Solution Provider Net@Work Expands Nonprofit Practice With Acquisition

Under the deal, Net@Work will take responsibility for Blytheco's Abila software customers. Abila, which develops accounting and fund-raising applications for nonprofit organizations, was formerly Sage Software's product line for nonprofits before it was spun off to the Accel-KKR private equity firm and renamed earlier this year.

Net@Work already has customers in the nonprofit arena, said co-president Alex Solomon. But prior to this year, Net@Work primarily provided those customers with IT infrastructure, and web products and services. In April, Net@Work launched a practice specifically targeting nonprofit organizations after it acquired Huckstep & Associates, a consulting firm that provided accounting, human resource management and software implementation services to nonprofits.

"This really keeps our nonprofit business growing," Solomon said in an interview with CRN, estimating that Net@Work now has some 500 nonprofit organization customers. "We think there's a huge opportunity for us here."

Net@Work is a major partner with Sage Software, as is Laguna Hills, Calif.-based Blytheco. Blytheco CEO Stephen Blythe said in a statement that he decided to divest his company's nonprofit software practice to focus on its ERP and CRM consulting businesses built around applications from Sage Software, NetSuite and SugarCRM.

Net@Work will immediately take over responsibility for supporting Blytheco's Abila customers, about 120 altogether, Solomon said. Mary Esslinger, a leader of Blytheco's nonprofit practice, is also moving over to Net@Work. Solomon said that would provide a more seamless transition for the Blytheco clients.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Many of Net@Work's nonprofit customers have adopted Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration software, and Solomon said his company has been performing a lot of SharePoint-Abila integration work recently.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 12, 2013