🤷♂️ TL;DR SME’s needed and SAP financials, 164 Jobs, 14 events, 4:51 hours of learning and 1 vendor spotlight (Vertex).
❤ The last week in the Nexus
Hey everyone, firstly the votes are in for the next cohort of profiles (🙏 everyone who voted here and on LinkedIn). Sadly there’s no definitive winner and we’re tied at the top so I need to make a decision between:d
VAT challengers (Fonoa, VATCalc, Taxually etc)
AI Native players (Kintsugi, Sphere, Numeral etc)
One thing that would swing it for me would be the chance to connect - confidentially - with SME’s who can help me refine my market view & customer segmentation on these groups, so if that’s you please DM me.
In other news, SAP posted Q1 earnings last week, and I’m a firm believer that their (and other key platforms) trajectory are amongst the biggest leading indicator for demand across the larger indirect tax platforms and tax tech consulting practices… Cloud revenue growth was up 27% and backlog up 25%, with public cloud taking up 70% of the order book (good for sales & use, not so good for VAT). “Cloud ERP”, which includes the oCFO product lines including DRC & Ariba was up by 30%. Outside of the release itself, the latest stats seem to suggest RISE growth at around 2600 customers and S/4 transition at around 73% of the install base, with 30% fully live.
This would seem to suggest that the adoption cycle will continue and we should see these projects hitting the vendors/consulting firms in 6/9 months time…. Get yourself to Sapphire in Orlando (may 11th, details below) if you want to be in the mix.
Speaking of SAP, this week we’re looking in more detail at Vertex , enjoy 😉
🐱👤 Vendor Spotlight
Vertex: Deep Roots, Unfinished Platform
Vertex is the quiet titan of indirect tax tech — 47 years deep in SAP and Oracle, publicly listed, and finally assembling a global stack for the CTC era. With the SAP S/4HANA migration wave continuing and e-Invoicing mandates accelerating, the timing matters.
What Vertex Actually Is
Vertex is a publicly listed indirect tax platform covering sales and use tax determination (its core), international VAT/GST, e-invoicing and CTC via the Ecosio acquisition, Brazil indirect tax via Systax, EU e-commerce VAT via Taxamo, managed filing services, and a growing AI layer powered by Ryan LLC’s proprietary LLM/GPT assets. Its go-to-market is unapologetically ERP-centric: SAP, Oracle Netsuite & Microsoft Dynamics are the primary channel, not a sales pitch. The company runs roughly 1,500–1,900 employees and reported $748M in full-year 2025 revenue — the most financially transparent vendor in this category, given its NASDAQ listing. Vertex belongs on the longlist for any SAP-heavy or Oracle-centric enterprise managing complex US multi-state tax and growing multi-country VAT obligations, and is the natural shortlist leader for multinationals with meaningful Brazil operations.
Where It Beats the Market Baseline
Calculation accuracy is Vertex’s floor, not its ceiling — no reviewer across any platform disputes the engine gets the number right, which is rarer in this market than the vendors will tell you. The SAP relationship (25 years, 900 mutual clients, Endorsed App status) and Oracle primary vendor designation (30 years) are structural moats that cannot be replicated quickly; these ERP ecosystem positions generate warm pipeline that competitors have to earn from scratch. The Brazil story is genuinely differentiated: full ownership of Systax since 2024, combined with Vertex O Series for Brazil, gives the company the deepest Brazil indirect tax stack available from a single vendor — useful in a market facing a 7-year dual-VAT reform. On sales org health, Vertex is the standout: RepVue quota attainment of 62% against an industry average of 43% creates a self-reinforcing flywheel of talent and commercial performance no PE-backed peer comes close to matching. Where Vertex sits at or below baseline: reporting and analytics (the single most consistent user-review gap), API-first developer ergonomics (the product was built for ERP, not headless stacks), and Ecosio CTC maturity (real coverage in 38 countries, but independent review sentiment is still thin — diligence required before you sign).
Portfolio Analysis
Vertex has executed a disciplined, targeted acquisition arc rather than a spray-and-pray rollup. Tellutax (edge computing, Jan 2021), Taxamo ($200M, May 2021), Systax (majority 2020, full ownership 2024), Ryan LLC AI capabilities (June 2024), and Ecosio ($69M upfront, Aug/Nov 2023) have each plugged a specific geographic or capability gap — not bought revenue for its own sake. Separately, a $15M minority stake in Kintsugi (April 2025, AI-native SMB sales tax) signals strategic awareness that the core platform cannot serve the SMB segment efficiently and opts for an ecosystem investment rather than a damaging downmarket pivot. Directionally, the determination engine likely accounts for 50–60% of indirect tax ARR; e-invoicing and CTC (Ecosio, Systax DFE, Taxamo Assure) combined represent the fastest-growing segment at an estimated 8–12% of revenue and rising. Unlike some peers assembled through aggressive rollup, Vertex’s acquisitions have not produced the multiple-portal, inconsistent-UX complaints that characterise architecturally sprawling peers — but buyers should still validate that the specific countries and product lines they need are genuinely integrated, not just co-branded.
Business Model and Size Band Fits
Business model fit
B2B goods: 3 – Strong fit — flagship ICP; SAP/Oracle ERP integration, exemption handling, and Systax DFE for Brazil align cleanly with complex, multi-entity B2B goods flows.
B2C goods: 2–3 – Good to Strong fit — Taxamo Assure handles EU e-commerce VAT at a managed-service level; omnichannel and cross-border B2C viable; over-engineered for domestic-only e-commerce.
B2B/B2C digital services: 2 – Good fit — OSS/IOSS and place-of-supply logic covered; integration friction is real for API-native digital stacks.
B2B/B2C services: 2–3 – Good to Strong fit — multi-office VAT, SAF-T, and automated filing work well for professional services and mixed-model groups.
Size band fit
Small: 0–1 – Poor to patchy fit — implementation complexity, pricing floor, and Q4 2025 attrition data from sub-$50K accounts confirm this is not Vertex’s segment; consider Kintsugi instead.
Medium: 2 – Good fit — viable for mid-market with genuine ERP-driven multi-jurisdiction complexity; budget realistically for implementation and annual contractual escalation.
Large: 3 – Strong fit — purpose-built for this band; 60% of Fortune 500 served, $138K average ARR per customer, and the SAP S/4HANA migration wave as structural tailwind.
Customer and Employee Sentiments
Customer sentiment is notably consistent — there is no G2-vs-Capterra split of the kind seen at peers who chase every segment. Vertex’s ICP is tight and its reviewers are largely the same enterprise and upper-mid-market SAP/Oracle users the product was designed for.
G2 (4.4/5.0) / Gartner Peer Insights (4.0/5.0): Tax calculation accuracy rates at ~4.7/5.0 — the highest individual dimension in the category. ERP integration quality a close second. Support specifically praised for not upselling on calls — a rare and commercially meaningful signal.
Capterra / TrustRadius: Consistent with G2; no meaningful divergence. TrustRadius 2025 Buyers Choice Award winner across all three categories (capabilities, value, relationship) simultaneously — the only indirect tax vendor to achieve this.
G2 pain points: Complex interface for new users (49 reviews cite it specifically); reporting and analytics consistently flagged as needing improvement.
Glassdoor / Indeed (3.6/5.0): Stable employer; 100% remote flexibility and domain mission praised; recurring themes of management inconsistency through reorganisations and below-market pay for senior SMEs.
RepVue (87.93/100; Ranked 297 of all software companies; 62% quota attainment): The strongest sales org in this peer group by every metric. Product-Market Fit score of 4.4/5.0 (top 10% of all software companies) means reps believe in what they’re selling — and SAP/Oracle co-sell creates warm demand that backs that belief up.
The operator implication: Vertex delivers a stable, low-drama enterprise buying and implementation experience for this category. No billing horror stories, no support service tiers that disadvantage your account size — but you will need experienced ERP implementation muscle and should go in with eyes open on the analytics gap.
If You’re X, Do Y
For buyers:
If you’re a large B2B goods group running SAP S/4HANA (or about to migrate) across multiple US states and VAT jurisdictions, Vertex is the obvious anchor — the 900 mutual SAP clients and Endorsed App status mean your SI partner already knows this product and your SAP account team is likely already recommending it. Shortlist it, but run a structured demo specifically against your use cases, reporting and analytics requirements before you sign, because that is the most consistent post-go-live disappointment.
If your business has significant Brazil operations, Vertex’s full ownership of Systax makes this a compelling choice in the market right now, particularly given the 2026–2033 dual-VAT reform timeline.
If you’re a mid-market business with growing multi-jurisdiction complexity and a genuine ERP backbone (SAP, Oracle, or NetSuite), Vertex is a credible shortlist candidate; budget $50K–$200K for implementation on top of software costs and negotiate an annual escalation cap at contract signature rather than at renewal.
If you’re digital-native, API-first, or operating a modern billing stack (Stripe, Zuora), treat Vertex as the heavy option and run a parallel evaluation against API-native alternatives for TCO and developer experience — the product was not designed for your architecture.
If you’re genuinely small (<100 employees, sub-$50K indirect tax budget), don’t shortlist the core Vertex platform. Look at Kintsugi — the AI-native SMB compliance startup in which Vertex holds a 10% stake — as a purpose-built alternative Vertex itself has strategically backed.
For prospective employees:
Strong move for tax content specialists, regulatory analysts, and indirect tax SMEs who want serious technical depth, no PE exit pressure, a 47-year content library to work with, and genuine domain credibility on their CV.
Good fit for SAP/Oracle integration engineers and platform engineers who enjoy technically complex, high-stakes ERP environments — this is not a greenfield SaaS product team, but the problems are genuinely hard.
Sales (AE/BDR): the best indirect tax sales environment in the market by RepVue data — 62% quota attainment, top-10% PMF, and warm demand generated by SAP/Oracle co-sell. Go in with eyes open that the CEO transition (November 2025) is the only material near-term uncertainty.
Customer success and post-sales: Q4 2025 earnings explicitly acknowledged under-investment in customer success and committed hiring for 2026 — which means either a genuine improvement opportunity or inherited workload without resourcing, depending on execution speed; worth probing in interviews.
If you’re prioritising explosive growth, a high-pace PE culture, or an imminent exit event, Vertex is not that company — it is a stable, methodical, public-market-governed business, which is a feature or a bug depending on what you need from your employer right now.
Want a copy of the full 30+ page report? Mail me…
🙌 May Events
A selection of of opportunities to connect in person and interact online over the next few weeks
May 2026
Tax Reporting & Withholding Conference (In-Person)
Sovos | May 4–6, 2026 | The Gaylord National Resort, Oxon Hill, MD, USA
Deep dive into crypto asset reporting regulations and the latest Form 1099 and 1042-S reporting requirements for tax and compliance professionals.
Deloitte Tax Accounting Conference (In-Person)
Deloitte | May 11–15, 2026 | Four Seasons Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Semiannual conference featuring sessions covering ASC 740 foundations, international tax accounting essentials, and complex domestic and global legislative changes. Includes dedicated courses on Tax Accounting Essentials (May 11–12), Tax Accounting International Essentials (May 13), and Tax Accounting Complexities (May 13–15).
Event Page →
SAP Sapphire Orlando 2026 (In-Person)
Vertex Inc | May 11–13, 2026 | Orlando, FL, USA
SAP’s flagship user conference featuring Vertex at Booth #343, plus a dedicated customer session on SAP tax transformation.
Register →
E-Invoicing: What Accounts Payable Teams Need to Know (Webinar)
VAT IT | May 12, 2026 | Online/Virtual
Overview of global e-invoicing mandates, upcoming country requirements, and practical compliance insights for accounts payable and business teams.
Register →
SYNAPSE Workshop SF 2026: Where Tax Meets Intelligence (In-Person)
Fonoa | May 12, 2026 | San Francisco, USA
Half-day session where indirect tax leaders explore the future of indirect tax, measure tax tech maturity, and network with peers in the digital economy.
Register →
Private Companies Tax Update: Pillar Two, GI3/R&D, and M&A (Webinar)
Deloitte | May 12, 2026 | Online/Virtual
Practical discussion on the next wave of tax changes impacting private companies, with a focus on Pillar Two, GI3/R&D credits, and M&A tax considerations.
Register →
DynamicsCon 2026 (In-Person)
Vertex Inc | May 12–15, 2026 | Las Vegas, USA
Conference where Vertex helps Dynamics 365 customers modernise indirect tax processes and boost compliance confidence across their operations.
Register →
Accountex (In-Person)
VAT IT | May 13–14, 2026 | ExCeL London, UK
Brings together tax and finance leaders to discuss UK developments, Making Tax Digital, and European initiatives including VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA).
Register →
Tax Accounting in Action: Pillar 2 Unlocked (In-Person)
Deloitte Belgium | May 18–19, 2026 | Belgium
A comprehensive two-day workshop focused on Pillar 2 tax accounting changes, their practical implications, and implementation strategies.
Event Page →
Join EY, Meridian, Jaguar Land Rover, and SAP: Exclusive Tax and Trade Leadership Event (In-Person)
EY / Meridian Global Services | May 19, 2026 | EY Offices, London Bridge, London, UK
Brings together industry peers to explore the evolving landscape of tax and trade, focusing on the latest trends and best practices in global compliance. Contact Ruby Buckland at EY to register.
Event Page →
Trade and Tariff Tuesdays — May (Webinar)
Avalara | May 19, 2026 | Online/Virtual
Avalara experts break down key global trade issues and their business implications in this recurring webinar series.
Register →
Tax Intelligence 2026 / Evintel (In-Person)
Fintua / VAT IT | May 20–21, 2026 | Scandic Frankfurt Museumsufer, Frankfurt, Germany
Specialist summit for senior tax and technology professionals exploring the challenges and opportunities of governing VAT data and e-invoicing at scale.
Event Page →
Gartner Finance Symposium/Xpo™ 2026 (In-Person)
Vertex Inc | May 27–29, 2026 | Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, MD, USA
Finance leaders forum with Vertex providing practical strategies on indirect tax compliance within the enterprise technology ecosystem.
Register →
What to Expect from Global Tax Policy and Controversy in 2026 (Webinar)
EY | May 28, 2026 | Online/Virtual
A panel of EY Tax Policy and Controversy leaders discusses strategic priorities for tax departments as they address changing global tax policy and enforcement landscapes.
Register →
*any organisers or events I’ve missed? please let me know.
🐱🏍 Learning
A curated selection of blogs, white-papers and on demand content published by multiple organisations across the landscape, organised into a themed learning path.
MONTH TWO · MAY 2026
E-Invoicing, CTCs & Real-Time Compliance
Belgium is now live, Brazil is overhauling its entire indirect tax system, Poland’s KSeF mandate is entering enforcement, and France’s September 2026 deadline is approaching. The e-invoicing landscape has never moved faster.
Week 5 · 5–9 May
CTC Foundations: The Conceptual Framework You Need Before Reading Anything Else
13📖Continuous Transaction Controls (CTC): The Future of Compliance Sovos 12–15 min
14📖The Rise of E-Invoicing CTC Models Across the World Pagero (TR) 15–18 min
15📖Global Tax & E-Invoicing Updates for 2025: What You Need to Know Fonoa 15–20 min
Week total: 3 articles · ~42–53 min
Week 6 · 12–16 May
The European Mandate Wave: ViDA, Belgium Live, and What’s Next
This week has been updated to replace the KSeF-specific deep dive with a fresh analysis of Belgium’s live mandate, which went active on 1 January 2026 and entered full enforcement on 1 April 2026. The Belgium lessons are immediately applicable to the next wave of European mandates — France (September 2026), remaining German phase-in, and Croatia (2026).
16 📖 What is ViDA? VAT in the Digital Age Initiative Q&A Pagero (TR) 12–15 min
17 📖 5 Things We Can Learn from Belgium’s 2026 E-Invoicing Mandate Innovate Tax 8–10 min
18 🎥 VAT Snapshot: From Poland to the UAE — Preparing for 2026 Mandates Sovos 45–60 min
Week total: 2 articles + 1 webinar · ~65–85 min
Week 7 · 19–23 May
Platform Strategy: ERP Integration, Consolidation & Architecture
19 📖 Leading the Charge: E-Invoicing as the Cornerstone of Future Compliance Vertex Inc. 10–12 min
20 📖 E-Invoicing Transformation: How to Get It Right Pagero (TR)10–12 min
21 🎥 E-Invoicing in Eastern Europe: KSeF, ViDA, Romania, Hungary & Beyond Pagero (TR) 45 min
Week total: 2 articles + 1 webinar · ~65–69 min
Week 8 · 26–30 May
Intelligence & Emerging Markets: SYNAPSE Insights, Brazil’s Reform & AI in Indirect Tax
22 📖 5 Key Indirect Tax Trends from SYNAPSE 2026 Fonoa 10–12 min
23 📖 Brazil 2026 Tax Reform: Key E-Invoicing Changes for Businesses Fonoa 10–12 min
24 🎥 Embracing the Future of Tax Compliance with AI Avalara 45–60 min
Week total: 2 articles + 1 webinar · ~65–84 min
Month Two total: 9 articles + 3 webinars · ~237–291 min
*any cool content I’ve missed? please let me know.
🎁 Open Taxtech Jobs
A randomised selection of open roles across tax tech vendors and tax advisory/consulting businesses who are involved in tax technology.
Use the column headers to sort, or the (new) search function and don’t forget to navigate multiple pages!
*I do this using an AI agent and due to the volume, I don’t check every link, so please let me know if any of these don’t work or have disappeared when you follow them.
✌ Last thoughts
Thanks again for reading! If you have any feedback, suggestions, want to contribute, share gossip or would like to work together in any way, email me here or hit the button below!
