“SmartRecruiters already serves a robust customer base of over 4,000 enterprises, including Amazon, McDonald’s, and Visa,” he said. “They possess best-in-class AI-driven capabilities via their Winston AI companion in the areas of talent match, chat, and talent screen. With hundreds of pre-built integrations to third-party applications and the ability to work natively via local environments such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, SMS, and WhatsApp, the potential to streamline the underlying talent acquisition workflows and client interactions for SAP customers is material.”
Still, Mike Tucciarone, VP analyst in Gartner’s software and cloud negotiation practice, warned that “SAP’s acquisition of SmartRecruiters could signal significant changes for customers, especially those already invested in SuccessFactors HCM suite.”
“The big question now is how SAP will integrate SmartRecruiters’ technology,” he said. “Will its capabilities be merged into the existing SuccessFactors Recruiting module, or offered as a separate product? This is particularly relevant in light of SAP CEO Christian Klein’s recent Q2 2025 earnings call comments emphasizing the company’s goal to increase prices to drive long-term margins and profits. If the SmartRecruiters acquisition is merged into the existing SuccessFactors Recruiting module, it could provide SAP with another lever to justify price increases.”
