SAP to Acquire WalkMe: What to Expect from WalkMe SAP Business Transformation

6 min read6 days ago

It appears the WalkMe-SAP marriage is becoming a reality. In their 5 June press release, the two companies announced that SAP is acquiring WalkMe for $1.5 billion, roughly 45% more than its valuation of around $880 million (subject to WalkMe shareholder approval and necessary regulatory clearances).

What does it mean for the two companies and its customers?

Let’s have a look at the key areas where the two companies’ offerings can complement each other to deliver more competitive and innovative solutions to their customer base.

TL;DR

WalkMe is one of the leading digital adoption platforms (DAPs). It helps organizations onboard customers and employees, drive product adoption, and optimize user experiences.
SAP is a major software company offering solutions for enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, human capital management, and other business areas across multiple industries.
By integrating WalkMe’s analytics capabilities, SAP will be able to better understand user interactions with their applications, identify areas needing training/support, and help clients optimize business processes for increased productivity.
WalkMe offers integrations with third-party tools like Salesforce, allowing seamless data sync across a company’s tech stack. This will enable SAP to provide a more unified user experience across different software ecosystems and support non-SAP applications.
WalkMe’s user guidance and real-time support features will enhance SAP’s existing tools, like SAP Enable Now and SAP Companion. To create a comprehensive digital adoption and training solution.
The acquisition aligns with SAP’s strategy to streamline offerings. WalkMe complements SAP’s business transformation management tools, allowing a more integrated product ecosystem to simplify digital transformation for clients.
Integrating WalkMe can lead to increased customer retention through better user experiences, revenue growth from enhanced offerings, broader market reach, and greater operational efficiency.
WalkMe’s upcoming AI co-pilot WalkMeX aligns with SAP’s AI ambitions. SAP can integrate it with their AI assistant Joule to build innovative productivity and engagement solutions.
Userpilot is a DAP with more powerful capabilities than WalkMe. Book the demo to find out more!

What is WalkMe digital adoption platform?

WalkMe is a digital adoption platform (DAP). It offers tools designed to help SaaS organizations support digital transformation initiatives through customer and employee onboarding, facilitate product adoption, and drive growth.

At its core, WalkMe enables teams to:

Create in-app onboarding experiences like interactive product tours. To help customers and new employees experience product value and turn them into competent product users.
Track user interactions across applications to identify friction points and opportunities to optimize user experiences and streamline workflows.

“WalkMe’s solutions help organizations navigate constant technology change by providing users with advanced guidance and automation features that enable them to execute workflows seamlessly across any number of applications. This results in higher adoption of the underlying application and as such drives value realization.” — WalkMe CEO, Dan Adika

What is SAP?

SAP is one of the largest software companies in the world. It offers a wide range of software solutions, including platforms for:

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
Supply Chain Management.
Financial Management.
Spend Management.
Human Capital Management.
CRM and Customer Experience.

Those include SAP Enable Now, a direct WalkMe competitor.

SAP works with businesses across multiple sectors, like automotive, banking, energy, and retail, from around the globe.

Why is SAP acquiring WalkMe?

The acquisition of WalkMe by SAP is a strategic move designed to enhance SAP’s capabilities and provide additional value to its customers.

Here’s how this acquisition aligns with SAP’s strategic goals.

Enhanced analytics capabilities

WalkMe boasts fairly robust analytics for a growth platform. They enable teams to gather detailed insights into how users interact with software applications and identify areas where they face difficulties or inefficiencies.

For SAP, integrating WalkMe’s analytics capabilities into its other products means:

Improved user experience: SAP will be able to better understand how users engage with their applications and pinpoint areas for improvement.
Targeted training and support: The data from WalkMe can inform where additional training or support is needed.
Optimized business processes: By leveraging insights from WalkMe, SAP can help clients streamline their workflows and enhance overall productivity.

Better integration with third-party applications

WalkMe offers a wide range of integrations with third-party tools like Salesforce that enable seamless data synchronization across tools in companies’ tech stacks.

What does it mean for SAP?

Seamless user experience: SAP will be able to offer its clients a more unified experience across different software ecosystems.
Broader application support: The acquisition allows SAP to extend its support to non-SAP applications, making it a more versatile and attractive solution.

Improvement in SAP’s existing products

SAP’s current suite of tools, including SAP Enable Now and SAP Companion, will benefit from WalkMe’s advanced features.

Enhanced in-application help: WalkMe’s user assistance capabilities can be integrated into SAP’s products, providing users with richer, more intuitive guidance.
Expanded functionality: SAP Enable Now’s training and simulation tools will be complemented by WalkMe’s real-time support features, creating a comprehensive solution for digital adoption and user training.

“By acquiring WalkMe, we are doubling down on the support we provide our end users, helping them to quickly adopt new solutions and features to get the maximum value out of their IT investments.” — SAP CEO, Christian Klein

Strategic fit for SAP to streamline its offering

The acquisition aligns with SAP’s broader strategy to streamline and enhance its product offerings.

Complementary solutions: WalkMe’s DAP complements SAP’s existing Business Transformation Management tools, such as SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX, which help customers navigate their digital transformation journeys.
Unified product ecosystem: SAP can leverage WalkMe’s capabilities to create a more integrated and cohesive product ecosystem, simplifying the digital transformation process for its clients.

“Applications, processes, data, and people are the four key elements of a successful business transformation. The envisioned combination complements SAP’s Business Transformation Management portfolio around SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX solutions to help customers on their transformation journeys.” — SAP CEO, Christian Klein

Better financial synergies from successful business transformation

Successful integration of WalkMe’s capabilities into SAP’s ecosystem can lead to significant financial benefits.

Increased customer retention: By improving user experiences and providing better support, SAP can enhance customer satisfaction and retention.
Revenue growth: Enhanced product offerings and expanded market reach can drive revenue growth for SAP.
Operational efficiency: SAP can achieve greater operational efficiency through the insights and automation provided by WalkMe’s platform.

Expanding AI offerings

WalkMe’s upcoming launch of the WalkMeX Copilot, an AI-driven tool, aligns perfectly with SAP’s focus on integrating AI into its solutions.

SAP will be able to integrate WalkMeX with its AI assistant, Joule, to boost SAP’s AI offerings to build innovative solutions that enhance productivity and user engagement.

“Integrating the strength of WalkMe’s adoption capabilities with SAP’s copilot Joule will boost AI assistant and productivity gains for all SAP customers.” — SAP CEO, Christian Klein

Conclusion

The WalkMe acquisition by SAP is big news in the SaaS space.

Considering how each company’s products complement each other, the decision isn’t simply a financial move but a well-thought-through strategic initiative to expand SAP’s capabilities and broaden its market reach.

How well they can capitalize on the emerging opportunities and what this means for WalkMe customers is yet to be seen.

What’s certain is that Userpilot will continue expanding its capabilities and delivering outstanding experience to its customers. Book the demo to learn more!