Kony Solutions acquires SAP app developer Sky Technologies

Contact: Ben Kolada, Thejeswi Venkatesh

After providing offline sync features for applications connecting to SAP’s ERP systems, Kony Solutions has decided to bring those apps in-house with the acquisition of Sky Technologies. Melbourne-based Sky provides preconfigured apps that integrate with SAP software. IBM, SAP and Kony competitor Appcelerator have also recently announced purchases that bolstered their app development platforms.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but we feel this should be viewed as a tiny tuck-in for Kony, which has 900 employees. Sky’s headcount is reportedly in the 30-40 range.

Kony is increasingly targeting the internal business requirements of enterprises after working with them to develop their customer-facing apps. Sky aids this initiative. By tucking in Sky, Kony can now offer customers a broader range of business-to-employee apps, including those that integrate with SAP environments.

Respondents in our April 451 Enterprise Mobility Survey said that their organizations place higher priority on development of apps that serve employees than apps that serve customers. To a degree, SAP acknowledged this sentiment when it announced that it was acquiring Syclo, which provides mobile work order software for field workers. Underscoring the value of these companies, we’re hearing that SAP paid roughly $100-150m for bootstrapped Syclo.

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