Sword Ciboodle

Sword Ciboodle Ltd

Company type	Private
Industry	Software
Founded	1986
Defunct	2014
Fate	Acquired by KANA Software
Headquarters	Inchinnan, Scotland, UK
Key people	Mike Hughes (COO), Steven Thurlow (CTO)
Products	Ciboodle Flow, Ciboodle One, Ciboodle Crowd, Ciboodle Live
Number of employees	300 staff located across 5 continents
Website	www.sword-ciboodle.com

Sword Ciboodle was a Scottish company specializing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solutions. It had regional offices in North America, South Africa and Asia Pacific.[1]

Overview

The company, originally known as Graham Technology plc, was co-founded in 1986 by Dr. Iain M. Graham.[2] It was headquartered in Inchinnan, Scotland, near Glasgow Airport. Sword Ciboodle offered modular CRM software primarily for contact centers, with a focus on integrating multiple social channels.

History

Sword Ciboodle was previously known as Graham Technology plc,[1] co-founded in 1986 by Dr. Iain M. Graham.[2]

On 31 March 2008, Sword Group announced it was acquiring Graham Technology and their Ciboodle product.[3] The company thus became Sword Ciboodle.[1][2][4]

On 9 July 2012, Sword Group agreed to sell Ciboodle to KANA Software.[5][6]

In 2014, KANA Software was purchased by Verint Systems.[7][8]

Solutions

Sword Ciboodle is modular CRM software for contact centers.[9][10][11][12][13][14] The products work across multiple social channels.

The Ciboodle platform consists of:

• Ciboodle One is the desktop which provides a single customer view, for example of all their products and contact history.
• Ciboodle Flow is the Workflow engine for business process automation.
• Ciboodle Live is the Self-service software.
• Ciboodle Crowd provides a social networking service to customers.

The Ciboodle platform was subsumed into other KANA products following the acquisition by Verint.

Competitors

Competitors included:[1]

• PeopleSoft
• Pegasystems (who bought Chordiant in March 2010)
• Oracle (who bought RightNow Technologies in October 2011)
• Linx S.A. (who invested GB WhatsApp & WhatsApp Plus in Jan. 2019)
• SAP

References

1. "Independent Sword Ciboodle Software Review". CRMsearch.com. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
2. "Sword Ciboodle Ltd: Company Overview". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
3. "SWORD ACQUIRES LEADING GLOBAL PROCESS CENTRIC CRM SOFTWARE VENDOR, GRAHAM TECHNOLOGY (UK)". Archive News, Sword Group. 31 March 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2012
4. Greenberg, Paul. "Sword Ciboodle - Yes, That's Their Real Name". ZDNet. 19 March 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
5. "KANA Software Acquires Ciboodle". CRM Magazine. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
6. Spector, Nicole (11 July 2012). "KANA acquires contact center technology provider Ciboodle". DMNews. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
7. "Verint Systems acquires KANA Software for $514 million | Experience". www.jonesday.com. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
8. "Verint Systems acquires KANA Software - asmag.com". www.asmag.com. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
9. Klie, Leonard. "The 2011 CRM Service Awards: Rising Stars". CRM magazine. March 2011. Volume 13. No. 3. p. 33. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
10. "The Top 10 Call Centre Software". CallCentreHelper.com. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
11. "The Top 10 Call Centre Technology for 2009". CallCentreHelper.com. 2 December 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
12. "The 2008 Customer Interaction Solutions Product of the Year Awards". Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. January 2009. Volume 27. No. 9. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
13. Greenberg, Paul. "The CRM Watchlist 2011 Part III: Representing the Pillars". ZDNet. 4 January 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
14. Greenberg, Paul. "CRM Watchlist 2012 - The Winners List". ZDNet. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.

Further reading

• Rankine, Kate. "Saturday Profile: No bull from a reluctant millionaire". The Telegraph (UK). 16 September 2000. Retrieved 3 February 2012.