The recently announced merger of B2B software and services providers GXS and Inovis is, more than likely, a portent of more such consolidation to come.
“I’d put money on more B2B acquisitions in the very near future,” said Dennis Gaughan, a vice president at AMR Research. “There are several factors pushing in that direction.”
One of those factors, Gaughan said, is that customers increasingly want to combine their internal and external integration initiatives, and they want vendors with the scale and product scope to enable that.
Another factor is that large enterprise software providers, such as Oracle and SAP, are poised to become more active players in the market, putting pressure on small, independent B2B integration players to get larger and more global. Already, SAP has inserted its toe in the market with its 2008 investment in Crossgate, a provider of EDI managed services. And, Gaughan said, Oracle is expected to follow suit with a B2B acquisition of its own.