We LOVE SunSystems - a big player in the history and future of Infor
The other day I quoted an article written by Bruce Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer at Infor.
Bruce joined Infor in January 2010, coming from AMR Research, after it was acquired by Gartner. He was known as a bit of a rock star analyst and so his openness, thoughts and knowledge are now well appreciated on the other side of the fence, at Infor.
The article talked about feedback he received while attending the launch of Infor FMS SunSystems Enterprise in London a few weeks ago; feedback that he said was a first for him - three separate occurrences of "we LOVE X software" - in reference to SunSystems.
His article actually sung other praise for SunSystems (which I omitted for this further read), in explaining the product’s history with Infor, and how it contributed significantly to the growth of the company – now the third largest of its type in the world.
He also talks about how this hugely significant new release of SunSystems is just the start of a resurgence of the product, as a significant part of the ambitious and shiny future of the world’s third largest business software company.
I hope you enjoy the second half of this story from Bruce - Alex
“SunSystems was a key part of Infor’s growth spurt
I have to admit that I had never heard of SunSystems before joining Infor. (Bruce joined Infor in January 2010) That might be somewhat surprising given that SunSystems figures prominently in the history of Infor.
In August 2002, Geac acquired Extensity, a leading provider of travel and expense management software, for an estimated $42M in cash. In November 2005, Golden Gate Capital, Infor’s majority owner, bought Geac for $1B. During its tenure as an independent company, Geac made 40 acquisitions, including Comshare, Dun & Bradstreet Software, and JBA. At the time, the company billed itself as “the software solution for the CFO.”
In March 2006, Geac changed its name to Extensity. A month after the name change, Extensity purchased Systems Union Group, the parent of SunSystems, for $460M.
A month later, Infor made a successful $1.7B bid for SSA Global. SSA already had made at least a dozen acquisitions, including Baan, Epiphany, EXE, Infinium, Marcam, and Provia.
In August, Infor acquired the expanded Extensity portfolio from Golden Gate. In just its fourth year of existence, the company had become the third largest enterprise applications vendor, with 70,000 customers and more than 8,000 employees.
What’s next for SunSystems?
Looking ahead, it’s time to revive Geac’s mission of serving the CFO and offer SunSystems as the “software solution for the office of finance.” To that end, we will be rolling out additional products for business intelligence and performance management. We also have a brand new suite of human capital management applications that will push us deeper into collaboration and social networking. In addition, a cloud version of SunSystems is promised for an upcoming release.
In many ways, SunSystems has come full circle. It was a core part of our growth spurt in 2006. We are investing to make sure it’s part of our future growth story, too.”
Do you love SunSystems, too? Please let us, or Bruce know!