February 2017 - Mergers, acquisitions, partnerships

BlackLine takes over Runbook

BlackLine continues its European expansion. With the acquisition of Runbook, BlackLine aims to strengthen its position as a leading provider of financial close automation software for SAP customers.

The US provider of cloud-based software for the automation of accounting and financial closing processes recently opened a branch in Frankfurt am Main.

With Runbooka European provider of solutions for the processing and automation of financial statements in the SAP environment, BlackLine's continuous accounting platform is being expanded to include additional functions for the automation of financial closing processes.

As a result of the merger, users should benefit from a high level of quality and a high degree of automation in their finance and accounting processes.

Therese Tucker, CEO of BlackLine:

"Runbook's financial close automation software solutions are used by some of the largest SAP users in the world.

The company brings a wealth of talent, technology and expertise in SAP integration and implementation to BlackLine and complements our continuous accounting platform with additional technologies. Together, we are well equipped to meet the financial close management challenges facing CFOs around the world"

Datagroup - 17 takeovers in ten years

Datagroup is taking over around 330 SAP and application management experts from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in Germany and will provide defined IT services for HPE in future.

Datagroup has been in exclusive negotiations with HPE since March 2016. The negotiating partners have now signed the contract.

With this acquisition, Datagroup strengthens the strategic Corbox core business areas of SAP and Application Management and benefits from a guaranteed purchase commitment from HPE for five years and four months.

An extension option for a further twenty months was also agreed. Over the term of the contract, the purchase volumes are scheduled to decrease by 10% to 3.5% per year at a decreasing rate.

Datagroup has a long history of acquiring companies and parts of companies. Since going public in 2006, the IT service provider has already made 17 acquisitions, including those of the size now planned.

Q-loud is a new member of the Industry 4.0 expert network

Q-loud, a QSC subsidiary specializing in services for the Internet of Things (IoT), is now a member of Scheer's Industry 4.0 Expert Network.

The consulting and software company Scheer made a name for itself early on in the field of Industry 4.0 and, due to the complex issues involved, established a network of experts that can implement a wide variety of projects with expertise.

The network now consists of well-known companies with a wide range of core competencies that jointly develop and market complex applications for Industry 4.0.

Its members include the software manufacturer SAP, the Harting technology group and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

Q-loud contributes its software and hardware integration expertise for IoT applications to the network.

T2 takes over LBU: HCM solutions for the social economy

IT2 Solutions acquires a majority stake in LBU Systemhaus and will continue the integration into the group in the coming months.

What began in 2013 with the founding of a joint subsidiary - LBU Personal-Complete - is now continuing with the majority takeover.

The current LBU board members Martin Krick and Martin Engelbrecht will remain in leading positions at the headquarters in Amtzell (Lake Constance region).

IT2 customers should benefit from additional offerings from a single source: Consulting and project services in SAP Financial and Analytics, SAP licenses and a PCOE-certified support structure; renowned IT2 services such as hosting, BPO and AMO, SuccessFactors.

IT2 Solutions is a certified SAP partner and is one of the largest independent HR consulting companies and full-service providers in Germany.

As an SAP channel partner, LBU Systemhaus is a specialist in optimizing business processes in companies in the social and healthcare sectors as well as for church institutions.

Aircomp takes over Abayoo Business

Aicomp, a provider of SAP configuration solutions, acquires Abayoo Business, a provider of SaaS services.

The Board of Directors of Abayoo unanimously approved the acquisition by the long-standing partner company.

Abayoo Business Network was founded in 2010 by Wolfgang Schmidt as the first wholly-owned "cloud-born company" in the SAP environment and is currently one of the leading providers and resellers of SAP cloud services in the SME sector.

Through the acquisition, the Aicomp Group combines its extensive experience with SAP ERP on-premise implementations and Abayoo's successful midmarket and network solution model.

FIS acquires stake in Hamburg media shipyard

By acquiring a majority stake in the Hamburg-based e-commerce agency, SAP specialist FIS is expanding its expertise in Hybris, online brand management, user experience and UI design.

With their joint portfolio, the two companies will cover the entire range of SAP topics for the area of Customer Engagement and Commerce.

In addition to Hybris Commerce and Hybris Marketing, this includes the Hybris solutions Cloud for Sales and Cloud for Service.

In addition, the company is positioning itself FIS and Media shipyard As an ideal partner for consulting, conception, development, design and creative design of web solutions - especially with process integrations to S/4 Hana.

The offering is rounded off by services in the areas of SEO, online brand management, social branding and consulting or the provision of services in the area of social media.

Ralf Bernhardt, Chairman of the FIS Management Board, explains:

"Through this strategic investment, we expect strong growth in the area of SAP Customer Engagement and Commerce for both companies."

Poet & Cormeta - Strategic action

The e-commerce specialist Poet and Cormeta, SAP partner as well as industry expert with focus on medium-sized businesses, have agreed on a strategic cooperation.

The background to the collaboration between Poet and Cormeta is that retail companies, as well as the process industries, food manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, often still have considerable weaknesses in the integration of their procurement and management processes.

Both companies are SAP partners and complement each other in their service portfolios. The first joint customer projects are currently being implemented.

Cormeta implements preconfigured industry solutions based on SAP for various market segments in retail/wholesale and, as a strategy and technology specialist, has comprehensive process and product know-how within the SAP portfolio.

In contrast, Poet, with its focus on SAP CRM/Hybris Cloud for Customer, SAP Hybris Commerce and SAP Hybris Marketing, is geared towards solutions for purchasing and sales processes.