Workday’s plan to buy Scout RFP makes this its 14th acquisition, according to crunchbase. Spend Matters has been covering Scout RFP and has some quick takes on this deal. Material sourced from: First Take Analysis: Workday’s Acquisition of Scout RFP (Part 1: Scout Background, Strengths/Weaknesses, Deal Rationale) and Workday to acquire Scout RFP for $540 million in cash
Earlier this morning, Selectica Inc. (SLTC) announced it was acquiring b-pack, a vendor specializing in purchase-to-pay (eProcurement + e-invoicing) technology with broader source-to-pay suite modules as well. Selectica had previously acquired Iasta, a sourcing specialist, which has since been fully integrated into Selectica from a commercial and management perspective (the technology is still independent). Spend Matters analysis suggests b-pack had several clients of substantial size, but essentially all are French or European. They had relatively few North American-originated deals, and those were mainly small firms (despite the management of the organization moving to the US in recent years). As context on b-pack’s capabilities, their suite grew from early P2P origins, whereas their French competitor Ivalua started out with sourcing and later added P2P. Read on for our exclusive first take on the deal (or just jump right into our deeper analysis on Spend Matters PRO)!
Earlier this morning, Selectica Inc. (SLTC) announced it was acquiring b-pack, a vendor specializing in purchase-to-pay (eProcurement + e-invoicing) technology with broader source-to-pay suite modules as well. Selectica had previously acquired Iasta, a sourcing specialist, which has since been fully integrated into Selectica from a commercial and management perspective (the technology is still independent). Spend Matters analysis suggests b-pack had several clients of substantial size, but essentially all are French or European. They had relatively few North American-originated deals, and those were mainly small firms (despite the management of the organization moving to the US in recent years). As context on b-pack’s capabilities, their suite grew from early P2P origins, whereas their French competitor Ivalua started out with sourcing and later added P2P (and allegedly learned some of their P2P ideas during the two companies' partnership days years ago). Read on for our exclusive first take on the deal (or just jump right into our deeper analysis on Spend Matters PRO)!
In our previous coverage of the SAP’s announced acquisition of Concur, we provided some background and context on the transaction and offer our candid perspective on the events leading up to the announcement. As we begin our deeper analysis of what the deal means for customers, competitors and the broader market, Thomas Kase, VP Research, who leads Spend Matters T&E coverage, talks about a range of synergies (or lack thereof, in certain cases) around the acquisition including cultural fit, target customer segments, scale, network/content, app store models, talent retention, and much more.
Three members of the Spend Matters team ended up on the SAP and Concur investor call that was held just under an hour after the acquisition announcement. In the coming days, look for much more analysis on Spend Matters PRO with specific insight into how the T&E acquisition is likely to impact SAP customers, competitors and the general marketplace. But first, in the spirit of public service for investors, CPOs, IT staff, travel managers and a general procurement audience to really understand what is happening behind the scenes at SAP and with the Concur transaction, we offer some public commentary, taking the metaphor of the stage.
The deal represents a continuation of SAP’s track record of paying a premium for leading software as a service (SaaS) or cloud assets in the enterprise software market. Previously, SAP has acquired Ariba and Fieldglass (both in related markets to Concur) as well as SuccessFactors at premium market valuations. In a previous Spend Matters PRO research brief, Why SAP Should — Or Should Not — Buy Concur, we provided a number of positive and negative implications of a potential acquisition. Here Jason Busch recaps the highlights of that analysis, and also runs down initial notes from the recent analyst call.