ECI Software Solutions has announced the acquisition of leading office products e-commerce and product data company ES Tech Group.
ES Tech has developed the highly respected EvolutionX e-commerce platform which has made big inroads into the UK office products channel. In the US, the strategy has been somewhat different, mostly targeting other verticals under the leadership of North American president Dave Bent.
The FusionPlus content platform has also been a great success in the UK. It will be interesting to see what develops in the US now this solution is under the ownership of ECI—with dealers increasingly keen on wholesaler-agnostic content propositions.
This acquisition expands ECI’s existing e-commerce portfolio and furthers ECI’s investments in the digital economy and e-commerce, allowing ECI to expand into markets not served today. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“At ES Tech Group, our mission is to provide SME businesses with world-class technology and services, allowing them to protect their businesses and compete head on, and win, against the biggest competitors—a similar mission to that of ECI,” said Paddy Donnelly, CEO of ES Tech Group. “We have the team, the technology and now the firepower of ECI behind us. We see limitless opportunities for our customers and our team.”
“Every industry we serve needs an e-commerce strategy to meet customer expectations and support growth,” said Trevor Gruenewald, CEO of ECI. “Offering our collective customers the ability to run a superior online presence while driving data-driven decisions through their back-end ERP solution strengthens ECI’s position as a one-stop shop for all business management needs. We look forward to welcoming Paddy and his team to the ECI family and working together to grow our business applications suite.”
The purchase follows ECI’s recent announcement of a new Private Supply Network (PSN) integration that will allow users of its Red Falcon platform to send purchase orders to LD Products—one of the largest distributors of printer supplies to dealers in the US office products channel.
This integration will enable business supplies resellers to connect with LD Products through a unified, easy-to-use platform, allowing them to submit error-free orders to the supplier electronically, receive digital acknowledgments in return and provide all the information needed to manage jobs of any size.
Users will also be able to validate orders with detailed specifications, as well as retrieve lists of business partners, price agreements and dealer salespersons prior to sending a final purchase order. Once the purchase order is finalized in Red Falcon, the updated information—including acknowledgment number(s) and shipping dates—is automatically sent back from LD Products.
Meanwhile, ECI Software Solutions has hired Chip Coyle as its new chief marketing officer.
Coyle will be responsible for building on ECI’s global marketing and demand generation strategy, overseeing its execution across the Americas, EMEA and APAC, and reinvigorating the ECI brand.
Before joining ECI, he spent two years as chief marketing officer for Blue Prism, leading global marketing for the enterprise intelligent automation and RPA software firm.
He also served as SVP and chief marketing officer at Infor, a privately held global enterprise software provider. Prior to this, he spent 18 years with Oracle in progressively expanding marketing leadership roles.
Commenting on the appointment, ECI CEO Trevor Gruenewald said: “Chip brings years of strategic experience in driving global expansion and positioning companies for growth, with a broad understanding of what it takes to build successful, market-leading SaaS organizations at scale.”
Coyle added: “ECI has established itself as a leading global business software provider across many vertical markets, and I look forward to collaborating with the entire ECI organization to achieve their goals.”