New Delhi: Months after its deal for acquisition by a pivotal fell through, multi-channel CRM solutions provider Talisma Corporation on Thursday (Sep 9, 2004) said it will buy US-based eAssist in an all cash deal.

The acquisition will add $18 million to Talisma's revenues this year and by next year the addition to acquirer's revenue will be around $25 million, a Talisma representative said.

Apart from revenue stream of eAsset, Talisma will also acquire its 150 customers that include marquee names like AOL, Hewlett-Packard, Wal Mart and AT&T.

eAssist provides customer service, support, and marketing software. Post-acquisition, Talisma will incorporate eAssist's technology and intellectual property into its operations.

The acquisition will further enhance Talisma's CRM offering and will allow it to better leverage opportunities in the growing Customer Interaction Management (CIM) segment of the CRM market, the company said in a statement.

"eAssist has historically been a market leader with its focus on contact centre products and services. Combining eAssist with Talisma's Multi-channel CRM platform will bring a powerful combination of multi-channel CRM and customer interaction management to the market," Dan Vetras, president & CEO of Talisma said.

Talisma has its product development centre in Bangalore and has venture capital firm Oak Investment Partners as its majority investor.

"The eAssist team is extremely pleased to join Talisma and contribute its motivation, talent, and experience to developing a comprehensive and compelling multi-channel CRM offering," said Jeff Canada, president and CEO of eAssist.

"By consolidating the two companies, we ensure that we continue to fulfil our goal - to enable enterprise customers to provide outstanding customer care." Canada will serve as interim advisor to the transition team through the end of FY '04.

Late last year, Talisma had announced that it will merge into Pivotal but the deal fell through.