The Asset Management Software Market Continues To Consolidate As IFS Looks To Deepen Its EAM Capabilities With The Acquisition Of Ultimo

The Asset Management Software Market Continues To Consolidate As IFS Looks To Deepen Its EAM Capabilities With The Acquisition Of Ultimo

On July 5, 2022 IFS, the Sweden-headquartered provider of asset management solutions and services across the energy and manufacturing industries, announced it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Ultimo Software Solutions, a Dutch-based Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution. Ultimo, founded in 1988 provides highly configurable EAM software for mid-market firms across the manufacturing, logistics, and utilities sectors; while capitalizing on strong partnerships with consulting firms such as MaxGrip, Talenco and Vibber and software providers such as AVEVA, Microsoft and SAP.

In the recent Verdantix Green Quadrant benchmark report on EAM software Ultimo scored highly for configurability, BI tools, integrations with innovative technologies such as drones, wearables and GIS software and for work order as well as operational risk management capabilities. The acquisition will enhance the capabilities of IFS Cloud  with the flexibility and configurability of ULTIMO, helping customers achieve rapid ROI’s, while establishing the combined entity as a European powerhouse for EAM software.  
This acquisition comes at a time when the EAM market is growing strongly due to firms’ digital transformation strategies, cost cutting programmes to achieve financial KPIs, accelerated maintenance initiatives to improve asset reliability and uptime, standardization of asset management strategies and the rising pressures to improve operations sustainability at industrial sites. According to Verdantix research the global EAM market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8% to reach $5.4 billion in 2026, from $3.6 billion in 2021.

IFS’s acquisition of ULTIMO is another one in the flurry of M&As taking place across the industrial asset management market over the last three years; representing a consolidation of vendors across the market. Key ones to highlight include the 2019 acquisition of Hippo CMMS by iOFFICE (now iOFFICE + SpaceIQ); Brightly Software’s 2020 acquisitions of Assetic and Confirm; Hexagon’s 2021 acquisition of Infor’s EAM software business, Aptean’s 2022 acquisition of Produce Pro Software and the more recent 2022 Siemens acquisitions of Senseye and Brightly Software. 

In the 2021 Verdantix Operational Excellence global corporate survey over 50% of respondents stated that software with low code capabilities, cloud and mobile offerings were ‘very important’ or ‘important’ criteria when selecting an asset management software. It makes sense that IFS have moved to acquire ULTIMO, with both firms able to significantly benefit – IFS from the availability of a configurable and well-integrated software along with the 2,100 strong customer base of Ultimo and ULTIMO from the global reach and breadth of industry as well as portfolio of solutions IFS has to offer. Customers of EAM solutions will truly have an opportunity to work with a vendor with the one of the most diverse and well-developed EAM capabilities on the market.
For more information on asset management technologies such as APM, EAM, predictive maintenance, asset investment planning software and digital twins, go to the Verdantix Operational Excellence research portal.