Vendor Spotlight: Redwood Software

Redwood Software specializes in workload automation and the company owns many brands that perform that service. The systems offered by the company very cleverly form closed-loop systems from third-party software by running different tools and passing files between them – the output of one process forms the input of the next.

The systems offered by Redwood Software are very easy to use and do not require technical skills. A visual workflow editor lets the user create a flow diagram that gets interpreted behind the scenes into a batch script. Users with technical skills can create their own scripts, amend generated scripts, or import scripts from other tools.

We will take a look at Redwood Software and its many brands. We will also detail the range of products that the company and its divisions offer.

Founding and Background

Redwood Software was founded by Tijl Vuyk in 1993. Tijl Vuyk has played a significant role in shaping the company’s vision and growth, leading it to become a key player in the automation industry.

The company was originally founded in Houten, Netherlands. This location remains significant as it is still the company’s headquarters. Redwood Software has expanded its presence globally, with offices in various locations including the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Redwood Software was created to help businesses optimize their processes by providing automation solutions. The company’s key products help enterprises automate IT and business processes, with a focus on finance, supply chain management, and IT operations. These include automation, scheduling, workload management, and other services.

In the 1990s, Redwood focused on automating core IT operations like batch job scheduling, helping enterprises reduce the complexity and manual efforts involved in managing large-scale IT processes. As automation became more relevant in enterprise operations, Redwood’s offerings evolved. The company expanded beyond IT job scheduling to automate a wide variety of enterprise processes, including finance, ERP, and supply chain functions.

The company now provides process orchestration solutions that integrate across various enterprise systems. Their flagship product, Redwood RunMyJobs, is a cloud-based automation platform that helps organizations manage both digital and human workflows. In 2021, Redwood Software received a significant investment from the private equity firm Turn/River Capital, which has helped accelerate its growth and product development.

Timeline and Evolution

Redwood Software has established itself as a key player in the enterprise automation market, providing flexible and scalable solutions for industries like finance, IT, and supply chain management. Their automation products are designed to reduce manual work, increase efficiency, and ensure compliance in critical processes. Here’s a timeline of key events in the history of Redwood Software:

• 1993: Redwood Software was founded by Tijl Vuyk in Houten, Netherlands
• 1990s: Redwood Software builds a reputation for IT job scheduling and batch automation tools.
• 2000s: Redwood introduces solutions for broader enterprise process automation in areas like finance and supply chain management.
• 2010: Launch of Redwood RunMyJobs, a cloud-based automation platform designed to orchestrate and automate digital workflows for businesses.
• 2014: Geographical expansion, opening offices in the United States, the UK, and Germany. The company attracts customers in manufacturing, retail, and finance.
• 2017: Redwood expands its portfolio with specific solutions to automate manual processes within ERP systems like SAP and Oracle.
• May 2021: Private equity firm Turn/River Capital injects €315 million ($380 million) into the company, gaining a majority shareholding.
• February 2022: Redwood Software merges with Advanced Systems Concepts, adding ActiveBatch and JSCAPE, two rival workload automation systems.
• January 2023: Redwood Software buys Tidal Software, a rival workload automation service.
• February 2023: Redwood Software buys Cerberus (Arlington), a provider of a managed file transfer system.
• September 2024: Redwood Software sold to two private equity firms, Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus.

This timeline captures Redwood Software’s journey from a niche IT automation provider to a leading global enterprise automation platform. Redwood Software has become a major driver for the digital transformation trend that has been rippling across industries.

Company Ownership

As it is a private company, the shareholder register of Redwood Software is not published. However, as there is no record of financing or external investment up to May 2021, it is reasonable to assume that the company’s founder, Tijl Vuyk was the majority owner of Redwood from its creation in 1993. This includes the investment by Turn/River Capital.

A press release about the change of ownership of Redwood Software in 2024 gives a clue about the extent of Turn/River Capital’s involvement with Redwood. The announcement refers to Redwood Software as a Turn/River-backed company rather than a Turn/River-owned company. This suggests that the fund didn’t buy the company outright. Instead, the investors got a majority stake or provided a convertible bond that gave them a guaranteed percentage of the company#’s shares at some point in the future.

The announcement of the purchase of Redwood by Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus in September 2024 makes it clear that the buyers were acquiring the company in its entirety. Tijl Vuyk retained a stake in the company up until the 2024 sale.

Key People

None of the executives of JSCAPE, Advanced Systems Concepts, Tidal, or Cerberus are part of the executive team of Redwood. Most of the original team that ran the company before Turn/River invested are still working there. Here are some of the most important people who have been involved with the history of Redwood Software.

1. Tijl Vuyk – CEO Redwood Software (1993-2021): Vuyk is still involved with Redwood, the company he founded in 1993, and of which he was the majority owner until 2021. Vuyk is still a director of the company, involved at its offices in Houten, Netherlands. He will likely cease to be a shareholder after the sale to Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus in 2024.
2. Kevin Greene – CEO, Redwood Software: Greene joined Redwood as its CEO in January 2022. This was immediately before the acquisition of ASCI, which added the ActiveBatch and JSCAPE brands to the company. He has overseen the integration of these systems along with the other products that the company has bought. The company has made a major takeover every year since Greene took the CEO role.
3. Matthew Amico – Partner at Turn/River Capital: Amico has been closely involved with Redwood Software since the investment by Tuen/River, which saw him take a position on the Board of Directors, which he still holds. Amico was also a Director of Advanced Systems Concepts, which Turn/River invested in separately. He then led the merger process between the two companies.

Locations

Redwood was founded in Houten, which is just outside of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The company’s offices there are still the official headquarters of the business. However, the company lists its US HQ on its website as its contact address. This is in Frisco, Texas. All the companies that Redwood Software acquired in the Frisco location as their contact address. Many of the executives and product managers of the company list different towns as their locations, so it seems likely that Redwood Software permits working from home.

Redwood also has offices in: 

• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Switzerland

Target Market and Customer Base

Redwood Software specializes in automation solutions, particularly focused on automating business processes, IT operations, and financial management. Its target market and customer base span various industries, primarily large enterprises and organizations that need advanced automation to manage complex workflows. Below is a breakdown of Redwood Software’s target market and customer base:

Target Market

Redwood Software’s primary target market consists of large and mid-sized enterprises in industries where automation can drive significant efficiency gains. Specific characteristics of its target market include the following industries:

• Financial Services: Banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions use Redwood to automate financial close processes and regulatory compliance tasks.
• Retail and E-commerce: Retailers with high transaction volumes rely on Redwood for supply chain and order management automation.
• Manufacturing and Supply Chain: Companies with complex production and distribution networks leverage Redwood for streamlining workflows and reducing operational inefficiencies.
• Telecommunications and IT: Organizations in these sectors use Redwood to manage IT workloads and automate routine tasks, such as system maintenance and incident management.
• Healthcare: Hospitals and medical organizations use Redwood’s automation solutions to manage administrative tasks and ensure compliance with healthcare regulations.
• Utilities and Energy: Energy companies rely on Redwood for automating billing, resource planning, and operational tasks.

These business functions are particularly targeted by Redwood Software:

• IT Operations Automation (RPA & Job Scheduling): Redwood’s offerings appeal to IT departments for automating repetitive tasks, job scheduling, system monitoring, and data integration.
• Finance and Accounting: Solutions like Redwood Finance Automation target CFOs and finance teams, helping them automate financial close processes, accounts payable, and reporting.
• Human Resources (HR): Automating onboarding, payroll, and other administrative processes within HR departments.

Redwood focuses on addressing these customer requirements:

• Automation of complex, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks.
• Integration with existing ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, and other enterprise software platforms.
• Scalability and flexibility in automation solutions, with support for both on-premises and cloud environments.

Customer Base

Redwood Software has an established customer base of large enterprises, and some of its key clients include Fortune 500 companies. It serves companies with complex workflows and large-scale operations. Businesses that require high levels of security, regulatory compliance, and scalability. It serves large financial institutions, global retailers, and manufacturing companies.

Specific Notable Customers:

• Heineken 
• Whitbread
• Ernst & Young (EY)
• UBS 
• Siemens 
• Vodafone
• Honda
• GM
• Arla
• Epson

Buyer Personas:

• CIOs/CTOs: Responsible for IT infrastructure, automation, and operational efficiency.
• CFOs and Financial Executives: Focused on automating financial processes, improving reporting, and reducing errors in financial operations.
• Operations Managers: Looking to optimize supply chain and production workflows through automation.
• IT Managers and System Administrators: Interested in job scheduling, workflow automation, and reducing manual intervention in IT tasks.

Redwood Software Product Suite

Redwood Software offers a comprehensive suite of automation solutions designed to streamline business processes, IT operations, and financial workflows. Below is an overview of the key products in Redwood’s portfolio:

1. Redwood RunMyJobs (Workload Automation)

This tool provides automated batch processing, managing large-scale IT operations. It also has a specific specialization to automate business workflows across SAP environments.

Key Features:

• End-to-End IT Automation: Automates complex workflows across IT systems, allowing users to manage workloads and job scheduling seamlessly.
• Cross-Platform Scheduling: Supports various platforms, databases, and applications, including integration with SAP, Oracle, and other enterprise systems.
• Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts: Provides real-time visibility into job execution and system health, offering proactive alerts and automated recovery for job failures.
• Scalability: Suitable for automating processes across large-scale environments, offering both on-premise and cloud deployment options.

2. Redwood Finance Automation

This service accelerates month-end and year-end close processes, automating repetitive tasks such as intercompany transactions, journal entries, and account reconciliation. It is an excellent assistant for managing audit trails and compliance in financial reporting.

Key Features:

• Automated Financial Close: Streamlines the financial close process, helping organizations consolidate, reconcile, and report financial data with minimal manual intervention.
• Accounts Payable and Receivable Automation: Automates invoice processing, matching, and reconciliation to reduce errors and processing times.
• Compliance and Reporting: Ensures compliance with regulatory standards, providing transparent and auditable processes for internal and external financial reporting.
• Real-Time Data Processing: Facilitates faster data collection and validation, improving the timeliness and accuracy of financial reports.

3. Redwood Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Buyers use this system for automating back-office tasks like invoice processing, customer onboarding, and order fulfillment. It can streamline HR operations such as employee onboarding, payroll, and benefits administration. The RPA tool also enhances customer service by automating routine queries and support processes.

Key Features:

• Task Automation Across Systems: Automates repetitive tasks such as data entry, data extraction, and report generation across different systems without manual intervention.
• Pre-Built Connectors: Integrates with various enterprise applications, including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, and others, reducing the need for custom development.
• AI-Enhanced Automation: Combines robotic automation with AI capabilities to handle complex decision-making tasks, ensuring greater accuracy and efficiency.
• No-Code Interface: Allows business users to create and manage automated workflows without requiring extensive IT support or coding skills.

4. Redwood Business Process Automation (BPA)

This system is useful for automating supply chain operations, such as inventory management and order processing, simplifying employee onboarding, and performance management in HR. Companies use this tool to improve service delivery by automating procurement, contracting, and customer order fulfillment.

Key Features:

• Cross-Departmental Workflow Automation: Automates business processes across departments, integrating IT systems with business functions like finance, HR, and operations.
• Customizable Workflows: Allows businesses to design custom workflows tailored to their specific needs, improving operational efficiency.
• End-to-End Visibility: Provides dashboards and analytics for monitoring the performance and progress of automated workflows in real-time.
• Seamless Integration with ERP Systems: Easily integrates with existing ERP platforms (such as SAP and Oracle), helping companies optimize their end-to-end processes.

5. Redwood Cloud Automation

This service was created to automate cloud infrastructure provisioning and scaling and also to manage and monitor cloud application workloads. It provides cost optimization for cloud resource usage and automated reporting for cloud compliance.

Key Features:

• Hybrid Cloud Support: Automates processes across on-premises and multi-cloud environments, ensuring smooth operations even in complex cloud architectures.
• Scalability: Ideal for enterprises looking to scale automation across cloud infrastructures with ease, without compromising security and performance.
• Automated Cloud Resource Management: Helps businesses manage cloud resources, optimize costs, and automate deployments in cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
• Orchestration and Integration: Supports orchestration of complex workflows across different cloud platforms and integrates with DevOps pipelines to enable continuous delivery and operations.

6. Redwood SAP Automation

This unit was added to Automate SAP financial processes, such as journal entry posting, financial close, and tax reporting. It will streamline order-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes within SAP systems. Buyers use this tool for managing SAP background jobs and reducing manual intervention in SAP operations.

Key Features:

• Optimized for SAP Environments: Tailored for automating processes specifically within SAP landscapes, including SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, and other SAP modules.
• Pre-Built SAP Templates: Comes with pre-built templates and connectors designed for common SAP automation tasks, reducing implementation times.
• Real-Time Monitoring and Control: Offers tools for real-time monitoring, auditing, and exception handling within SAP systems.
• Financial and Business Process Automation: Automates critical SAP-based financial and business workflows, such as closing processes, supply chain operations, and compliance reporting.

7. Redwood Reporting and Analytics

The Reporting and Analytics service automates financial reporting and KPI tracking. It also enables self-service data analytics for business users. The unit is particularly needed for operational insights into automated workflows across the organization.

Key Features:

• Automated Report Generation: Enables automated generation and distribution of reports from various data sources, including ERP systems like SAP and Oracle.
• Data Integration: Integrates data from multiple sources, providing a unified view of business performance and operational metrics.
• Customizable Dashboards: Offers customizable dashboards that provide real-time insights into business processes, helping organizations monitor performance, identify bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions.
• Self-Service Reporting: Allows business users to access and generate reports on demand, without requiring IT support.

Redwood RunMyJobs is a cloud-based workload automation solution designed to automate and orchestrate complex workflows across IT systems and business processes. This platform is well-suited for large enterprises managing extensive, distributed environments. It enables users to schedule, monitor, and control various tasks and processes in real time. RunMyJobs integrates with multiple applications and platforms, such as SAP, Oracle, and other enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, facilitating cross-platform automation.

Key Features:

• End-to-End Automation: Automates entire business processes and IT workloads, from job scheduling to task completion, without manual intervention.
• Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts: Provides visibility into task progress and system health, with real-time alerts for failures and performance bottlenecks.
• Cloud-Native and Hybrid Support: Built for cloud environments with support for both on-premises and hybrid deployments, allowing flexibility in infrastructure.
• Application Integration: Integrates with various enterprise applications like SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, and other databases and platforms, connecting across systems.
• Predictive SLAs: Process SLAs and thresholds with customizable escalations and alerts.
• User-Friendly Interface: A no-code, user-friendly interface enables users and IT professionals to manage and schedule workflows easily without coding skills.

Redwood RunMyJobs has a cloud-native architecture, which, combined with extensive integration capabilities, makes it ideal for businesses operating in hybrid or multi-cloud environments. Organizations benefit from automating repetitive tasks, improving efficiency, reducing errors, and optimizing system resources. Redwood RunMyJobs also shines in industries heavily reliant on ERP systems, such as financial services, manufacturing, and retail, where managing large-scale data flows and operational processes is critical.

Redwood RunMyJobs is an enterprise-grade solution offering powerful workload automation, deep integration capabilities, and real-time monitoring for organizations seeking to optimize their IT and business processes.

Other Notable Products

1. Redwood Finance Automation

Redwood Finance Automation is designed to meet the needs of large enterprises by providing an all-in-one solution for automating financial processes. It streamlines labor-intensive financial operations such as month-end close, reconciliation, and invoice processing, significantly reducing the need for manual interventions. This system integrates with existing ERP systems and optimizes workflow across multiple financial functions.

This package allows organizations to focus on analysis and strategic planning instead of routine administrative tasks. Compliance and audit features ensure organizations can meet regulatory requirements efficiently, reducing the risk of errors and improving the accuracy of financial data. With real-time reporting and analytics, financial teams gain greater transparency into their processes and can make data-driven decisions more effectively.

2. Redwood Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Redwood Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a platform for automating repetitive, rule-based tasks across various business processes, significantly improving operational efficiency. Designed for enterprise-level automation, Redwood RPA integrates with key enterprise systems like SAP, Oracle, and Salesforce, allowing users to automate tasks such as data entry, report generation, and workflow execution. Its no-code interface lets users design and manage automated workflows without needing extensive IT support.

Redwood RPA’s ability to handle high volumes of tasks with accuracy and speed makes it ideal for industries such as finance, retail, and manufacturing, where automation can streamline processes and reduce costs. A key advantage is its scalability and AI-enhanced capabilities, allowing businesses to scale automation across departments and more complex workflows. The platform also features built-in monitoring and error handling, reducing downtime and ensuring business continuity.

Major Competitors

Here are six major competitors to Redwood Software in the automation space:

1. UiPath A leading RPA platform offering automation tools for businesses of all sizes, specializing in robotic process automation with AI-powered capabilities and strong integration options across various systems.
2. Automation Anywhere Provides cloud-native RPA solutions with advanced AI and machine learning integration, enabling organizations to automate complex business processes and optimize workflows across diverse industries.
3. Blue Prism An RPA platform focused on secure and scalable enterprise-grade automation. It offers powerful tools for automating repetitive tasks and integrating automation into large, complex IT environments.
4. Microsoft Power Automate Part of Microsoft’s Power Platform, enables businesses to automate workflows across Microsoft apps and services, providing seamless integration with Office 365 and other third-party applications.
5. WorkFusion This system combines RPA and AI-powered intelligent automation to streamline business processes. It’s designed for industries like finance, healthcare, and insurance, focusing on automating high-volume, rules-based tasks.
6. Appian Provides a low-code automation platform that integrates RPA, AI, and workflow automation. Its focus on simplifying application development and automation appeals to both business and IT teams.

Spotlight Wrap Up

Redwood Software’s founder spotted a very useful niche market that enables companies to effectively create their own ERP systems from existing software packages. The existence of workload automation tools has not been well known. Companies that have been reluctant to replace their existing systems have just got by with manual data translation processes rather than face the upheaval of introducing an entirely new system. Redwood has slowly made businesses aware that there is a middle way to solve these problems.

Turn/River Capital really put a rocket under Redwood Software, which had limited its pace of expansion to the budget it gained from its own profits. Taking advantage of the general industry ignorance of workload automation, the fund manager designed an expansion strategy that involved buying up all the major competitors to Redwood Software and making it the market leader.