GEP®, a leading provider of supply chain strategy and software to Fortune 500 and Global 2000 enterprises worldwide, announced today it has agreed to acquire COSTDRIVERS®, a leading supply markets forecasting, pricing trends and cost-modeling platform, and procurement intelligence and data science firm Datamark® Ltd., based in Sao Paolo, Brazil, through the acquisition of its parent company, Datamark International (Bermuda) Ltd. The deal is expected to close in Q1 pending regulatory approvals.
“GEP customers can access the powerful big data analytics and machine-learning enhanced insights of one of the most powerful cost and pricing forecasting platforms available anywhere,” said Subhash Makhija, CEO of GEP. “While GEP’s consulting and managed services teams are already leveraging COSTDRIVERS to deliver game-changing results, we will also enable GEP software customers to leverage the platform by eventually incorporating its powerful functionality into their GEP SMART™ and GEP NEXXE™ digital procurement and supply chain management platforms.”
And Makhija noted, “We are particularly excited by the opportunity that the platform affords customers to drive more sustainable sourcing and procurement operations in a wide range of industries and sectors.”
COSTDRIVERS, which has more than 200 enterprise customers in 40 countries, tracks more than 50,000 commodities and operating supplies in markets all over the world. Easy-to-use, interactive dashboards provide price forecasts and customized alerts for cost reduction opportunities, which feed into budgeting and strategic planning tools. While proprietary algorithms and predictive analytics drive AI-enriched forecasting functionality, scenario planning and decision-making are further informed by highly relevant supporting data, such as a decade or more of historical cost evolution.
Unlike its COSTDRIVERS platform, Datamark Ltd. has focused mainly on servicing the Brazilian market with specialized procurement data on consumer products, packaging and industrial inputs. Brazil boasts the 12th largest economy in the world at more than $1.36 trillion, and Datamark has more than 25% of Brazil’s top 1,000 companies as customers.