Infor, a supplier of ERP software, has entered into an agreement to acquire GT Nexus, a cloud-based global commerce platform, for $675 million. The deal is expected to close within 45 days, pending regulatory approval. Details of how many GT Nexus employees would remain with the company following the conclusion of the deal, or what role senior executives at GT Nexus would play, were not disclosed.
GT Nexus is a direct procurement network which ties directly to the goods being sold to the enterprise’s end customers. The network optimizes critical orders that generate revenue for the buyer/brand owner. Reportedly 25,000 businesses use GT Nexus, including six of the top ten logistics service providers and 30 global financial institutions, all managing more than $100 billion in goods each year using its cloud-based business network. GT Nexus customers include Adidas Group, Caterpillar, Columbia Sportswear, DHL, Home Depot, Levi Strauss & Co., Maersk, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, and UPS.
Infor’s ERP software helps manufacturing companies orchestrate production inside the walls of the enterprise. The continued shift to contract manufacturing moves the shop floor outside of the brand owner’s ERP system to the ERP of their suppliers—many of which are existing Infor customers. It is now common for a single product to be designed, manufactured and shipped by different companies, requiring a common cloud for coordination.
GT Nexus provides a global order management system that coordinates commerce across partners. Retail, fashion and manufacturing companies can collaborate with suppliers to manage and optimize shipments to customers, distribution centers and retail outlets to meet demand. The cloud was designed to enable this collaboration.
The combination of Infor and GT Nexus will offer companies visibility into their supply chains to manage production and monitor goods in transit and at rest, explains Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor. “In a complex, high velocity supply chain, all partners need to know what was ordered, when it was built, where it is in transit, if the order has changed, and has it cleared customs. Specialization and speed are moving the future of manufacturing into the commerce cloud.”
The GT Nexus network integrates directly into the order management system of the buyers and suppliers. Buyers transmit order information through GT Nexus to their suppliers, financial institutions, freight carriers and logistics providers. GT Nexus becomes the order management system for the entire network by managing the master record of the order across multiple partners.
GT Nexus also facilitates more than $20 billion in payments between buyers and their suppliers in 90 countries and in 8 currencies. Buyers and financial institutions offer pre and post export financing and payment protection through the GT Nexus cloud.
Infor CloudSuite industry suites, including Infor CloudSuite Fashion, are multi-tenant applications tailored by industry delivered on Amazon Web Services. Infor has more than 3,200 fashion and retail customers, many of which use GT Nexus. The addition of Infor CloudSuite technology to the GT Nexus network will enable businesses to integrate merchandising, marketing and demand data instead of extrapolated forecasts for improved sales, operations and production planning.
Infor also provides status about work-in-process for orders still in production. Additionally, collaborative design will be facilitated on the network as will capabilities such as transmission of changes in the bill of materials from Infor’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution.
Infor will also enable the social collaboration for unstructured processes within the supply chain on GT Nexus through Infor Ming.le, a social platform for collaborative business processes. Retailers and manufacturers will also be able to leverage Infor Rhythm, Infor’s omni-channel e-commerce platform for engagement and direct order flow into the commerce cloud.
