Interesting HR Software Acquisitions

If your organization does business with any of the major players in the HR software industry, you may see some new product offerings in 2011. Last year, a large number of firms made strategic acquisitions of products to add to their portfolio of applications. Here’s a quick look at a few that made the news:


Epicor Acquires Spectrum
This is a significant acquisition for a couple of reasons. It is a blending of separately developed Enterprise Resource Planning and Human Capital Management solutions to be distributed now through a single vendor. Epicor, in choosing to buy Spectrum is showing that web-based HR software is viewed as adding value to the business services software the company makes available to clients. Epicor is leveraging cloud computing and SaaS to make this end-to-end solution highly accessible for a global customer base.

Lawson Absorbs Enwisen
Another SaaS acquisition that hit the news in December is HR software provider Lawson buying Enwisen. Previously, Lawson was reselling Enwisen’s services to its clients. So, they knew the demand was healthy. The addition of this Employee Self Service application rounds out the company’s suite of HR and business solutions.

Administaff Buys OrgPlus
In an example of an HR services firm outside the software field buying up valuable tools, Administaff purchased the OrgPlus line of applications from HumanConcepts. This gives the PEO firm a useful tool to assist clients in planning and modifying their organizational structure. Mid-sized and small businesses may benefit from having access to this application to determine their staffing (or employee leasing) needs on an ongoing basis.

Buying Frenzy Still Ongoing

That’s just brushing the surface of all the deals that went down in 2010. Workforce Management has an overview of additional acquisitions in the talent management field. One aspect of all this buying and selling that may impact customers is the fear of service disruption. Fortunately, with web-based applications the transfer of responsibility from one vendor to another is often easier than it would be with on-premise licensing.

What is clear is that suite HR software vendors know there are still many niche product out there that are better than what they are currently offering their clients. That’s why they are rushing to buy them up. At Emerald Software Group, we take a slightly different approach. We focus on partnering with other firms that are offering their own Best of Breed products that interface with our AllegroHR applications. That way, our clients can choose exactly the services they need for their specific industry without paying for anything they don’t need.