Unit4 acquires Scanmarket to bolster ERP suite

Enterprise cloud application provider Unit4 has acquired Scanmarket, a vendor of cloud Source-to-Contract software.

Scanmarket is a privately-held company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Denmark. Unit4 hopes to use it to provide organisations with its Source-to-Pay capabilities, by building on its existing ERP and Procure-to-Pay (P2P) offerings.

The acquisition is set to extend Unit4’s transactional procurement functionality by bringing in sourcing, spend analytics, supplier management, and contract lifecycle management. Its customers include Emirates Flight Catering, NatWest, ISS Facility Services, MacMillan Cancer Support and Kärcher.

Through the acquisition, Unit4 hopes its customers will be able to get more of an insight into their spending, manage suppliers and contracts better, and realise savings on procurement. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are delighted to have added Scanmarket to the Unit4 portfolio,” said Mike Ettling, CEO of Unit4. “Their market-leading global strategic procurement capabilities and cloud-based solutions are trusted by 324 customers, across more than 85 countries, and have received strong recognition from industry analysts, such as Gartner, Info-Tech Research Group and SpendMatters.”

Betina Nygaard, CEO of Scanmarket, said that Unit4 clearly recognises the quality and skills of the company. “In addition, both companies are focused on digitalization and, in the case of Scanmarket, centred on transforming the procurement function through best of breed source-to-contract capabilities while effectively managing governance, risk and compliance,” she said.

The acquisition highlights that customers want procurement solutions as part of full suite ERP offerings, said Patrick Reymann, IDC research director of Procurement and Enterprise Apps.

“The procurement application space is vibrant and growing, as buyers continually tell us they need help managing their spend data,” added Reymann. “This combination will provide tremendous value to existing clients, and will give prospective buyers a strong reason to consider the combined Unit4 / Scanmarket offering going forward.”