Tyler Technologies Buys $10M eCitation Software Innovator

Tyler Technologies has acquired a $10 million solution provider specializing in electronic citation software to bolster its mobile data gathering capabilities, the company revealed Friday.

The Plano, Texas-based company, No. 63 on the CRN 2014 Solution Provider 500 with nearly $500 million in annual sales, has worked with Brazos Technology Corp. of College Station, Texas, for a number of years and considers Brazos' mobile application tool kit to be a leader in the marketplace, according to Brett Cate, president of Tyler's local government division.

"They have a tremendous reputation within our client base," Cate told CRN.

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All 45 of Brazos' employees will become part of Tyler, with Brazos President Mike McAleer joining the executive group of Tyler's public safety solutions division and continuing to oversee its products, the company said. The deal closed Friday, and financial details weren't disclosed.

Tyler wants to build upon Brazos' mobile data gathering capabilities -- which enable police officers to remotely write electronic parking or speeding tickets with a mobile device -- in the public safety space and apply it to other areas of the company's business, Cate said. Brazos' mobile hand-held solutions are used primarily by law enforcement agencies for field accident reporting and electronically issuing citations.

Brazos has 500 clients across some 27 states, Cate said, including federal and state agencies that Tyler doesn't work with currently.

Cate said Brazos, which was founded in 2000, is at the stage of its development where it could benefit from an infusion of capital from a larger company. Tyler can specifically help Brazos by providing financial backing and processes around contract issuance, invoicing and implementing large-scale projects so that Brazos doesn't have to create that infrastructure from scratch.

The Brazos name will be retained because it has a lot of brand recognition in the market and the company's product team will retain a certain amount of autonomy, Cate said. Back-office functions not relating to Brazos' core business such as accounting and payroll will be integrated into Tyler, he added.

Brazos provides its offerings to a number of other solution providers as well, and Cate said those relationships should continue even though it's now part of Tyler.

Tyler has been very active in the merger and acquisition market over the past four to five years, Cate said, and acquired Marlborough, Mass.-based civil process software company SoftCode in September to beef up its courts and justice solutions. The deals, though, are focused on strategic synergies, Cate said, rather than simply acquiring a firm with a good financial track record.

Tyler is interested in and looking at other acquisition opportunities in the public safety space, Cate said, though nothing specific is in the works.

Tyler has been enjoying considerable success recently, growing sales by nearly 20 percent in 2014 and earnings by more than 50 percent, to $58.9 million, according to the company. The solution provider works with local governments to provide management software solutions -- including appraisal and tax, enterprise resource planning and records and documents -- to the public sector.

PUBLISHED MAY 29, 2015