the defunct swedish software company . cision inc. type private industry technology predecessor cision vocus founded 2015 2015 headquarters chicago united states area served worldwide key people kevin akeroyd ceo 1 products marketing and public relations software & services services public relations services pr software marketing resources media contacts database press release distribution owner gtcr number of employees 1 200 subsidiaries prweb haro icontact prnewswire website www.cision.com cision inc. is a public relations software company based in chicago united states serving clients worldwide . the company was formed from the merger acquisition of the swedish based cision ab and vocus inc. by gtcr in 2014 . in addition to its web based pr software suites the company owns the online publicity services prweb and help a reporter out haro . the company operates offices in the united states europe and asia . contents 1 products and services 1.1 software 1.2 services 2 history and acquisitions 3 references 4 external links products and services edit cision provides public relations services to businesses using a cloud based or software as a service saas model . 2 3 the company helps businesses maximize their pr efforts through social media monitoring and engagement and media publicity services . 2 3 4 cision s software is distributed in seven languages . as of june 2014 update it is used by more than 16 000 annual subscribers worldwide 4 including commercial businesses and governmental educational and non profit organizations . 2 software edit the company offers three web based packages the cisionmarketing suite the public relations suite and a government relations suite . 4 the cision public relations suite allows users to distribute press releases access a database of bloggers and journalists and monitor and analyze news and social media sites . 5 the company s government relations suite manages government contacts and analyzes lobbying activity . 6 the platform for pr professionals is an organizational tool to help companies universities implement an overall strategy and plan for their pr efforts . once they have a plan in place cision s pr edition enables them to measure its effectiveness by providing analytics behind their news contacts and releases . services edit through a series of acquisitions the company provides services in prweb haro north social and icontact which cision has continued to operate under the existing brand names . vocus also offers consulting services to support the use of its software products . prweb is an online press release service . press releases published by prweb are distributed through news sites and appear in search engine results allowing businesses to distribute news directly to the mass media and customers . 7 8 prweb services are available through the vocus marketing suite the vocus pr suite or as a separate service . help a reporter out haro is an online service designed to help journalists locate and connect with sources for stories . originally created as a facebook group in 2008 haro quickly outgrew the platform and now operates through its own website and daily newsletter . 9 10 11 help a reporter out services are available through the vocus marketing suite or as a separate service . history and acquisitions edit see also cision and vocus on september 15 2014 cision announced the acquisition of visible technologies the worldwide market leader in social media listening and analytics insights and engagement . 12 on october 14 2014 cision ab and vocus announced a friendly merger of the two public relations companies . 13 cision based in sweden will relocate its headquarters to chicago and so will vocus from maryland united states . 13 the company will be based out of chicago and the combined entity will be known as cision . 14 on december 15 2015 cision agreed to acquire prnewswire from ubm plc for 841 million approx . 575 million . 15 references edit http www.prweek.com article 1405021 7 questions new cision ceo kevin akeroyd a b c brad kelly 16 september 2008 . vocus inc. lanham maryland pr software helps companies polish their image with efficiency . investor s business daily . retrieved 25 january 2013 . a b gus g. sentementes 13 october 2012 . vocus tackles digital marketing hires hundreds . the baltimore sun . retrieved 24 january 2013 . a b c susan payton 8 july 2012 . vocus small businesses shouldn t have to piecemeal their marketing . small business trends . retrieved 24 january 2013 . tanya lewis 30 april 2012 . vocus pr suite info is user friendly and easy to export . prweek us . retrieved 1 april 2013 . vocus inc. company information . hoovers.com . hoover s inc. retrieved 9 april 2013 . vocus pays 28m in cash and stock for prweb . washington business journal . 8 august 2006 . retrieved 24 january 2013 . kate n. nichols september 2006 . pioneering company takes its next step ferndale s prweb sold to national company . business pulse magazine . retrieved 24 january 2013 . vocus acquires help a reporter out . washington business journal . 10 june 2010 . retrieved 24 january 2013 . barb dybwad 10 june 2010 . vocus acquires haro to expand journalist driven pr service . mashable . retrieved 24 january 2013 . eliot van buskirk 14 september 2009 . help a reporter out crowdsources news sources . wired . retrieved 15 february 2013 . cision and vocus announce acquisition of visible technologies . cision . retrieved 29 june 2016 . a b cision and vocus unite ushering in the future of pr and social software cision . www.cision.com . retrieved 2015 05 04 . cision to retire vocus name . www.capitolcommunicator.com . retrieved 2015 05 04 . chicago based cision to buy pr newswire for 841 million . www.chicagotribune.com . retrieved 2016 01 06 . external links edit cision company website prweb company website icontact company website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title cision inc. & oldid 744012388 categories 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