Noticed a lot of company mergers and acquisitions these days? Well the good news is you’re not alone and there’s no need to get your glasses checked. The trend of B2B company mergers and acquisitions has remained steadfast in the early months of 2018 and no, this isn’t fake news.
In April alone, 6sense acquired ZenIQ, Radius announced plans to merge with Leadspace and Marketo acquired Bizible. Then in another industry shake up last week, Seismic announced that it had acquired SAVO Group.
Mergers and acquisitions are becoming the new normal and reflect an ever-increasing trend of companies joining forces, combining clients and sharing technology — all in an effort to out-perform their competitors.
Demand Gen Report asked industry analysts and C-suite executives to comment on the SAVO Group acquisition and break down its possible effects on the B2B marketing landscape.
Mary Shea, Principal Analyst, Forrester
This bold and opportunistic move puts significant daylight between Seismic and its competitors in this exciting category. The acquisition provides Seismic with enhanced global capabilities including a more robust global sales and marketing channel, access to increased sales/service talent and dramatically expands their book of business.
Over time SAVO Group’s clients will be migrated to the Seismic platform. Assuming the integration is pulled off flawlessly, SAVO Group’s current clients stand to benefit from a more modern technology solution.
Pieterjan Bouten, CEO, Showpad
It’s no surprise that we’re seeing an increasing amount of consolidation in the space — competition is heating up and creating greater demand for more comprehensive sales solutions. Acquisitions like this will only increase the amount of attention on the sales and marketing automation space, so it’s an exciting time to be in this business.
Moving forward, the players that will succeed have to deliver cutting-edge innovation and provide real value to their customers. This means providing a centralized, agile solution — not a fragmented set of platforms based on legacy technologies. Those that are weighed down by outdated solutions won’t be able to iterate at the speed and scale necessary to meet the demands of today’s market.
While there is room for multiple players in the space, the companies that will succeed will not only scale their go-to-market strategy, but also deliver a positive, constantly improving experience for global marketers, salespeople and buyers that offers a fast time to value and is scalable for organizations of all sizes.
Carson Conant, CEO, Mediafly
Seismic’s acquisition of SAVO validates the Sales Enablement space as one of the next big enterprise software environments.
Similar to what played out in the Marketing Automation space several years ago with four companies emerging as clear leaders [via] the vector capital-owned CoreI acquisition of ClearSlide [and the] Quark acquisition of Docurates, the Seismic acquisition of SAVO signals the coming consolidation of this space as it matures, with Seismic as the financial leader to catch.
This is a healthy shakeup for this space that is sure to create new opportunities and attract financial investment. Companies that can successfully scale, prioritize tangible customer success and remain innovative and nimble will pull ahead of the pack. Seismic will likely face a steep challenge as they assemble a large like-size company and work to ensure customers feel valued and solutions stay current. I’m excited to be part of this market as it gains importance in modern enterprises.
