SAP has invested in Vistex, a strategic partner that builds extensions for SAP's core ERP and cloud software applications. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
Headquartered near Chicago, Vistex has 21 offices worldwide and more than 1,500 employees. The investment marks a key milestone in the 16-year relationship between the companies; underscores SAP's focus and commitment to innovation and developing its partner community; and reflects the importance of the partner ecosystem to overall success, SAP said in the statement.
Strategic Investment to Boost Cloud Innovation
Vistex focuses on ERP software and go-to-market services for end-customers. The company's software manages pricing, trade, royalties and incentives, rebates and chargebacks as part of an overall enterprise management system. Its solutions run inside or alongside SAP Business Suite applications and SAP S/4HANA.
Vistex serves such verticals as consumer products, wholesale distribution, retail, life sciences, high tech, media and entertainment, industrial manufacturing, chemicals and automotive, the company said. The equity investment from SAP will allow for a new level of continuity and accelerated innovation, especially in cloud solutions, according to the statement.
Executive Commentary
In a prepared statement about the investment, SAP Chief Partner Officer Karl Fahrbach said:
"Vistex is a pioneer in developing ERP solution extensions for the unique needs of industries ranging from media to agriculture, to consumer products and automotive," said Karl Fahrbach, chief partner officer at SAP. "More than ever, businesses need tools like those developed by Vistex to remain agile and adapt to ever-changing economic trends while offering the ability to make smarter, faster business decisions based on real-time data."
Added Sanjay Shah, founder and CEO of Vistex:
"I am proud of the enduring partnership we have built with SAP. This opens a new chapter, to propel leading edge transformation for customers leveraging proven world-class SAP technologies and solutions."
SAP Executive and Strategic Moves
This is the latest in a growing list of strategic moves that SAP has made in 2020. The company in July disclosed plans to spin-out Qualtrics -- an experience management (XM) software management business -- as an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States. However, SAP will retain majority ownership of that business.
Three months earlier, SAP consolidated its leadership under one CEO. Previously, the company briefly operated under a co-CEO leadership structure, with Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein sharing the helm -- after Bill McDermott exited to lead ServiceNow in October 2019.
As ChannelE2E reported in April 2020, Morgan left SAP on April 30, 2020 and Klein remained to lead as sole CEO to “drive the cloud and application software business through the coronavirus pandemic,” SAP said.
