Infor to Acquire SSA Global

It was announced on Monday May 15 that Infor have signed a definitive agreement to acquire SSA Global. The deal which is due to be completed in the third quarter of 2006 will make Infor the third largest ERP vendor in the world.

After the signing, Mike Greenough, chairman, president and CEO of SSA Global, made the following comment: "In a rapidly consolidating marketplace we have seen that size and scale matter.”

With more than 3,100 employees in 50 global offices, Infor is an $800 million company and provides enterprise solutions to almost 24,700 customers in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Chicago, SSA Global had total sales in 2005 of $711.8 million with over 50 locations worldwide and its product offerings are used by customers in over 90 countries.

The Infor/SSA Global deal means many companies will once again be evaluating whether they go through a large expensive upgrade path or partner with software vendors offering specialized solutions with proven benefits and ROI.  Many companies are justifiably nervous about large scale ERP upgrades of seven figures plus while their existing ERP system is working reliably.

SAI reaffirms that it will continue to offer financial software solutions to work with all SSA Global customers regardless of ERP version or release.

Cashbook Ltd will also be working with Infor customers to deliver Cashbook as a Best-of-Breed solution which integrates seamlessly with ERP data to reduce costs and speed transaction handling times across Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Bank Reconciliation processes.

After the recent announcement of the planned acquisition, Cashbook Ltd Business Development Manager Richard Birchall made this statement:

“We already have Cashbook customers today on both SSA Global and Infor platforms. Their preoccupations with Cash are the same. For this reason I firmly believe that Cash today demands a Best-of-Breed model that sits outside the ERP. For example, it is widely accepted today that Business Intelligence is a Best-of-Breed activity which happens in a flexible, modular environment using ERP-agnostic architecture. I have no doubt that Cash will soon be seen as occupying a similar space.

“To make Cash the corporate mantra by which all your business processes are driven, you need a Best-of-Breed solution that handles Cash in the most effective way possible based on the countries you are in, the banks you work with, and the corporate culture predominant in each business unit. With over 150 banking adaptors, and Cashbook solutions for every major regulatory market in the world, SAI looks forward to extending our solutions to a wider consolidated customer base as a result of this development.”