Workday acquires VNDLY: M&A rapid analysis, focusing on product overview, differentiation and competitive landscape

Yesterday, Workday announced it was acquiring VNDLY in a surprise $510 million deal (surprising, in part, because Workday and Utmost, a VNDLY peer/competitor and fellow services procurement upstart, may have seemed a more likely combination given the close working relationship between the firms, native Workday integration and shared history of various team members). Regardless, in VNDLY’s short four-year history, it has done quite a bit to build what might be called a next-generation VMS, even if competitors Beeline and SAP Fieldglass are collectively, by our estimates, nearly 50X the size in revenue. VNDLY will give Workday more to work with (competitively) today than Utmost in terms of a broad-based footprint to take on existing “in the box” VMS peers (even if Utmost somehow becomes part of the Workday “journey” in the future as it extends from HCM leadership to capture external talent and services — but more on that in subsequent coverage) .

This Spend Matters PRO M&A rapid analysis provides insight into VNDLY, focused on platform capability and product strengths/weaknesses. It also provides an updated SWOT and competitive landscape analysis of the VMS and services procurement sector — and to a lesser degree its intersections with human capital and talent management. Subsequent coverage next week will provide insight into what the combination brings to Workday as well as competitive and customer recommendations.

Let’s dive in.