SAP Acquisition Expands Cloud App Lineup

SAP is acquiring Fieldglass, a developer of contingent workforce management cloud applications in a move that expands the company's cloud software lineup. SAP said it expects to complete the acquisition by mid-2014, after meeting regulatory and other closing conditions. The company did not disclose the acquisition price.

Fieldglass' "vendor management system" applications are used by businesses to procure and manage contingent or temporary labor and services. The Chicago-based company's customer base includes Monsanto, GlaxoSmithKline and Rio Tinto.

"With the acquisition of Fieldglass we are taking an incredible step forward to further expand SAP's leadership in a public cloud offering for the enterprise," said Vishal Sikka, the member of SAP's executive board in charge of products and innovation, in a statement.

SAP said it will combine the Fieldglass applications with its SuccessFactors and Ariba cloud applications to create a comprehensive platform businesses can use to manage their entire workforce, including permanent and temporary staff. Sikka said that in addition to working with SuccessFactors and Ariba, the Fieldglass applications would benefit from being linked with SAP's HANA in-memory database and SAP Fiori, the vendor's collection of applications of common business functions that run on desktop computers and mobile devices.

SuccessFactors, which SAP bought in early 2012 for $3.4 billion, is SAP's core cloud offering for human capital management. Ariba, which SAP also acquired in 2012 for $4.3 billion, develops B2B commerce network applications that companies use to manage their procurement operations. The acquisitions helped boost SAP's then-nascent push into cloud computing.

SAP's revenue from cloud subscriptions and support was 697 million Euros (about $961 million) in 2013, representing year-over-year growth of 158 percent.

PUBLISHED MARCH 27, 2014