Irish business technology group Mentec International has continued its expansion in the UK with the acquisition of Xdat Software, one of the country's biggest Microsoft Great Plains resellers.
Xdat, which started life as an offshoot of Deloitte & Touche's technology consultancy, will be absorbed Sytation, which Mentec acquired in December 2004. With its latest acquisitions, Mentec now claims to be the second largest Great Plains reseller in Europe.
Eyebrows were raised in the IT sector in 1997 when Deloitte put aside pretensions to software independence and selected Great Plains as its preferred mid-market ERP system. Since nearly 80% of technology consultancy fees related to the implementation rather than the software licence fee, the firm decided it was more efficient to train its consultants in specific applications.
Xdat came into being as a management buy-out in 2001, as it became increasingly difficult for Deloitte to remain Microsoft's auditor while it was earning fees selling its software.
By the time Mentec came calling, Xdat Software had become the third largest UK reseller of Microsoft Great Plains with around 100 customers in the south of England. According to Mentec this footprint meshes well with Sytation, which is based in the East Midlands.
Xdat will be integrated within the Sytation operation and all employees, including senior management, will remain in place.
Xdat director Nigel Stanley commented, "This acquisition greatly enhances the range of resources and services we can provide to our customers, particularly around configuration and customization requirements. As part of the Mentec group, we now have immediate scalability in terms of the projects that we can deliver and types of opportunities that we can pursue."
Related article
Deals surge among Microsoft business resellers