SAP acquiring cloud marketing firm Emarsys

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020

Business software giant SAP has entered into an agreement to acquire Austrian firm Emarsys. Emarsys produces software that businesses can use to interact with their customers 'on a personal level' through multiple online channels.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approval. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SAP will add Emarsys' operations to its Customer Experience portfolio, which is anchored by the Qualtrics platform. SAP acquired Qualtrics in 2018 for $8 billion, and the platform now plays an important role in the company's cloud growth strategy as SAP aims to combine customer data with operational data.

The latest deal will help SAP to benefit from Emarsys' market presence and its capability to engage with customers through personalised omni-channel interactions.

"Adding the Emarsys customer engagement platform to our leading SAP S/4HANA and Experience Management technology from SAP and Qualtrics opens up new possibilities for our customers that are unique in the market," said Christian Klein, CEO of SAP.

Klein added that, after the deal is completed, SAP's clients will be able to connect every part of their business to the customer, including experience data.

An ERP firm at its core, SAP has traditionally focused its attention on back-office kinds of operations. The new deal is seen by many industry analysts as a way for the company to continue merging back- and front-office operations.

Josef Ahorner, Hagai Hartman and Daniel Harari founded Emarsys in 2000. The company is based in Vienna, Austria, and has a workforce of around 800 across 13 offices including Berlin, London, Sydney, Budapest, and the US.