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Consona Corp., formerly Made2Manage Systems Inc., might be one of the least-known success stories in the state.
The software firm is quietly churning out red-hot growth year after year, finishing 2007 with $130.5 million in revenue. That’s more than four times its revenue from 2003, the year Indianapolis-based Made2Manage was acquired by Boston-based Battery Ventures VI LP.
Employment has swelled to 726, with more than 150 workers at Consona’s headquarters at 450 E. 96th St.
The company has taken a short breather to reorganize seven units into two mostly self-contained divisions that will be held responsible for generating their own results, similar to the model long used by General Electric Co.
“We’ve been digesting, and now we’re figuring out how we run and operate,” said CEO Jeff Trognoni.
Publicly traded Made2Manage Systems was one of the state’s oldest software firms when it was acquired in 2003 for $30 million. Made2Manage developed broad-based software that helped manufacturers operate.
Battery Ventures renamed it M2M Holdings Inc., then in March last year renamed the company Consona. Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, which is headquartered in Chicago, became a minority shareholder in 2005.
After the reorganization is in place, Consona plans to resume its acquisition spree. Consona snapped up eight companies after Made2Manage but hasn’t made an acquisition in nearly a year in order to pay down debt while financial markets settle down.
One of the reorganized units, Consona ERP, will target manufacturers. The other, Consona CRM, will focus on health, financial and other services.
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