Cloud HR software pioneer Workday wday, which has been aggressively pitching its financial management applications, is buying big data analysis startup Platfora to lend more credibility to that message.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the transaction should be complete during Workday’s third fiscal quarter, which closes Oct. 31.
Four-year-old Platfora, based in San Mateo, Calif., has raised $95 million in venture backing, including a Series C round back in December. The company specializes in what it describes as “data discovery,” one that can be used to analyze data culled from sources ranging from the Apache Spark and Hadoop information management systems to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Some of its publicly discussed customers include AutoTrader, Citi, Disney, TiVo, and Vivint.
In a blog post about the deal, Mike Frandsen, Workday’s executive vice president of products, support and delivery, said in a blog post that Platfora’s software will enable companies using Workday’s application suite to generate richer operational metrics.
For example, a retail company might be able generate reports evaluating the profitability of a specific product based on information pulled both from Workday’s human resources software as well as its point-of-sale systems.
“That’s what this is all about—helping our customers unlock even more insights across various forms of financial, people, and operational data while cutting the total cost of ownership for managing business intelligence or data warehouses outside of Workday,” Frandsen wrote.
