Oracle is closing in on a deal to buy US-based Micros Systems, a point-of-sale hardware and software maker for restaurants and hotels, for $5bn.
The company sells applications, services and hardware for the hospitality and retail industries including Internet-connected cash registers and software to restaurants, retail shops, casinos and other companies.
Micros Systems’ applications include point of sale, property management, central systems, business intelligence, eCommerce, loyalty, CRM, loss prevention, distributed order management, labour management, inventory management, and merchandise planning solutions.
The acquisition could be Oracle’s biggest deal since it bought Sun Microsystems for $7.4bn in 2010, according to Wall Street Journal.
With the acquisition of Micros Systems, Oracle is looking to expand its offering to the retail and hospitality industries. Separately, Oracle has signed an agreement to acquire LiveLOOK, a provider of real-time, visual collaboration technology for co-browsing and screen sharing.
LiveLOOK’s cloud-based co-browsing application enables customer service and sales agents to collaborate and visually guide consumers through web and mobile environments to resolve issues effectively and improve the quality of buying decisions.
Integration of LiveLOOK solution with Oracle will enable customer service providers to directly engage with consumers to improve customer satisfaction, agent efficiency, and revenue growth across web and mobile channels.
Oracle Product Development group VP, David Vap, said consumers are increasingly conducting transactions across multiple digital channels such as web and mobile.
"Meeting consumer demands and exceeding their expectations for web and mobile service and support will improve customer satisfaction and enhance revenue," Vap said.
"With LiveLOOK, the Oracle Service Cloud will enable customer service and sales agents to deliver exceptional customer experiences."
