SAP to acquire Gigya in a $350 million deal

SAP, the world leader in ERP solutions has announced that it will be acquiring Gigya in a bid to strengthen its hybris e-commerce division. The German software giant is buying Gigya firm that helps online properties manage customer identities and profiles in a reportedly $350 million deal, although the terms of the deal are yet to be officially disclosed. The same figure was reported when the news leaked out as a rumor in the Israeli press, where the company’s R&D is located.

“Gigya brings a wealth of skills and expertise that will significantly enhance the SAP® Hybris® Profile solution and allow us to take leadership of the emerging customer identity and access management market,” said Carsten Thomas, president and cofounder of SAP Hybris. “Consumer trust is the main currency to succeed for customer-driven organizations. This is what Gigya is known and recognized for.”

Gigya is an identity management firm that manages some 1.3 billion customer identities across hundreds of sites, existing business that it will bring under SAP’s umbrella. The basic idea here is that by integrating those features into SAP’s wider e-commerce operation, it can expand the kind of services it offers to existing customers, and to help sell more e-commerce services to Gigya’s base.

“Combining the data matching and enrichment capabilities of SAP Hybris Profile with Gigya’s consent-based identity data and access management platform will allow us to identify consumers across channels and offer a robust single consumer profile,” said Patrick Salyer, CEO of Gigya. “This is a vital step for digitalizing businesses because companies need to be able to draw accurate conclusions seamlessly across all channels, including web, mobile, in-store or connected devices, and the Internet of Things, as well as collect data about consumer preferences. Together we are well positioned to drive more effective marketing, sales and service through data, while the customer stays in control of how much data is shared.”