"Sapiens had a bad culture, they made promises to clients and didn't keep them"

Sapiens chairman Mike Atling, from Advent International which acquired the company for $2.5 billion, reveals in an exclusive interview with Calcalist a bad organizational culture of failing to keep promises to clients. Advent replaced most of the senior management, fired 800 employees, and moved management to London. Atling describes a deep structural change, a shift to a global model, and the launch of an AI platform called Sapiens Brain, expected to beat the $1 billion revenue target by two years.

Sapiens chairman Mike Atling, a partner at Advent International which acquired the software company last December for $2.5 billion, gives an exclusive interview to Calcalist revealing a problematic organizational culture. According to him, company employees made promises to clients and didn't keep them, nearly all clients they spoke with noted this as a recurring theme, and even an appeal to the CEO himself did not lead to a solution. Advent acted immediately upon completing the deal: it replaced most of the senior management, including longtime CEO Roni Al-Dor, fired about 800 employees (the company was left with 5,000 employees), and moved management to London. Atling attributes the problem to failed leadership: "Managers get the behavior they are willing to tolerate." He describes a deep structural change – a shift from a collection of business units to a global management model with chief revenue, customer, product, and technology officers. Tel Aviv will remain an important technology center, but the nature of roles will shift toward technology positions. Atling is launching the AI platform Sapiens Brain, and estimates that $1 billion in revenue will be achieved about two years ahead of schedule – by 2029 instead of 2031. He sees AI as a tailwind, not a threat, thanks to Sapiens' 40 years of experience in the insurance world. The goal: a valuation of $10 billion in the future.