dataMetrics and Certica Solutions Join Forces
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Visit the Certica Solutions Website
Download a PDF of the following Q&A
On June 8, 2011, dataMetrics and Certica Solutions announced that they have come together as one company. We believe this union will create numerous advantages for school district educators and administrators. Below we have prepared a set of Questions and Answers to provide background and information.
Question: In what way have Certica Solutions and dataMetrics Software joined forces?
Answer: Certica Solutions has acquired the dataMetrics business and assets – but in a practical sense, this union is more like a merging of the two companies. Certica and dataMetrics have a lot in common: the two companies are similar in size, both are based in Massachusetts (but also have employees in other states), both have a strong commitment to the P-12 education field, and both companies strongly value customer service and quality.
Question: What brought the two companies together?
Answer: Certica and dataMetrics have been discussing the potential for acquisition for more than a year, and have found that the combination of the two companies achieves several mutual goals.
Certica is a national provider of P-12 education performance management solutions, with over 100 school districts teaching nearly 2 million students using its flagship software application, Certify™. With Certify, districts are able to monitor accountability, optimize funding, improve compliance reporting and ensure accurate decision-making, by automating and streamlining data management and reporting processes. Certica has the aim of providing school districts with a broader set of applications to analyze and track student, teacher and school information. As school districts intensify their efforts to boost student achievement and track progress over time, Certica recognizes that TestWiz™, dataMetrics’ student assessment solution, is uniquely able to help districts manage their end-to-end student assessment process.
dataMetrics has provided the TestWiz student assessment solution to school districts since 1995 and has recently expanded the TestWiz functionality by including the nationally recognized ETS item bank, and plans the introduction of online testing late this summer. The company’s president and founder, Naomi Menikoff, wishes to retire within the next few years. After much consideration, Naomi and her management team decided that it made sense to position dataMetrics with a growth-focused company, and after reviewing several strategic alternatives, decided to join with Certica, which plans to broaden the geographic base of TestWiz users, introduce the new testing functionality to existing users, and further invest in the TestWiz student assessment solution.
Question: What will be the role of dataMetrics’ president and founder, Naomi Menikoff?
Answer: Naomi Menikoff will serve in an executive business development role for some time, maintaining close contact with all TestWiz users, and will help to guide the combined team in the areas of market strategy and product management.
Question: How will this new alliance affect TestWiz users?
Answer: Both companies make customer service and support a top priority. As such, the intelligent and friendly support that TestWiz users are accustomed to will continue without interruption. Further, all of dataMetrics’ staff have been retained, and in fact, Certica intends to further invest in the TestWiz business over time, by way of additional product development and customer service resources.
Question: dataMetrics also provides the software and support for Pearson’s Ready Results application. How does this acquisition affect Ready Results users?
Answer: The same staff that have been supporting Ready Results will continue, with the same attention to detail as before – without interruption.
Question: How will this alliance affect software costs?
Answer: Software costs for existing users will not be affected. Certica’s aim is to increase its software revenues by expanding the geographic base of TestWiz users (i.e., national expansion) and introducing the new item bank and online testing to users who require it, not by charging higher prices to current users.
Question: Where will the company be based?
Answer: Certica Solutions’ Wakefield and dataMetrics’ Harvard offices will both be maintained. The Harvard office has been a convenient gathering place for educators, with its training and conference rooms. In addition to the companies’ Massachusetts presence, Certica and dataMetrics have support staff and users in many other areas of the country.
Question: Will there be integration between the Certica and dataMetrics products?
Answer: Initially, both product lines – Certify and TestWiz– will be maintained as two separate solutions, as both have considerable market potential as stand-alone offerings. Further, both products have well-considered feature roadmaps which require ongoing attention and investment. Certica will continue to explore the benefits of integrating aspects of the two products, but has not yet added these plans to the overall product roadmap.
Question: What are the overall benefits of this acquisition for TestWiz users?
Answer:
- Certica Solutions has a strong and experienced management team with expertise in product development, release management, quality assurance and customer support. The vision of the combined teams is to continue the investment in the TestWiz solution and add high-value features and functionality over time.
- TestWiz users will have the same professional support as before, but in many cases will find that the availability of live support resources is even higher, as the size of the company’s staff will now be more than doubled.
- The union of the two companies means that TestWiz users will have options to add products to assist with data management and data quality, while Certify users will have the option to add a comprehensive assessment solution. Even though both product lines will retain their own identities for the foreseeable future, there is a clear advantage for school districts to be able to deal with a single company for support and consultation.