The Microstrategy POV on the SAP and Business Objects Deal

Among the finest things to watch is the aftermath of any proposed acquisition is the competitive response. The Microstrategy camp has issued their own set of talking points and review of the SAP acquisition of Business Objects. They are fairly straight forward with their position - this is bad for customers and Microstrategy is the only pure play focused on BI. Of interest is the handy reference guide they provide on product overlap.

Significant Areas of Product Overlap Between Business Objects and SAP
Product Category	Business Objects	SAP
Dashboards and Scorecards	Xcelsius, Dashboard Manager, Crystal Vision	Visual Composer, Web Application Designer
Query, Analysis and Reporting	Web Intelligence, OLAP Intelligence, Voyager, Crystal Reports, Cartesis, Inxight Software	BEx Web Analyzer, BEx Analyzer, ABAP™, BEx Report Designer, Pilot
Office Plug-ins	Live Office	BEx Analyzer
Application Infrastructure	Nsite (on demand), crystalreports.com Vertical and Horizontal Apps	NetWeaver xApps Vertical and Horizontal Apps
Desktop Design Tools	Desktop Intelligence, Designer	BEx Query Designer
Portals	InfoView	SAP NetWeaver Portal
Performance Management or CPM	SRC, ALG Software, Cartesis	SEM-BCS, BPS, Netweaver® BI-Integrated Planning, OutlookSoft, Netweaver® BI Advanced Planner and Optimizer, mySAP ERP Express Planning
Master Data Management	Metadata Manager, Composer	SAP NetWeaver® Master Data Management
ETL/EII/EIM	Data Integrator (Acta), Data Federator (Medience), Data Quality (Firstlogic, FUZZY! Informatik)	Data Extraction routines to populate SAP BI
Mobile	Mobile Interactive Viewing (InfoView Mobile)	SAP NetWeaver® Mobile

Source: Microstrategy website. Link is HERE.


Also of interest is the fact that this is not totally complete or accurate. For example, there is no mention of the Dashboard Builder or Performance Manager as part of the dashboard and scorecard offering in box one. However, they do give at least one overview of the variety of overlap. As of this writing, no analyst or 3rd party has provide a similar side by side comparison that I have seen.

If I was SAP and Business Objects, I would fully expect to see this in wide circulation in competitive deals.