Analysis of the $22B Kronos/Ultimate Merger

DENVER - March 2, 2020 - PRLog -- With the recent merger of Kronos and Ultimate Software valued at $22 billion, the Founder and Managing Principal of ERP Advisors Group, Shawn Windle, offered his analysis and insights.

I think the Ultimate and Kronos deal is better for the bankers and shareholders than customers and their employees, but I'm willing to be wrong. I keep my eyes razor-sharp focused on what's best for our selection clients, and unfortunately the merger raises new questions that didn't exist before when evaluating Workforce Dimensions and UltiPro:

• Are some applications going to be eventually sunsetted?
• Will the new company layoff redundant staff?
• What happens to the culture when you mix two competitors with quite different philosophies?

I don't like these types of questions but, inevitably, savvy clients will ask them.

However, both firms had about $1B in annual revenue — which in these days is a mid-sized software company — meaning they will most likely get gobbled up by a bigger software firm. That didn't happen here (at least it makes it harder to do, anyway).

This merger provides the opportunity to combine the 70+ years of HCM experience of two highly competent companies to create a new type of mega HCM-only software vendor, which we've never had in the enterprise software industry before. That could lead to innovations which could be extremely valuable to clients and their employees.

So we will have to see how the new company unfolds, but one thing is for certain: for clients that are currently evaluating these products, make sure you do your due diligence.

Shawn Windle is the Founder and Managing Principal of ERP Advisors Group

Is 2020 the year SMBs invade ERP? Watch our forecast for 2020 ERP trends at https://erpadvisorsgroup.com/post/2020-annual-report-on-erp/