Sikich LLP has purchased the technology consulting group at Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas, P.C. (PKF Texas), effectively expanding the firm’s Dynamics NAV business and geographically into Houston and Texas in particular.
Eight individuals will join Sikich as a result of this acquisition, including PKF’s consulting practice leader Greg Price, who will join as a partner in Sikich’s technology practice with Jeff Rudolph remaining partner-in-charge. With more than 30 years of experience, Price specializes in Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementations and support, particularly within the energy industry.
Sikich had been planning to develop its vertical-focused offerings and the oil and gas industry and expanding into Houston was a clear decision for the firm, since PKF had a growing number of clients -- potential and current -- in this area. It was also about helping a firm growth that they had worked with in the past and wanted to continue to do so.
"These days it's very difficult to be a big player if you don’t have a lot of revenue. PKF has lots and lots of talent and of course it’s an opportuntiy for us to get into Texas, but we have people in different parts of country, so it’s not unusual for us to work down there," said managing partner and chief executive Jim Sikich. "They were also strong in oil and gas so this move made sense from that perspective as well. We already had a good relationship with PKF, we'd worked with them on some NAV deals, but Microsoft wants to deal with bigger players and we’re in the Inner Circle and one of few VARsthat can do all four ERP solutions."
Price and his team are in the process of contacting clients to inform them of the recent change and address any questions they may have about the transition or Sikich. For his firm the move is an opportunity to grow that it had not seen in its 13 years, but also offers the ability to serve a growing list of potential energy busienss clients.
"We've been expanding our verticals and established an energy practie but the opportuntiies were proving more than we had the capacity to handle so if we were going to continue to deliver we had to make a move like this," said Price. "Prior to the acquistion Microsoft came to us and said 'you are number one NAV practice in the Houston area,' so one bit thing we will see now is there will be a new look to our organization and we’ll be even bigger. This is a significant game changer because the Sikich organization is here now."
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, however PKF’s technology practice posted $2.6 million in revenue in fiscal 2011 and is likely close to that currently, while Sikich has an approximately $29 million consulting concern, representing all Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM products, as well as those from Epicor, Sage, and NetSuite.
