Monster today announced their acquisition of Mountain View, Calif. based Trovix for $73 million in an all cash deal. Trovix was known as an applicant tracking system (ATS) vendor and have amassed over 40 customers during their short tenure, but that was not their passion. Instead, they were fully focused on perfecting and innovating search technologies. Their goal was to bridge the gap between jobs and candidates and find the perfect match for both. So what does Monster get and what are they going to do with Trovix?

  • Enhanced search: Let’s face it — search engines imbedded in applicant tracking systems and in job boards are fair at best. By making this acquisition, Monster is putting a real emphasis on search and they believe it will help them leap-frog the competition.

    I agree that efficient and relevant search is key and could be a differentiator. Only problem is Monster still needs to figure out how to attract new candidates and jobs in a world of social technologies.

  • New brain trust: About one year ago Trovix CEO Jeff Benrey visited our Cambridge, Mass. office to brief me on his upcoming release of the Trovix job site. The technology was impressive — it was a different type of search that really took into account the relevancy and importance of skills, education, and experience contained in a resume. Jeff and his team will stay onboard with Monster and will undoubtedly infuse some innovation into their products.
  • The ATS? Existing Trovix customer don’t fret, yet. Monster is committed to supporting you for the near term, but what about the longer term? Monster has a well publicized partnership with HRsmart who is a direct competitor of Trovix on the ATS front. Monster will either let the ATS customer base fade over time, aggressively enter the market, or sell the customer base to another vendor. In any case I think they will gracefully find a new home for these customers.
  • Platform for the future: In a recent call Monster publicly stated that they would introduce more product during the balance of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 than they did over the past seven to eight years. Although I don’t have specific insight into their plans, it does seem like there is some renewed excitement in Maynard, Mass. — and I think search (Trovix) could be at the core of many of their new products.

So the consolidation in the HR/HCM space continues – who do you think is next?

Zach Thomas, Senior Analyst
Business Process & Applications
Forrester Research