Consona Corporation (formerly known as M2M Holdings Inc.) is a software company selling solutions to automate business critical tasks, ranging from marketing, service and support to planning and scheduling,

material requirements planning Material requirements planning (MRP) is a production planning, scheduling, and inventory control system used to manage manufacturing processes. Most MRP systems are software-based, but it is possible to conduct MRP by hand as well. An MRP system ...

(MRP), accounting, product configuration, and business intelligence.

Company history

Consona was founded in 1986 as Made2Manage Systems. In 2003, the venture capital firm

Battery Ventures Battery Ventures is an American technology-focused investment firm. Founded in 1983, the firm makes venture-capital and private-equity investments in markets across the globe from offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Israel and Lon ...

acquired and subsequently privatized Made2Manage Systems, then a publicly traded

enterprise resource planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of Business management tools, business management ...

(ERP) software and services provider for small and midsize manufacturers. Over the next three years, Consona acquired seven additional ERP product lines: DTR, Cimnet Systems, AXIS, Encompix, Intuitive, Relevant, and SupplyWorks. In 2005,

Thoma Cressey Thoma Bravo, LP, is an American private equity and growth capital firm with offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Miami. It is known for being particularly active in acquiring software companies and has over $114 billion in assets under manage ...

, a private equity firm with software industry consolidation expertise, joined Battery as a secondary shareholder of Consona. In 2006, the company entered the

customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information. CRM systems compile data from a ra ...

market when it acquired Onyx CRM. Seven months later, Consona acquired the KNOVA service and support knowledge management system and launched the company’s Consona CRM division. In early 2007, to avoid confusion between the Made2Manage ERP solution and the company, M2M Holdings, the company changed its name to Consona Corporation to represent its new position as a CRM and ERP software and service provider. In 2008, Consona continued to acquire, adding former technology partner Configuration Solutions in March and creating Consona Canada via the purchase of the Intuitive-related assets of Automated Design Systems in June. Later in the year, Consona acquired several VAR-related assets in China, and launched Consona China. In 2009, Consona acquired enterprise software assets of support automation software vendor, SupportSoft. In 2010, Consona acquired open-source ERP software provider Compiere, giving Consona its first Cloud ready ERP solution and entry into the distribution market. On August 7, 2012, Consona merged with CDC Software; the resulting company was renamed Aptean.

References

{{Reflist Companies based in Indianapolis Privately held companies based in Indiana Software companies based in Indiana ERP software companies Customer relationship management software companies Software companies established in 2003 Defunct software companies of the United States