North American IT companies Univerus Inc. and VistaVu Solutions have gone the acquisition route to build out their respective SAP development practice and expand their SAP Business One software offerings.
As part of the latest developments in the global SAP services market, Univerus Inc., a Canadian integrated software solutions provider for the public and private sector, has acquired US-based Blue Ocean Systems. An early participant in the SAP Business One program — SAP’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) business suite for Small to Midsize Businesses (SMBs) — Blue Ocean Systems has already implemented systems in 38 countries worldwide.
Aside from its headquarters in Pennsylvania, Blue Ocean Systems has also set up additional offices in India and Australia since its establishment in 2005. The company offers consultancy and software licensing to its global customers through an integrated database built on SAP Business One software that aims to simplify the billing challenges faced by SMBs.
Brad Atchison, Chief Executive Officer at Univerus Inc., said that Univerus Inc. will combine its operational solutions with Blue Ocean Systems’ consulting expertise in the implementation of SAP’s Business One ERP software. He further shared:
“Univerus’ technical acumen provides new products and technical integration services that support and complement Blue Ocean’s customers and the SAP Business One ERP solution. We are looking forward to including our products and services into the SAP Business One ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, Beth Walters, Vice-President of Channel Sales for SAP Business One and Business ByDesign, believes Univerus’ public sector experience will deliver resources to Blue Ocean Systems’ solutions for municipal facilities. She stated:
“I expect with this synergy that we will see tremendous growth for Blue Ocean in this industry. This cross-team collaboration should move Blue Ocean to become a clear leader for SAP Business One solutions for Public Sector.”
Expanding SAP Business One Software Offerings
In the past two years, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within the SAP partner environment have remained steady. As more and more customers consider shifting from on-premises applications to cloud-based SAP options, organisations have committed to strengthening regional influence and pursuing SAP skills.
Currently, over 60,000 SMBs run SAP Business One across a wide range of departments including financials, operations, and human resources in more than 150 countries.
Moreover, SAP Gold Partner Achieve IT is another US-based SAP Business One provider that has been acquired by Canadian IT company VistaVu Solutions. As a business technology services company founded in 1989, over 400 distributors have already benefited from Achieve IT’s experience in the industry.
According to VistaVu Solutions, this acquisition aims to create a “comprehensive offering for mid-market customers throughout the entire technology lifecycle.” Furthermore, a group of 22 SAP Business One experts from Achieve IT will be added to VistaVu Solutions’ teams to help customers grow their business and increase profits by maximising the value of the companies’ respective technology solutions.
In the press statement, Jory Lamb, CEO and Founder of VistaVu Solutions, said:
“Together, VistaVu and AchieveIT enables mid-market companies to develop a digital ecosystem to operate more efficiently, scale for growth and leverage consolidated tools and techniques to better run their businesses. Our vision is to build the most respected SAP mid-market system integrator in North America. Adding AchieveIT has significantly advanced us towards that vision.”
The abovementioned deals are part of several major M&A activities that saw global players snapping up SAP specialists recently. In March, SAP Gold Partner Sapphire Systems also purchased InCloud Solutions — a UK-based SAP Platinum Partner specialising in SAP Business ByDesign. Additionally, Pythian acquired SAP MSP Partner ManageServe last month in a bid to strengthen the company’s capabilities to provide SAP HANA solutions.
