As the news of the SAP acquisition of Business Objects continues to filter in, one term, new to this Performance Guy, keeps popping up throughout the articles and press conference today--the "Business User." It seems to be a new term to the analysts that follow SAP as well, representing a 3rd-wheel of strategy that is more acquisition friendly for SAP than their core businesses. It's in this third area that SAP apparently intends to continue to branch out with other acquisitions and new technologies (OutlookSoft for instance), and Business Objects is likely to be the cornerstone of this strategy moving forward.We'll discuss this issue more as the transaction unfolds, but there are some early prevailing thoughts on how this term came to be used: first, it might be something SAP just made up to justify the size of the acquisition of BOBJ--i.e., we can't say this is ERP, let's create a new category--hey Business Objects, who's your main customer? The business user? Great, let's call the new category that." Or, it may signal a big strategic shift for SAP whereby they continue to acquire new technologies under this umbrella and use this part of their company as an incubation area for higher growth IT products (BOBJ's earnings miss not withstanding). Or third, perhaps they created it to allow the illusion of independence for BOBJ customers, most of which are using something "other" than SAP, and upon which the company's "BI needs to be source independent" mantra has been based. By showing themselves as off to the side of the core SAP businesses, perhaps this allows Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM customers to feel more calm about using Business Objects in the future.
Whatever their reason (perhaps it's a combination of all three in some form), it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the course of the next several quarters!
1 comment:
I noticed the same thing, but have not yet waded through all the write ups. Among the things implied with the business user segment is the admission that existing SAP solutions are not exactly user friendly. Not exactly a shock, but a strong signal that requirements for the front of the house are at least as important as requirements for the back of the house, where SAP has earned its bread and butter.
Also on point from my Friday comments, the whole notion of Dynamic applications (Forrester talk) requires focus on business people and the information worker and workplace. Nobody can argue this is the priority of the Business Objects business.
Interestingly, a couple themes do emerge from early reports.
1. SAP paid too much? Depends on where you sit on the multiple, but this seems like a high price for allegedly commodity technology. In fact of the reality is that this is for business uses, not a bad price to pay at all.
2. SAP is finally figuring out they can buy stuff quicker than they can build it. The truth is self evident.
3. Overlap can be minimized if you keep the business apart. SAP claims no overlap, yet everyone with their brain turned on recognizes the performance management overlap. Would love to have a seat at performance management meeting where Cartesis, Outlooksoft and SRC alumni tried to decide how to explain this one to customers. So good you can't even make it up, especially if you are a Cartesis employee who recently liquidated his options...
4. Business Objects to remain a stand alone business. Nice idea. At least on paper. Putting a senior executive with juice into the BOBJ organization immediately is a great call.
5. Consolidation in BI space is over? Welcome to the bonus round.
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