On Tuesday, Blackboard Inc. announced its acquisition of Greenville-based Perceptis, a provider of help desk and tech support services to more than 1.4 million students, faculty and staff members. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In addition to its Greenville headquarters and Southeast call center on West McBee Avenue, Perceptis also has a Southwest office and call center in Phoenix, Ariz.
Through the acquisition, Blackboard, an enterprise technology company with corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C., primarily known as a developer of education software, in particular Blackboard Learn, its flagship learning management system, “extends its capabilities to provide integrated services to support students at every step of their education pathway,” according to a statement released by the company.
“Together, Blackboard and Perceptis will support millions of campus community members at over 500 institutions, through support teams located at five operation centers nationwide,” said the statement.
This marks Blackboard’s second purchase this year, after acquiring MyEdu in January.
“With the many touch points students have to an institution, we are starting to see an increasing desire from students for more immediate access and greater personalization across all aspects of their education experience,” said Jay Bhatt, CEO of Blackboard, in the statement. “By combining the Blackboard and Perceptis teams, we will enhance a service model that the industry needs: one that fully supports students from the first moment they are interested in a school to the day they graduate.”
“Student expectations around how they are supported by their schools is drastically changing,” said Trevor Allen, president and CEO of Perceptis, in the statement. “I couldn’t be more excited for Perceptis to become a part of Blackboard and work in unison to help drive change and innovation in the way education and education services are delivered.”
