Körber Supply Chain, a leading player in the supply chain logistics market, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire enVista’s Omnichannel Enspire Commerce™ platform and global Freight Audit and Payment service. It may be stated that these two companies have been collaborating with each other as partners in the past. This acquisition helps propel Körber Supply chain to emerge as a leading global provider of omnichannel commerce, fulfilment, and transportation software. This acquisition helps expand Körber’s product portfolio and is another step toward the company emerging as a dominant player in the supply chain software market.
Among the leading retailers, distributors, and brands there is a growing realization that commerce and supply chain solutions must integrate and the supply chain process must get digitized end-to-end. Seeing an expanding business opportunity in this space and recognizing the benefits of combining their respective companies’ strengths to exploit the opportunity, Körber and enVista have decided on this move.
Körber supply chain is part of the global technology group Körber, an international technology group, with about 12,000 employees and a presence in more than 100 locations worldwide. The company provides a broad range of proven, end-to-end suites of supply chain and warehouse automation solutions. The company’s portfolio of offerings includes software, automation, voice solutions, robotics, material handling, and systems integration services that cohesively bind all of them together. It has the necessary teams to carry out various end-to-end suites of supply chain and warehouse management solution services, such as solution design, project management, and software integration.
enVista is a global software, consulting, managed services, and automation firm, that serves leading manufacturers, distributors, logistics service providers, & omnichannel retailers and helps them achieve supply chain efficiencies and drive cost savings, customer engagement, and revenue. enVista’s Enspire Commerce Platform enables buy, fulfil, and return anywhere commerce. Built on microservices architecture and delivered on an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) basis, enVista’s commerce solutions easily integrate with the existing information technology systems. It facilitates enterprise inventory visibility, omnichannel order orchestration, and fulfilment. The Order Management System (OMS), which is part of the Enspire Commerce platform, enables order visibility across channels and provides actionable data.
According to Chad Collins, CEO of Software at Körber, acquiring EnVista’s commerce platform enables its customers ‘to manage the life cycle of the order from multiple demand sources and network-wide inventory. The freight audit and payment service provide a single source of visibility and tracking, typically unavailable in ERP or TMS solutions.’ He added ‘the addition of enVista CEO Jim Barnes and 400 commerce and transportation experts furthers our ambition to be a global supply chain software champion through an integrated solution suite.’
Regarding this acquisition, Jim Barnes, CEO at enVista, said ‘Our next-generation omnichannel commerce and Freight Audit and Payment solutions, combined with Körber’s order fulfilment capabilities, deliver the seamless omnichannel brand experiences consumers expect. Körber’s global sales, implementation, and support capabilities will strengthen enVista offerings, providing new levels of value, competitive advantage, and market momentum.’
According to Rajabahadur V Arcot, Senior Advisor at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, “The acquisition fortifies Körber’s leadership position in the supply chain execution software market. The company significantly strengthen its omnichannel order management capabilities, including enterprise-wide inventory visibility, order orchestration, omnichannel fulfilment, and customer engagement enabling organizations to manage and fulfil complex customer orders in an omnichannel environment”. He further added, “With the addition of freight audit and payment services, Körber adds an important capability, often underserved by most TMS vendors, to streamline freight payment processes along with providing a unified tracking and visibility”.
Körber Supply Chain, with over 1,300 employees, has grown its business significantly over the years and serves a diversified mix of more than 4,200 customers in different industries, across over 70 countries. The company, in the past, has largely expanded its business through acquisitions. It has been highly successful in managing the merged entities’ integration, and as such, this acquisition augurs well for both companies.
Last year, a minority stake in Körber’s supply chain software business was acquired by KKR, a software investment specialist & leading global investment firm. This strategic partnership is expected to enable Körber Supply Chain to scale its software business globally, consolidate its position as a global leader with enhanced end-to-end solutions for its customers worldwide, and have access to capital to fund expansion initiatives.
Author
Rajabahadur V. Arcot is a Senior Advisor, Quadrant Knowledge Solutions
