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ERP provider SSA Global Technologies announced Monday yet another technology acquisition to round out its portfolio. The company said it acquired Boniva Software, which develops HCM software, for an undisclosed sum.
SSA Global Technologies Inc., headquartered in Chicago, acquired CRM (customer relationship management) software developer Epiphany Inc. less than a week ago, on Aug. 4, for $329 million.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Boniva Software Inc.s e-learning, skills management and performance management software will be integrated with SSA Globals HCM (human capital management) suite of products. Like Epiphanys products, Bonivas are based on J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) technology. SSA Globals disparate product line is headed in the same direction.
After near extinction in 2001, SSA Global hired a new CEO in May 2001—Mike Greenough, who is still at the helm—and began a period of what could easily be referred to as extreme growth.
SSA Global acquired nine new companies in the following two-year span, including ERP (enterprise resource planning) providers Baan, then a division of Invensys plc, and Marcam Solutions Inc.
By September 2004, SSA Global offered 13 separate product lines.
At that point the company shifted gears again. It began to simplify its product line—SSA Global would offer two mainstream ERP lines, LX and LN, geared toward discreet and process manufacturing—and organize its stable of extension products such as CRM and HCM around its ERP lines.
It also began to merge its offerings into a single, cohesive platform.
In May of this year the company released its SSA Technology Architecture 5.0, a service-oriented architecture that is the core for SSA Globals product lines moving forward. To date, the architecture has been applied to SSA ERP LN and SSA ERP LX lines.
SSA Global now has just under 20 separate products from a variety of acquisitions listed on its Web site. The products fall into six distinct categories: ERP, HCM, SCM (supply chain management), financial management, WHM (warehouse management), and small and midsized business.