Cleo Communications

Cleo originally began as a division of Phone 1 Inc., a voice data gathering systems manufacturer, and built data concentrators and terminal emulators — multi-bus computers, modems, and terminals to interface with IBM mainframes via bisynchronous communications. The company then began developing mainframe middleware in the 1980s, and with the rise of the PC, moved into B2B data communications and secure file transfer software.[2] Since being acquired in 2012,[3] the company’s offerings have evolved into Cleo Integration Cloud,[4] a platform for enterprise business integration.

Based in Rockford, Illinois (USA), with offices in Chicago, Pennsylvania, London, and Bangalore, Cleo has about 400 employees and more than 4,100 direct customers. The company's flagship offering, Cleo Integration Cloud, provides both on-premise and cloud-based integration technologies and comprises solutions for B2B/EDI, application integration, data movement and data transformation. Previous products now incorporated into the Cleo Integration Cloud platform include Cleo Harmony, Cleo Clarify, and Cleo Jetsonic.[5]

Cleo solutions span a variety of industries, including manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, retail, third-party logistics, warehouse management and transportation management, healthcare, financial services and government.[6]

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs adopted Cleo's fax technology, Cleo Streem, in 2013 when in need of FIPS 140-2-compliant technology to protect information,[7] and the City of Atlanta has used Cleo Streem for network and desktop faxing since 2006.[8]

Cleo also serves U.S. transportation logistics company MercuryGate International[9] and SaaS-based food logistics organization ArrowStream.[10] It powers the architecture for several major supply chain companies, such as Blue Yonder and SAP.[11] Cleo integrates the pharmaceutical supply chain for such companies as Octapharma.[12] Key partners include FourKites[13] and ClientsFirst,[14] among many others.

Cleo customers also include household brands such as New Balance, Barilla, Duraflame, Reddy Ice, and Brother Industries. Cleo has partnerships with more than 300 system integrator, reseller, and technology companies including VAI, SrinSoft, Vertext, Remedi, and delaPlex.

In May 2023, Cleo announced it entered a global partnership with consulting and multinational information technology services company, Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH). Together, the companies announced CCIB, powered by Cleo, which is a B2B iPaaS solution that provides B2B managed services with built-in, scalable infrastructure on the cloud. The solution comprises elements from Cleo’s flagship offering, Cleo Integration Cloud.[15]

In June 2014, Cleo opened an office in Chicago for members of its support and engineering teams.[16] In 2014, the company hired Jorge Rodriguez as Senior Vice President of Product Development[17] and John Thielens as Vice President of Technology.[18] Cleo hired Dave Brunswick as Vice President of Solutions for North America in 2015,[19] and Cleo hired Ken Lyons to lead global sales in 2016.[20] Lyons now serves as the company's Chief Revenue Officer. More recent additions to the company's leadership team include Vipin Mittal,[21] Vice President, Customer Experience, and Tushar Patel,[22] CMO.

Cleo opened its product development facility in Bengaluru, India, in 2015[23] and expanded its hybrid cloud integration teams into a new office there in 2017.[6] The company also opened a London office in 2016 and expanded its network of channel partners in EMEA.[24]

In 2016, Cleo acquired EXTOL International, a Pottsville, Pa.-based business and EDI integration and data transformation company for an undisclosed amount.[25] In 2017, the company moved its headquarters from Loves Park, Illinois, to Rockford.[26] In 2021 the company received a significant growth investment[27] from H.I.G. Capital.

In July 2022, Cleo opened a new, 5,000-square-foot office[28] located in Chicago's Loop.

In November 2022, Cleo launched an accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics 365 SCM-to-X12 and a connector for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.[29] These pre-built solutions allow businesses and users to quickly build integration flows that integrate their digital ecosystems. In March 2023, Cleo released CIC PAVE (Procurement Automation and Vendor Enablement).[30] PAVE provides customers with enhanced supply chain visibility via a supplier portal that allows the customer to keep vendor interaction in a single location, even if they cannot use EDI or have API-ready applications.

Cleo regularly submits its products to Drummond Group's interoperability software testing for AS2,[31] AS3[32] and ebMS 2.0.[33]

In January 2020, Cleo announced that its new application connector for Acumatica ERP has been recognized as an Acumatica-Certified Application (ACA).[34] The company also holds SOC 2, Type 2 certification.

Cleo was a Xerox partner of the year award for five years, from 2009 to 2014. The Cleo Streem solution integrates with Xerox multi-function products, providing customers with solutions for network fax and interactive messaging needs.[35] Cleo was named to Food Logistics’ FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers Lists in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020.[36]

Cleo CEO, Mahesh Rajasekharan was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Midwest Award winner.[37] Rajasekharan is serving as a judge for the 2023 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of the Year Awards.

As of April 2022, Cleo has been named a Leader in EDI on the G2 Grid, a peer-to-peer review site, for 20 straight quarters.[38] In Spring 2023, Cleo won 23 G2 awards—including EDI Leader Enterprise, MFT Leader Enterprise, On-Premise Data Integration Best Support Enterprise, and iPaaS High Performer Asia.