HeidelbergCement partners with software investment firm Thoma Bravo and invests in Command Alkon

Since acquiring Command Alkon in 2020, Thoma Bravo has helped guide the company to expand its solutions portfolio as well as modernised and centralised its systems and organisational structure to enhance the customer experience. As a group, Thoma Bravo, HeidelbergCement and Command Alkon expect to continue to accelerate Command Alkon’s strategy to deliver best-in-class, cloud-based solutions to better serve its customers. The addition of HeidelbergCement’s global reach and product adoption will further enable Command Alkon to scale its solutions and drive growth.

HeidelbergCement and Command Alkon believe through each company’s efforts, as well as continued collaboration with stakeholders globally, they can help advance digital transformation within the heavy building materials supply chain sector, including more transparent industry standards for seamless connectivity, improved solutions to customers’ everyday pain points (e.g., digital ticketing or Telematics), a generally increased pace in innovation, and an acceleration to customers’ sustainability efforts. HeidelbergCement will continue to autonomously own and develop HConnect, its proprietary digital product suite with more than 18 000 customers.

“As part of our strategy ‘Beyond 2020’, our clear goal is to become the first industrial tech company in our sector,” said Dr. Dominik von Achten, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “We have made significant progress in our independently developed HConnect digital customer experience since its development in 2018. The investment in Command Alkon and the partnership with Thoma Bravo now allows us to monetise the hidden potential of our assets and translate it into a new growth path for HeidelbergCement. Together, we will build the digital ecosystem of the future for the Heavy Building Materials industry.”

“This partnership is a unique opportunity to accelerate digital change across the heavy building materials supply chain,” said Phil Ramsey, CEO at Command Alkon. “HeidelbergCement is a leading industry player, and their investment is a validation of our strategy, solutions and the outstanding customer experience we offer. This transaction will better position Command Alkon to enhance our support to all customers, expand our geographic footprint and execute our transition to the cloud. We look forward to continuing to benefit from our partnership with HeidelbergCement and Thoma Bravo as we continue to provide automation and business process technologies that deliver value to our customers and stakeholders across the construction industry.”

“We are so excited to partner with HeidelbergCement, who is the clear industry leader in terms of digital transformation, to further support Command Alkon’s growth strategy and transform the heavy building materials industry,” said A.J. Rohde, a Senior Partner at Thoma Bravo. “This is our most significant partnership with a global industrial company, and one that we believe will have a lasting positive impact on the sustainability and ease of doing business within the heavy building material sector. The goal when we acquired Command Alkon was to modernise the company’s platform, build a digital ecosystem from production to consumption, and expand its global footprint. This investment and industry-changing partnership from HeidelbergCement will help accelerate all of those initiatives even faster for the benefit of all Command Alkon customers.”

Command Alkon has the largest installed software base in the heavy building materials supply chain sector with more than 2500 customers globally. Its comprehensive product portfolio includes software and technology for plant and site automation, materials ordering and scheduling, inventory and mix management, trucking logistics and fleet optimisation, office and field operations, reporting, and analytics. More than 1000 companies use Command Alkon’s CONNEX platform connecting all participants across the heavy building materials supply chain – suppliers, haulers, and buyers — to empower sharing of data and digital workflows across all parties at cloud scale and make it simpler and easier for customers to do business, improve stakeholder efficiencies, and encourage greater sustainability.

The purchase agreement is subject to customary regulatory approvals, which are expected to be obtained by the end of 2021.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/29092021/heidelbergcement-partners-with-software-investment-firm-thoma-bravo-and-invests-in-command-alkon/