four Seasons, and Virgin America. The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

Appirio Named a Leading Provider of Salesforce Implementation Services in Independent Research Firm’s Report

San Francisco - June 18, 2013 - Appirio, a global cloud services provider, today announced it has been identified as a strong performer among Salesforce implementation services options worldwide by Forrester Research, Inc., an independent technology research firm.

In the June 2013 report, “The Forrester Wave™: Salesforce.com Implementation Services, Q2 2013,” Forrester evaluated and ranked the top 10 most significant Salesforce implementation partners globally. They evaluated the firms against 45 criteria, which were grouped according to current offering, strategy and market presence.

Appirio leads the specialist firms in the evaluation and received the highest current offering scores of those vendors in the strong performers category.

“Appirio has highly specialized, cloud-focused services professionals with a laser focus on time-to-value and driving innovation,” writes Forrester principal analyst Liz Herbert in the report. Earlier, the report states that “companies are (still) flocking to SaaS solutions, looking to gain speed and agility, flexibility, and innovation to drive their businesses forward.”

The report also gave Appirio the top score for its prebuilt IP and accelerators and credits CloudSpokes, Appirio’s “industry-first crowdsourcing model that links into more than 70,000 experts around the world.”

“At Appirio, we pride ourselves on helping customers embrace cloud technology that drives their business forward,” said Chris Barbin, CEO and co-founder, Appirio. “More large enterprises are turning to cloud solutions to become more agile and we are honored to have been recognized in Forrester’s Wave as a strong performer among worldwide Salesforce implementation service providers.”

To download a complimentary copy of, “The Forrester Wave™: Salesforce.com Implementation Services, Q2 2013,” please visit wave.appirio.com.

About Appirio
Appirio is a global services provider who uses crowdsourcing and cloud, social and mobile technology to help enterprises reimagine their business and become more agile. Appirio brings together technology expertise with a deep understanding of the way people work, and the nearly limitless skills of a crowdsourcing community of 75,000 developers, to help enterprises transform relationships with their customers, partners and workforce. Appirio has worked with more than 500 enterprises, including organizations like Facebook, Intuit, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, The Four Seasons, and Virgin America. The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

DocuSign and Appirio Team Up to Offer Solutions to Finish Business Faster

Unique Cloudsourcing Delivery Model Helps Speed Customer Time-to-Value for the Leading eSignature Cloud Solution 

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 15, 2013 – (DocuSign MOMENTUM)- DocuSign, the Global Standard for eSignature®, and Appirio, a global cloud services provider, today announced a partnership in which Appirio will provide implementation, integration and development services for DocuSign customers through a cloudsourcing delivery model that speeds customer time-to-value and lowers delivery costs. This unique delivery model uses a combination of technology and traditional and remote resources, along with crowdsourced assets from the CloudSpokes development community, to increase business speed and agility.

“Employees at ninety percent of the Fortune 500 use DocuSign because it can have a simple but dramatic impact on business operations and the customer experience,” said Mike Epner, SVP of Global Services, at Appirio. “This business impact, combined with the company’s close connection with our existing partners Salesforce.com, Workday and Google, makes DocuSign a natural area for us to expand our capabilities.”

With more than 310 million documents signed on the DocuSign Global Network, DocuSign’s focus on innovation and value beyond the signature has driven the company’s growth to more than 37 million users in 188 countries. The company attracts more than 60,000 unique new DocuSigners every day, who use the electronic signature solution to upload and sign documents more efficiently and optimize paper workflows. Just as DocuSign’s solution helps customers cut transaction time from weeks to minutes, this partnership will allow customers to start seeing return on their DocuSign investment in weeks not months.

“The service provider model of the past is broken - customers moving to a cloud solution want to see long-term results without a long-term project,” said Neil Hudspith, Chief Revenue Officer, DocuSign. “As a trusted partner to more than 500 customers, Appirio has figured out how to blend speed with business impact to help our customers harness the power of cloud transactions on the DocuSign Global Network.”

Starting in June, DocuSign will be able to tap into Appirio’s in-house cloud experts and the combined talents of 75,000 specialist developers in the CloudSpokes community. DocuSign, which has used CloudSpokes effectively in the past to expand R&D resources, will become the newest “Spoke” on CloudSpokes - a private community that acts as a hub for information and challenges using the DocuSign API.  Appirio will be expanding its own use of DocuSign internally and will be investing in more DocuSign resources throughout the year to accommodate customer demand.

“As an existing customer of both DocuSign and Appirio, it’s great to see these two cloud leaders tightening their existing relationship to create a positive customer experience,” said Jason Seeba, Lead Marketing Technologist at BloomReach, who uses DocuSign for partner management, marketing operations and talent acquisition. “The ability to easily access technical expertise and existing integration and implementation assets is a huge benefit for a high-growth company that doesn’t want to distract our own resources from our core business.”

For more information about DocuSign and Appirio, please visit Appirio at DocuSign MOMENTUM at San Francisco's Westin St. Francis, May 14-16, 2013. Appirio is a silver-level sponsor of the annual MOMENTUM conference and can be found online at www.appirio.com.

DocuSign MOMENTUM is the premier annual eSignature transaction management user conference. DocuSign MOMENTUM features industry thought leaders sharing insights, experiences, and best practices on adopting cloud, digital, and mobile technologies to dramatically enhance business results.

About Appirio
Appirio is a global services provider who uses crowdsourcing and cloud, social and mobile technology to help enterprises reimagine their business and become more agile. Appirio brings together technology expertise with a deep understanding of the way people work, and the nearly limitless skills of a crowdsourcing community of 70,000+ developers, to help enterprises transform relationships with their customers, partners and workforce. Appirio has worked with more than 500 enterprises, including organizations like Facebook, Intuit, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, The Four Seasons, and Virgin America.  The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

About DocuSign Inc.
DocuSign®, The Global Standard for eSignature®, is the leader in eSignature transaction management. Global enterprises, business departments, individual professionals and consumers are standardising on DocuSign, with more than 50,000 new users joining the DocuSign Global Network every day. Today, that network includes more than 35 million users in 188 countries. DocuSign is used to accelerate transaction times to increase speed to results, reduce costs, and delight customers across nearly every industry – from financial services, insurance, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, communications, property management and consumer goods, to higher education and others. For more information, visit www.docusign.com or call 877.720.2040. Visit the DocuSign blog at www.docusign.com/blog and follow DocuSign on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Appirio Adds Jeff Epstein to Board of Directors

Former CFO of Oracle and Technology Industry Veteran to Chair Appirio’s Audit Committee, Guide the Cloud Service Provider to its Next Phase of Growth 

San Francisco - May 9, 2013 - Appirio, a global cloud services provider, today announced the appointment of Jeff Epstein to its Board of Directors. Jeff will chair Appirio’s Audit Committee and is the company’s second independent board director. Jeff brings more than 25 years of financial expertise to Appirio, and is currently an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. He serves on multiple boards, including priceline.com, Kaiser Permanente and Shutterstock.

“Jeff’s financial leadership, industry insight and deep expertise in technology and M&A will be a tremendous asset to Appirio as we look to our next phase of growth,” said Chris Barbin, CEO, Appirio. “As we continue to deliver on our long standing mission - to help companies reimagine their business with disruptive technologies - Jeff will play a critical role in ensuring that we ourselves are a high performing company.”

Jeff has experience working with both high growth and publicly-held companies, and most recently served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Oracle. Earlier, Jeff Epstein was executive vice president and chief financial officer of DoubleClick, as it grew from 180 to more than 2,000 employees.

“Companies like Appirio, that are on leading edge of trends such as the cloud and crowdsourcing, are disrupting the traditional systems integration market,” said Jeff Epstein. “It’s an exciting time to be part of a company like Appirio that doesn’t accept the status quo. The company’s rapid growth, customer portfolio and leadership in the market is a testament to its leadership team and innovative model.”

Jeff holds an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a BA from Yale College, where he graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.

About Appirio
Appirio is a global services provider who uses crowdsourcing and cloud, social and mobile technology to help enterprises reimagine their business and become more agile. Appirio brings together technology expertise with a deep understanding of the way people work, and the nearly limitless skills of a crowdsourcing community of 70,000+ developers, to help enterprises transform relationships with their customers, partners and workforce. Appirio has worked with more than 500 enterprises, including organizations like Facebook, Intuit, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, The Four Seasons, and Virgin America.  The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

Appirio Continues European Growth as Cloud Adoption Picks Up in the Region

Global Professional Services Provider Grows European Business, Sees Customers Using Multiple Cloud Solutions to Transform Their Business

London, UK - May 2, 2013 - Appirio, a global cloud services provider, today announced multiple customer wins in the European market including Kaplan, Sportingbet and Wood Mackenzie. Appirio is helping these organisations, and global brands including McGraw-Hill, transition to a more agile technology infrastructure, improving core business processes using cloud platforms.

Appirio established its European presence in 2011 and has spent the last two years building a strong customer base in the region. It has seen demand for its services increase rapidly in both its existing Salesforce business, as well as within the HCM and talent management space with Workday and Cornerstone OnDemand. In particular, growth is being fuelled by customer acquisitions in the retail, finance and media sectors.

“We are starting to see increased adoption of cloud, mobile and social technologies in Europe, as organisations look for new ways to engage customers and improve businesses processes. Speed is of the essence when implementing these new platforms. Organisations want to see business impact in months rather than years so they can respond to challenges in a timely manner,” said Lori Williams, general manager, Europe at Appirio. “We are focused on helping businesses become more agile, developing cloud strategies that can be rolled out quickly to help our clients out-maneuver the competition. Agility really is becoming the currency of the new economy.”

Appirio is committed to expanding its European presence with a focus on growing its core capabilities in human capital management, customer relationship management and collaboration. To better serve its local market, Appirio recently opened a new office in London located at Stratford Place.

The company is also increasing investment in its Cloud Enablement Suite, Cloud Management and CloudSpokes crowdsourcing community.

About Appirio

Appirio is a global services provider who uses crowdsourcing and cloud, social and mobile technology to help enterprises reimagine their business and become more agile. Appirio brings together technology expertise with a deep understanding of the way people work, and the nearly limitless skills of a crowdsourcing community of 70,000+ developers, to help enterprises transform relationships with their customers, partners and workforce. Appirio has worked with more than 500 enterprises, including organizations like Facebook, Intuit, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, The Four Seasons, and Virgin America.  The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

Appirio Closes Out 2012 Strong, Increases Investment in HCM and Crowdsourcing in 2013

Significant Customer Momentum, Acquisition of Knowledge Infusion and Series D Funding in 2012 Creates Strong Foundation for Diversification, Growth and Differentiation in the Cloud Service Provider’s Business

San Francisco – February 8, 2013 - Appirio, a global cloud services provider, today announced business highlights from 2012 and key investment areas for this year. In 2013 Appirio will continue growing its core capabilities in human capital management, customer relationship management and collaboration, and will also increase investment in its Cloud Enablement Suite, Cloud Management and CloudSpokes crowdsourcing community.

“In 2012, Appirio grew more than 50 percent year over year, serving some of the world’s biggest brands, while substantially growing our team and offerings,” said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio.  “We made some significant investments in 2012 to expand our global reach, capabilities and unique delivery model, and we expect that to continue in 2013. Enterprises need a partner that understands and exemplifies the transformational impact cloud, social and mobile can have on a business - we aim to be that partner now and for many years to come.”

2012 Highlights:

• Increased bookings by 50 percent year-over-year.
• Signed 100+ new customers, including companies such as 1-800-FLOWERS.com, Intuit, Kelly Services, Manpower, The McGraw Hill Company, The Men’s Warehouse, Sprouts Farmers Markets and Virgin America, while growing existing relationships.
• Closed $60 million in Series D funding led by global growth investor General Atlantic, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital.
• Acquired Knowledge Infusion a well regarded expert in HR and change management processes, effectively making Appirio the world’s largest cloud-powered Human Capital Management (HCM) consultancy.
• Opened a new office and cloud development center in Indianapolis that has drawn support from the State, partners and made a commitment to bring at least 300 jobs to the City of Indianapolis during  the next three years. Appirio now has nearly 600 cloud experts in five countries spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific.
• Grew CloudSpokes, the world’s first and only crowdsourcing community focused exclusively on cross-cloud development, to more than 72,000 members from across 100 countries who have completed nearly 600 development challenges.
• Increased the customer base of Appirio’s CloudFactor and CloudSync applications by 750 percent, helping thousands of new users get more from their Salesforce CRM and Google Apps investments.
• Contributed more than 3,000 hours and $170,000.00 to 100 non-profit organizations around the globe through its Silver Lining philanthropic initiative. Appirio’s annual “Future of the Cloud Day” assisted more than 82 charities, including Architecture for Humanity, Playworks, Project Linus and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
• Received a number of awards and accolades, including being named by The Wall Street Journal as the “Next Big Thing”.

2013 Focus Areas:

This year Appirio will evolve and scale innovations that continue to differentiate the company, disrupt the way cloud services are delivered, and most importantly, help customers see business value fast.

• The CloudSpokes community and platform will not only be used as an extensible resource to Appirio’s internal team, it will increasingly be used to help independent software vendors (ISVs) and large enterprises incorporate crowdsourcing into their own IT process.
• Appirio will extend its Cloud Enablement Suite (CES) of applications, assets and analytical capabilities to help customers implement, manage and measure cloud initiatives across even more cloud applications and platforms. CES components, such as Appirio Cloud Metrics, will evolve to bring more data and science to cloud deployments.

Appirio will also use 2013 to grow its team, services and offerings to help clients with a broader lifecycle of cloud, social and mobile initiatives across every function.

• Appirio’s HCM practice will expand to help businesses make people-based processes less tactical and more transformational - across every functional area. For example, Appirio recently announced a strategic relationship with Cornerstone OnDemand, becoming a preferred service provider for Cornerstone’s cloud-based talent management solutions.
• Appirio On-demand Services will be broadened to ensure customers can access key expertise throughout their lifecycle from strategy (Advisory Services) to post-production processes (Cloud Management).
• Appirio will continue to expand its global development centers to support these initiatives and a growing number of CRM, HCM, collaboration and mobile-focused customer engagements.

“In an enterprise landscape dominated by all things ‘cloud’, Appirio has continued to stand out and show companies how they can do things differently,” said Brett Rochkind, Appirio board member and managing director of General Atlantic. “Their ability to show customers a better way with new delivery methods and technologies, including crowdsourcing development work with their CloudSpokes community, gives Appirio a leg up over both traditional Global Systems Integrators and cloud-focused service providers.”
 
About Appirio
Appirio is a global services provider who uses crowdsourcing and cloud, social and mobile technology to help enterprises reimagine their business and become more agile. Appirio brings together technology expertise with a deep understanding of the way people work, and the nearly limitless skills of a crowdsourcing community of 70,000+ developers, to help enterprises transform relationships with their customers, partners and workforce. Appirio has worked with more than 500 enterprises, including organizations like Facebook, Intuit, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, The Four Seasons, and Virgin America.  The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

Cornerstone OnDemand and Appirio Join Forces to Deliver Innovative Talent Management Solutions in the Cloud

Companies team to help organizations transform their human capital management initiatives and empower the new workforce

SAN FRANCISCO and SANTA MONICA, Calif., February 7, 2013 – Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ: CSOD), a leading cloud solutions provider, and Appirio, a global services provider and one of the largest human capital management (HCM) technology consultancies, today announced they have formed a strategic global relationship. Appirio will become a preferred service provider for Cornerstone’s cloud-based talent management solutions. The teaming of the two companies also allows Appirio to broaden its existing talent management solution.

“Cloud, mobile and social technologies have changed everything, especially the way employees find jobs, engage in the workplace and grow in their careers,” said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio. “Few get this as well as Cornerstone, which has created and continues to evolve its solutions with these shifts in mind. Cornerstone is a perfect complement to our existing HCM capabilities and will be a great addition to partnerships we currently have in place with leading cloud companies.”

As a preferred service provider, Appirio will work with Cornerstone’s clients and prospects to design and deliver a comprehensive and highly impactful talent and learning management solution. These capabilities will become part of Appirio’s broader HCM portfolio, which help organizations move people-based processes such as recruiting, onboarding, core HR, performance management, learning management and employee engagement from tactical to transformational.

Cornerstone can now tap into Appirio’s team of global experts, along with the company’s integrated Cloud Enablement Suite and its fast-growing CloudSpokes developer community, to extend Cornerstone’s solutions and services. Appirio will provide full service offerings including strategy consulting, governance and process design, project management, deployment and integration, and content creation.

“Appirio’s experience in helping more than 500 enterprises apply cloud technology in innovative ways, through their work with companies like salesforce.com, Workday and Google, makes teaming with them great for both Cornerstone and our clients,” said Adam Miller, founder and CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand. “Talent management has become an increasingly essential component of empowering the new workforce. By managing people strategies in the cloud, organizations are better positioned to effectively meet the ever-changing needs of the global workforce.”

According to research from IDC, the worldwide HCM market is forecasted to reach $11 billion in 2016.1 According to Lisa Rowan, program director, HR, learning and talent strategies for IDC, “Despite economic uncertainty in various parts of the world, human capital management investments have remained strong, driven in large part by SaaS and next-generation talent management software solutions. More organizations are migrating to integrated, cloud-based solutions that allow them to gain a global view into their workforces, evenly apply talent management efforts, streamline operations and achieve more with their current resources.”

Useful Links:

• Listen to “The Changing Face of HR Technology” webinar from Jason Averbook, Chief Business Innovation Officer at Appirio
• Read commentary on the new relationship from Appirio and Cornerstone

About Appirio
Appirio is a global services provider who uses crowdsourcing and cloud, social and mobile technology to help enterprises reimagine their business and become more agile. Appirio brings together technology expertise with a deep understanding of the way people work, and the nearly limitless skills of a crowdsourcing community of 70,000+ developers, to help enterprises transform relationships with their customers, partners and workforce. Appirio has worked with more than 500 enterprises, including organizations like Facebook, Intuit, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, The Four Seasons, and Virgin America.  The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

About Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone OnDemand is a leading global provider of comprehensive learning and talent management solutions. We enable organizations to meet the challenges they face in empowering their people and maximizing the productivity of their human capital. Our integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution consists of the Cornerstone Recruiting Cloud, the Cornerstone Performance Cloud, the Cornerstone Learning Cloud and the Cornerstone Extended Enterprise Cloud. Our clients use our solution to source and recruit top talent, develop employees throughout their careers, engage employees effectively, improve business execution, cultivate future leaders, and integrate with their external networks of customers, vendors and distributors. We currently empower over 10.3 million users across 186 countries and in 38 languages. www.csod.com

Cornerstone® and Cornerstone OnDemand® are registered trademarks of Cornerstone OnDemand Inc.

1.    IDC, “Worldwide Human Capital Management Applications 2012-2016 Forecast: Market Continues Strong,” May 2012

Appirio Helps Customers Use Workday to Transform Their Business

Appirio to Speak at Workday Rising on How Cloud HCM Can Create Business Impact

Las Vegas -- Nov. 6, 2012 (Workday Rising) - Appirio, a global cloud solutions provider and the world's leading cloud-powered HCM consultancy, today announced that it is working with a growing number of customers to use cloud-based HCM solutions like Workday to transform HR's broader impact on the business. Companies like AAA, Ariens Company and Rackspace are just some of the customers using next-generation HCM technology to drive new models of service delivery and transform the HR function. 

Today at Workday Rising in Las Vegas, Jennifer Taylor and Jason Averbook from Appirio will be presenting, "How the Cloud Can Transform HR into a Strategic Advisor," along with Christopher Ford of Silicon Valley Bank and Regina Kramer of Ariens Company. The session, which begins Tuesday, Nov 6 at 3 p.m. PST, will discuss best practices to align Workday with an organization's strategic initiatives for today and the future.

"In today's environment of rapid change, our customers understand that their business strategy cannot be separated from their workforce or technology," said Jennifer Taylor, vice president of Workday cloud services, Appirio. "We are fortunate to work with HR and IT leaders who apply this mantra daily, working closely with us to use the Workday platform to become a more strategic business advisor."

Appirio recently acquired Knowledge Infusion which marries Appirio's cloud expertise, technology innovation and global scale with Knowledge Infusion's deep domain knowledge of HR, talent management and changement management practices. 

"As HR becomes more involved at earlier stages in corporate decisions, these organizations must be more agile than ever," said Jason Averbook, Chief Business Innovation Officer at Appirio and co-founder of Knowledge Infusion, an Appirio company. "The only way this happens is to align your business, workforce and technology strategies with an understanding of how the world has changed, and we are helping people do that every day."

Appirio offers a comprehensive set of HCM strategy and technology-enabled implementation services that enable HR organizations to transform processes such as recruiting, onboarding, core HR, performance management and employee engagement, from tactical to strategic. Appirio's suite of services include complete HR and Talent Management strategy services, as well as cloud-HCM focused migration, development and change management services.

Useful Links:

• Read: Press release announcing Appirio's acquisition of Knowledge Infusion
• Read: Data sheet about Appirio Workday offerings
• Watch: A video on how Appirio and KI want to change the future of work
• Comment: Jason Averbook's blog covering CHRO related issues

About Appirio
Appirio is a global technology-enabled services provider, helping companies power their business with cloud, social and mobile technologies from leaders like salesforce.com, Google and Workday. Appirio has worked with more than 400 enterprise customers including organizations like the City of Los Angeles, Facebook, Flextronics, International Hotels Group, Japan Post Network, Ltd., L'Oreal, NetApp, NYU, Starbucks, Thomson Reuters and VMware. Appirio's technology-enabled professional services are supported by a team of 500+ cloud experts and CloudSpokes, a more than 50,000 person-strong global cloud developer community. The company's expertise and innovation have been recognized by organizations such as the World Economic Forum, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, InformationWeek, Gartner and IDC. Appirio has offices that span the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, and is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

Appirio to Acquire HCM Consultancy Knowledge Infusion, Combined Companies Will Transform the Way People Work

Appirio’s Cloud Leadership Combined with Knowledge Infusion’s Deep Domain Knowledge of People-Based Processes Creates a New Type of Partner Designed for Today’s More Social and Mobile Workforce

Chicago – October 8, 2012 (HR Technology Conference) - Appirio today announced its intent to acquire Knowledge Infusion, which will create the world’s largest cloud-powered Human Capital Management (HCM) consultancy. By marrying Appirio’s unmatched cloud expertise, technology innovation and global scale with Knowledge Infusion’s deep domain knowledge of HR, talent management and change management practices, enterprises finally have a partner that can help them prepare for and capitalize on the new way people work across all business domains.

“We have always considered cloud, social and mobile not just technology, but engines for business transformation,” said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio.  “By combining forces with Knowledge Infusion, a recognized expert in people-focused processes, we can help business, HR and IT leaders develop the right strategy to ensure they engage employees as effectively as they would customers. That strategy, supported by the right technological innovation, can optimize how work gets done at a time when people’s expectations and motivations have drastically changed because of the consumerization of technology.”

Started in 2005, Knowledge Infusion has provided core HR, talent acquisition, talent management and social collaboration consulting services to more than 350 clients. This includes organizations like Amgen, Best Buy, Campbell’s, Dell, Hertz, Merck, Nationwide, Novo Nordisk, Starbucks and Target. The company’s end-to-end services model, on-demand subscription advisory services, and focus on customer success has made it one of the fastest growing HR technology consultancies in the world. In addition to its advisory work, Knowledge Infusion has become a trusted deployment partner of Workday, SuccessFactors, and Salesforce.com’s Work.com.

“McGraw-Hill is partnering with both Knowledge Infusion and Appirio to help us become a more nimble organization,” said John Berisford, Chief HR Officer at McGraw-Hill. “It is terrific to see their deep domain expertise, strategic thinking and creativity come together."

“All organizations must take an outcomes-based approach when applying technology to transform and optimize their business,” said Naomi Bloom, Managing Partner of Bloom & Wallace. “When using a consulting partner to support these efforts, organizations need one that combines deep domain expertise and state-of-the-art technical knowledge, with a commitment to delivering rapid, cost-effective results.  That's why I couldn't be more delighted that Knowledge Infusion and Appirio have decided to join forces.  Together they will create a new and much-needed consultancy, sitting between the ‘big T’ process transformation shops and the product-based implementation mechanics.  Their focus on business strategy, organizational design, and enterprise technology, all focused on business outcomes, will benefit their customers, partners and our entire industry.”

Appirio was started in 2006 with the mission to help enterprises power their business with the cloud, and has since helped more than 400 enterprises use cloud providers like Workday, Salesforce.com and Google to improve core business processes from HR and financials to sales, service and marketing.

Once the acquisition is final, expected in November 2012, the combined company will bring to bear nearly 600 strategy and technology experts on three continents, a global crowdsourcing developer community, and an integrated suite of applications, assets and analytics that ensure the best outcome for transformation initiatives.

“Like Appirio, we saw a fundamental shift happening in how companies did business, how the workforce was changing, and the inability for traditional service providers to help business leaders adapt to that shift,” said Jason Averbook, CEO and co-founder of Knowledge Infusion, who will become Appirio’s Chief Business Innovation Officer. “Appirio’s track record of innovation, their disruptive services model and culture make it a perfect home for Knowledge Infusion. We’re excited to work together to help organizations move beyond traditional HR and deliver on the full potential of people at work.”

Useful Links:

• ChalkTalk about Knowledge Infusion joining Appirio
• Appirio Chief Strategy Officer Narinder Singh blogs about Knowledge Infusion joining Appirio
• Knowledge Infusion CEO and co-founder Jason Averbook blogs about joining Appirio
• Register for a webinar to learn more about the combination of Knowledge Infusion and Appirio

About Appirio
Appirio is a global technology-enabled services provider, helping companies power their business with cloud, social and mobile technologies from leaders like salesforce.com, Google and Workday. Appirio has worked with more than 400 enterprise customers including organizations like the City of Los Angeles, Facebook, Flextronics, International Hotels Group, Japan Post Network, Ltd., L'Oreal, NetApp, NYU, Starbucks, Thomson Reuters and VMware. Appirio's technology-enabled professional services are supported by a team of 500+ cloud experts and CloudSpokes, a more than 50,000 person-strong global cloud developer community. The company's expertise and innovation have been recognized by organizations such as the World Economic Forum, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, InformationWeek, Gartner and IDC. Appirio has offices that span the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, and is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.

Appirio Named to Wall Street Journal’s Next Big Thing List

The Wall Street Journal Recognizes Appirio for Growth and Unique Approach to Technology

San Francisco - Oct. 3, 2012 - Appirio, a global cloud solution provider, has been named to The Wall Street Journal’s The Next Big Thing list which seeks to identify and rank venture-backed companies across all industries that have the capital, executive experience and investor know-how to succeed.  Appirio was selected from a pool of nearly 6,000 companies and ranked based on proprietary data from Dow Jones VentureSource and input from Dow Jones VentureWire’s reporters and editors. Appirio is included in The Next Big Thing list, which recognizes 50 companies.

“Appirio was formed to help companies free themselves from the technology constraints of the past, and create more innovative and high performing businesses using cloud, social and mobile technologies,” said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio. “We are fortunate to have industry-leading partners, customers and investors that believe in our mission, and we’re honored to have been recognized for our proven track record and future potential.”

"Venture capital investors aren't just looking for successful companies; they are looking for explosive growth," said Alan Murray, deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. “The Next Big Thing list highlights companies that have a chance of providing that kind of growth. They aren't sure bets; they are high-risk but potentially high-reward enterprises."

The Next Big Thing is an annual ranking published by The Wall Street Journal. To be eligible for the ranking, a company must be based in the U.S., have raised an equity round of financing in the three years ended June 30, 2012 and have a valuation of $1 billion or less. The ranking was calculated by applying a set of four financial criteria: the track records of success for both a company's founders and management; track records for the investors on its board; the amount of capital raised in the last three years; and the percentage change in a company's valuation in the last year. Dow Jones VentureWire reporters and editors also provided their perspective and expertise beyond the numbers.

To view The Next Big Thing ranking, visit http://on.wsj.com/QyJWBx

About Appirio
Appirio accelerates the cloud-powered business, helping enterprises achieve significant results from cloud applications and platforms like salesforce.com, Google and Workday. Appirio has worked with more than 300 enterprise customers including organizations like City of Los Angeles, Facebook, Flextronics, International Hotels Group, Japan Post Network, Ltd., L'Oreal, NetApp, NYU, Starbucks, Thomson Reuters and VMware. Appirio's technology-enabled professional services are supported by a team of nearly 500 cloud experts and CloudSpokes, a more than 50,000 person-strong global cloud developer community. The company's expertise and innovative brokerage technology have been recognized by organizations such as the World Economic Forum, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, InformationWeek, and IDC. Appirio has offices that span the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, and is backed by Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital and General Atlantic.