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Capgemini has acquired Syniti, a firm that helps large companies move information between their business systems.

The companies didn’t divulge the deal terms. However, it’s safe to assume the price tag was substantial: Massachusetts-headquartered Syniti has over 1,200 staffers and counts many large enterprises as clients. Another clue is Capgemini’s disclosure that the transaction will require regulatory approval to close. As a rule of thumb, antitrust officials only take interest in acquisitions if they may have a substantial impact on the market because of their dollar value or another factor. 

Syniti’s main specialty is helping companies move data between their applications. A particular area of focus for the firm is loading business information into SAP’s popular S/4HANA application. In a press release, Capgemini indicated Syniti’s SAP know-how was a major driver behind the acquisition.

S/4HANA is what’s known as an ERP system. That’s a complex software program in which large companies keep the information generated by their accountants, HR professionals, procurement teams and other backoffice staff. ERP systems also include features for a range of related tasks such as coordinating the movement of goods between a firm’s facilities.

There are several situations in which a company may wish to load new data into its S/4HANA environment. It might be upgrading to the software from an older ERP platform, such as one of SAP’s previous-generation software products. Data transfers are also necessary when a company with a S/4HANA deployment buys a business that uses a different ERP system and wishes to bring the new subsidiary’s data into its centralized corporate backend.

Syniti, the firm that Capgemini is buying, has two main offerings. The first is a suite of consulting services through which it helps enterprises with the nitty-gritty details of data movement projects. The firm’s other offering is a piece of software, the Syniti Knowledge Platform, that automates some of the work involved in such data transfers.

The software includes a tool that can map out what business records a company has, where they’re stored and which department is responsible for what document. Another feature can scan those data assets to identify quality issues such as duplicate spreadsheet rows. Once a company knows what information it has and whether it’s reliable enough to be worth moving, loading records into S/4HANA becomes considerably easier. 

Syniti can also ease a few of the subsequent steps involved in S/4HANA data transfers. Oftentimes, the records that a company wishes to move into S/4HANA is stored in a format that isn’t supported well by the software out of the box. For such situations, Syniti’s platform includes a feature that can partly automate the process of changing business records’ format.

Capgemini expects to close the acquisition in the coming months.

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