HFS Highlight: Quorum becomes energy’s big beast of BPM

The energy industry has a new big beast in business process management – in a merger and acquisition promising fast-track benefits for digital transformation customers.

Houston-headquartered Quorum Software – the oil and gas industry digital transformation platform named an HFS OneOffice Hot Vendor in Q1 2018 – has merged with integrated planning, execution and reserves software vendor Aucerna, based in Calgery, Canada. The new business creates the world’s largest software provider of BPM focused solely on energy, according to PE owner Thoma Bravo.

The move is aimed at bolstering Quorum’s ambition to lead the digital transformation of the energy industry through modern, connected technology in a rapidly evolving market.

Quorum adds hydrocarbon accounting muscle to expanded capabilities

The business goes forward retaining the Quorum Software name – and scales further with the acquisition of Finland-based TietoEVRY’s Oil and Gas software business. The acquisition adds the Norway-headquartered ‘Energy Components’ hydrocarbon management (including hydrocarbon accounting) solutions and the ‘DaWinci’ solution for personnel and materials logistics.

The addition of Energy Components adds a solution that keeps track of volumes, ownership, quality, commercial agreements and sales associated with the production of oil and gas.

The new company has 1400 employees and more than 1800 customers across the globe – extending its portfolio of solutions to address end-to-end processes for acquiring and developing assets, drilling and completing wells, managing production, accounting for operations, and optimizing logistics.

Tackling tough industry problems-as-a-service goes global

The move builds on Quorum’s previous pivot from being services dominant to software dominant, benefitting from recurring, subscription-based revenue rather than consulting-based revenue. Quorum’s energy-industry focus, platform-based services tackling tough industry problems, dedication to innovation, and value propositions that fit a range of different players in the energy landscape, were what made Quorum stand out as a Hot Vendor for HFS in 2018.

Back then, it was focused on North America. The combined company delivers a broadened footprint, now serving customers across 55 countries. Quorum Software now has offices throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. It will retain its presence in Calgary, Alberta, the headquarters of Aucerna, and in Norway, home of the newly acquired Energy Components/DaWinci software business.

Just months after featuring as an HFS Hot Vendor, the business was acquired by Thoma Bravo from previous owners Silver Lake – which itself had acquired Quorum for $130m in 2014.  The firm was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Quorum CEO Gene Austin will be CEO of the combined company, and Wayne Sim, CEO and co-founder of Aucerna, joins its board of directors.

Energy Industry scrambles to keep up with digital benefits

Quorum has benefited from an industry scrambling to grasp the advantages of digital technologies in the quest to redefine operating models. Quorum offers a cloud approach to support the shift from legacy systems and processes, and incorporate innovative automation, artificial intelligence, connected devices, and advanced analytics into core industry processes.

The myQuorum platform – an open-standards-based software integration platform focused on ERP for the energy industry – targets all energy industry segments, including upstream, midstream, and downstream operations, for operators of any size.

The platform features Accounting; Gathering & Processing; Land Management; Marketing & Logistics; Measurement; Production Operations; Supply & Distribution; Transportation & Storage; Well Lifecycle Reporting; Well Master Data Management.

The Aucerna merger and DaWinci acquisition adds industry-focused integrated planning software and a solution for personnel and logistics management, while taking the offering global.

The Bottom Line: Merger bolsters industry’s OneOffice opportunity

This merger and acquisition is a statement of intent toward leading the energy software industry – bringing instant global scale and a broad product portfolio that covers almost all the energy value chain. The potential for cross-fertilization of ideas and pooled investment should scale and accelerate innovation, benefiting customers seeking the digital support to make their own data-led journeys to improved and automated workflows in the cloud – in line with the HFS OneOffice vision – shared in our report: The New Dawn To Become A OneOffice Organization