Walkme helps users to use software more easily. SAP is now allowed to take over the Israeli company for billions. The Walldorf-based company’s customers will soon also benefit from this.
SAP is allowed to take over the Israeli software company Walkme. The acquisition has been approved, the Federal Cartel Office announced. There are no serious competition concerns about the plan. Europe’s largest software company, based in Walldorf, announced at the beginning of June that it wanted to take over Walkme. SAP is putting 1.5 billion US dollars on the table for the deal – the equivalent of around 1.38 billion euros.
Software should make it easier to use programs
The Israeli company sees itself as one of the leading providers of so-called digital adoption platforms, or DAP for short. These are increasingly replacing traditional training courses in large companies – for example when new employees are being trained. The Walkme software helps with using and learning programs on computers and smartphones – for example through interactive instructions. The company promises to make it easier to deal with the multitude of IT systems used in companies.
Such platforms also provide data on the use of the programs and possible difficulties. With the acquisition, SAP is also expanding its own offerings Signavio and LeanIX, which are designed to help companies with IT restructuring. “We are thus significantly increasing the support for our end users and helping them to quickly adopt new solutions and functions so that our customers can get the maximum benefit from their IT investments,” said SAP CEO Christian Klein in June.
Cartel Office: Walkme continues to face competition
The Federal Cartel Office has concluded that the market for such solutions will continue to grow in the future as demand for support in digital transformation grows. Walkme will continue to face competition from other providers even after the takeover, it said.
SAP recently expected the takeover to be completed in the third quarter. In the last financial year, Walkme generated a nine percent increase in revenue to the equivalent of 245 million euros. SAP generated sales of 31.2 billion euros. SAP has recently remained silent on the sales prospects for the coming years: With access to the customer base, however, Walkme now has the opportunity to accelerate its growth in the coming years.
Source: Stern
