SAP has acquired Californian company SuccessFactors in a deal worth $3.4 billion (2.18 billion).
SuccessFactors is known for its Human Capital Management (HCM) software delivered over the cloud, with 15 million users on its books.
It is also the toast of the town with its impressive growth numbers, reporting a 77 per cent year on year rise in revenues during the third quarter this year and a further 59 per cent growth in the first nine months of 2011.
The cloud is a core of SAP's future growth.
SAP already offers much of its software as a cloud service, even trying to make the phrase "business processes as a service or BPaaS" a common term. However, the acquisition will extend its portfolio further with the increasing attraction of cloud HCM.
"The cloud is a core of SAP's future growth and the combination of SuccessFactors' leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse," said Bill McDermott, co-chief executive (CEO) of SAP.
"Together, SAP and SuccessFactors will create tremendous business value for customers, with potent synergies to accelerate our growth in the cloud."
Just last week, SuccessFactors announced a partnership with Tata Communications to offer HCM in India, showing its appeal in the merging markets, as well as Europe and the US.
"This is a revolutionary combination of proven capabilities that will allow SuccessFactors to accelerate our roadmap by 10 years and bring the world's leading application knowledge and intellectual property to our customers through the cloud, and the largest applications customer base, instantly," said Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO of SuccessFactors.
Dalgaard will stay with his company following the acquisition, leading the cloud business as a whole at SAP, as well as continuing to run SuccessFactors as an independent firm. He has also been recommended to join the SAP board.
"The business world is ready for enterprise-class cloud applications and together, we can deliver incredible new innovation for global businesses," Dalgaard concluded.
