Mark Gainey founded KANA in 1996 to market a software package designed to help businesses manage email and Web-based communications. It grew around this core offering. In 1999, KANA Communications acquired Connectify followed by Business Evolution and NetDialog. In 2000, KANA made its then-largest acquisition, Silknet Software. The purchase price was $4.2 billion, despite the fact that both companies were relatively small. Silknet was an early multichannel marketingsoftware company. Industry analysts were generally cool to the purchase though some said it made sense strategically. In 2001, KANA merged with BroadBase software. KANA was a major stock market success during the dot-com bubble, and while it contracted significantly during the following downturn, it remained in business as an independent company through the following decade. In 2010, Accel-KKR acquired KANA's assets and liabilities for approximately $40.82 million. The same year, KANA acquired Lagan Technologies, a government-to-citizen customer relationship management company based in Northern Ireland. The software was rebranded as LAGAN Enterprise, a package that compiles information from sources such as 311 calls and map overlays to improve resource management. In 2011, KANA purchased Overtone, which allowed companies to monitor social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The software was rebranded as KANA Experience Analytics. In 2012, KANA bought Trinicom, a Dutch company that makes mid-market customer servicemultichannel ecommerce, especially in the BeNeLux region. Less than three months later, KANA purchased Sword Ciboodle, a company that specializes in contact center software. Industry analysts generally looked favorably on the acquisition; Ciboodle's established business process management gave KANA products for a full-featured CRM package for customer service with social media marketing. "Between the two companies, almost every aspect of customer relationship experience... is covered." The combined organization operates under the KANA brand. Ciboodle's CEO, Mike Hughes, who had led the company prior to its purchase by Sword, left the company after KANA's purchase was finalized. He was replaced by KANA executives. In 2013, KANA announced the KANA Enterprise product which the company marketed as "a unified platform supporting both agent-based and customer self-service scenarios". In 2014, Verint acquired the operating assets of KANA for $514 million.
Product families
KANA Enterprise: Enterprise omni-channel CRM package
LAGAN Enterprise: G2C enterprise CRM package
KANA Express: Cloud-based multichannel customer service system
