Sure they have a common enemy in Oracle and have targeted them before, but this recent announcement is around business performance management (BPM). More specifically budgeting, planning and consolidation. That would mean the Oracle/Hyperion product set and the product set that SAP/BusinessObjects acquired with OutlookSoft. Both companies have very strong offerings in this area. Microsoft had a solid offering of its own in this area, PerformancePoint, which they backed away from. That probably made sense because it was still many versions away from truly competing with the established players. The OutlookSoft product set was designed from the ground up to support and take advantage of Microsoft technologies so SAP is a logical partner for Microsoft in this area. What does this mean though for other BPM vendors with Microsoft-based solutions? Whatever happens, the fact that budgeting and planning is the new battleground says a lot about the growing importance of business performance management.
Posted November 18, 2009 1:07 PM
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Dear Craig,
As a long time fan and reader of you blog and your other publications on BI, I always look forward to your offerings.
Thank you for continuing to take the time to do the research and update this so regularly with such useful facts and thought leader opinion. It is appreciated.
I look forward to reading you more in 2010 and wish you well so you to continue to prosper and enjoy life.
In the meantime very best wishes for a continuing Merry Christmas period.
Regards
Gordon Wood