Originally appeared in P2P Network
Following the acquisition of Determine earlier this year by US based Corcentric, we caught up with President and COO, Matt Clark to find out some more about the deal. Matt pointed out that the idea behind the move, was to shift the company’s focus towards delivering an entire end to end solution and consider what that might look like, delivered from a single platform. At Corcentric, while there was a firm footing in the worlds of finance and accounts payable, the executive team felt there was a need for something in the upstream e-procurement space to be able to deliver on their end to end vision.
At the same time, as Matt explained, Corcentric was looking to spread their wings and expand into Europe and started to look for a partner who could fill the space they were looking for, overseas. Their eyes landed on eProcurement company, Determine – a solution provider with strong exposure to the French market, following their acquisition of b-pack, back in 2015. Determine were also able to boast an expanding customer base making steady headway into the UK.
In a deal worth around $32 million, Matt describes the acquisition as being both synergistic and transformative for Corcentric, bringing Determine’s 250 customers into the fold and establishing a global P2P platform. And it’s something that existing customers have responded well to. With the spring 2019 purchase of Source One Management Services, Corcentric aim to provide customers with the opportunity to go on a journey with them. Not many organizations know how to embrace change without help, and with the team of subject matter and country experts now at their disposal, Corcentric believes they can help organizations get to grips with the dynamic of – people, process, tech.
There isn’t really a one size fits all tech or process solution as each customer brings a unique set of issues and outcomes they’d like to achieve. The link-up with consultants and analysts within the team alongside the functionally extended platform means that customers can build out the solution as it suits them.
And of course, Corcentric will benefit from new revenue opportunities and the opportunity to up-sell and cross-sell to a larger customer base with an increased number of features and applications. Ultimately, the two companies intend to combine their product offerings and create a “one-stop-shop” for their customers and future prospects that are looking to transform their sourcing, procurement, contracting AP, and accounts receivable operations.
Matt pointed out that he believes that there are huge opportunities for procure to pay departments now, with a shift away from repetitive manual tasks, to more analytical skills for the workforce – letting automation, and increasingly, AI and RPA do the heavy lifting of the more routine activities. At Corcentric, their Business Innovation Lab is a hotbed for ideas and research into how organizations might work in the future and how to pull the findings into the product. And as Matt says, it’s a vision that over time will converge to represent the one brand, one mission ethos of the whole company.