EMS Software

The story of EMS Software begins not in a garage, but on a university campus. In 1986, founder Dean Evans was a student at Colorado State University and grew frustrated with the inefficient, paper-based system for scheduling rooms and events. He saw a clear problem and decided to build the solution himself, creating a room scheduling software. He pitched the idea to the university, which agreed to become his first client, leading to the creation of Dean Evans & Associates. The company’s focus was clear: develop feature-rich scheduling and event management solutions. The company grew steadily, recognizing that room scheduling was just one piece of a larger puzzle. They expanded into managing catering, IT services, and facilities, aiming to be a centralized hub for all event-related needs. A key moment came in the mid-1990s when, instead of competing with Microsoft's new calendar applications, they struck a deal to integrate their more powerful scheduling tools directly into Microsoft Outlook. This strategy of integrating with existing workflows rather than trying to replace them became a core part of their playbook. After decades of steady growth, the company received a significant investment from JMI Equity in 2014 and officially rebranded from Dean Evans & Associates to EMS Software in 2016. The final chapter, for now, was written in June 2018, when EMS Software was acquired by Accruent, a large provider of physical resource management solutions. The acquisition brought EMS's specialized scheduling platform into a broader portfolio that managed the entire lifecycle of physical resources, from real estate to maintenance.