FM:Systems’s Acquisition of WizzPass Reflects A New Phase Of Growth In The IWMS Market

FM:Systems’s Acquisition of WizzPass Reflects A New Phase Of Growth In The IWMS Market

On June 23^rd 2021, integrated workplace management system (IWMS) vendor FM:Systems announced it had acquired WizzPass, a visitor and workplace management solution vendor. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, WizzPass specializes in providing comprehensive visitor management software with capabilities for visitor parking, self-check-in, badge allocation, analytics and integrating with access control systems.

Market demand for visitor management systems grew amidst COVID-19 as modern solutions can take a key role in health screening, contact tracing and providing a touchless employee experience. Acquiring WizzPass helps FM:Systems respond to growing demand and expand its offerings for workplace management to include visitor and package delivery management functionality. FM:Systems believes that in the emerging hybrid workplace, many employees will interact with the built environment as visitors would. For example, employees will go to the office for a specific reason, such as for collaboration or client meetings, just as visitors are only on-site when invited.

This acquisition signifies a wider trend in the smart buildings market, where IWMS vendors are expanding product capabilities by acquiring best-of-breed solution vendors. For example, in June 2021, IWMS vendor Planon acquired cloud-based IoT platform provider Axonize to expand its data capture capabilities with IoT devices. While most IWMS vendors spent the 1990s and 2010s expanding their core platforms, they are now looking to acquisitions to quickly add functionality to differentiate their products in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The rest of 2021 will see an M&A arms race amongst the established IWMS providers for fast-growing point solution providers that bring a strong angle of differentiation.

To learn more about trends in the IWMS market and how vendors should respond, please see: Verdantix IWMS Vendors: Setting The Right Board Agenda For 2021 And Beyond.