*By Chloe Aiello* Ryan Smith was planning to celebrate the public debut this week of Qualtrics, a company he founded, built, and now leads along with his brother and father. Instead, one day before Qualtrics' scheduled IPO, he stood beside SAP CEO Bill McDermott to celebrate something entirely different. Both Smith and McDermott are still riding high on German software giant SAP's ($SAP) [last-minute, $8 billion buyout](https://cheddar.com/videos/sap-to-acquire-qualtrics-in-deal-compares-facebook-buying-instagram) of Qualtrics ー a deal Smith called "literally a match made in heaven." And they've got plans to shake up the enterprise technology world. "This was the biggest move possible because it re-architects every enterprise in the world," McDermott told Cheddar on Wednesday right before he and Smith rang the NYSE closing bell in honor of their deal. Qualtrics, which calls itself an "experience management" company, offers cloud-based subscription software that assists in collecting and analyzing data a company can use for market research, product development, and customer engagement. SAP, on the other hand, deals in operational data and is especially known for its work in enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and human capital management. SAP counts Salesforce among its rivals. Both CEOs have been singing praises about the deal's synergies. "Experience management is going to be the biggest category in the business software industry, probably in the last 25 years," McDermott said. "We have a chance to take all that operational data, combine it with the experience data and fundamentally reshape the information technology industry." "They go end-to-end, we go end-to-end. If you look at it, it's one single system," Smith said. "There's no other company, there's no other culture." And the deal doesn't mean the end of Smith at Qualtrics. He'll continue to run things there, and he expects to see continued growth. "We just got off the phone with the governor of Utah, and Bill's comment was, 'You better pull out the diggers and the bulldozers, because we are going to be building some buildings,'" Smith said. "We are literally going to be expanding as fast as we possibly can." For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ceos-of-sap-qualtrics-discuss-expansion-plans-after-acquisition).

Share:
More In Business
‘Chainsaw Man’ anime film topples Springsteen biopic at the box office
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
Flights to LAX halted due to air traffic controller shortage
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Load More