Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Software Safari - Premium Blog on Application Software: Sapphire Conclusions #1
Software Safari - Premium Blog on Application Software: Sapphire Conclusions #1
Conclusions
Annual events, like Sapphire, cause all of us to reflect on the changes over the last year and beyond. They make us take note of progress and new market conditions. Specific to the SAP customer, I must conclude that:
- The high-end customers are, surprisingly, unchanged. I’m not sure they’ve gotten more or less sophisticated. However, the point may be moot as there are so few large firms left that aren’t SAP customers.
- Prospects of the small business persuasion are quite different from the traditional SAP buyer. I’m still not convinced that SAP is totally ready to attack this space. Yes, it’s lining up channel partners; however, I’m more concerned that SAP’s big, expensive image will bleed into and stall sales in the low-end of the marketplace.
- Some prospects will still be attracted to other solutions. SAP competitors who are attractive to Innovative and Early Adopter segments (e.g., Workday) will continue to find opportunities to compete. The speed with which these firms are delivering new solutions to the marketplace will likely give them an advantage.
- ORCL customers, no matter how good Fusion is/becomes, will be more vulnerable to defection to SAP than vice versa. Too many ORCL customers still refer to the software they use by its pre-acquisition name (e.g., Datalogix, JDEdwards, Peoplesoft) and their loyalty to ORCL may be suspect to some degree. SAP customers have clearly drunk the Kool-Aid and won’t be changing for the most part. Think of SAP customers as 3rd generation Republicans while Oracle/PeopleSoft users are ‘Independents’.
Conclusions
Annual events, like Sapphire, cause all of us to reflect on the changes over the last year and beyond. They make us take note of progress and new market conditions. Specific to the SAP customer, I must conclude that:
- The high-end customers are, surprisingly, unchanged. I’m not sure they’ve gotten more or less sophisticated. However, the point may be moot as there are so few large firms left that aren’t SAP customers.
- Prospects of the small business persuasion are quite different from the traditional SAP buyer. I’m still not convinced that SAP is totally ready to attack this space. Yes, it’s lining up channel partners; however, I’m more concerned that SAP’s big, expensive image will bleed into and stall sales in the low-end of the marketplace.
- Some prospects will still be attracted to other solutions. SAP competitors who are attractive to Innovative and Early Adopter segments (e.g., Workday) will continue to find opportunities to compete. The speed with which these firms are delivering new solutions to the marketplace will likely give them an advantage.
- ORCL customers, no matter how good Fusion is/becomes, will be more vulnerable to defection to SAP than vice versa. Too many ORCL customers still refer to the software they use by its pre-acquisition name (e.g., Datalogix, JDEdwards, Peoplesoft) and their loyalty to ORCL may be suspect to some degree. SAP customers have clearly drunk the Kool-Aid and won’t be changing for the most part. Think of SAP customers as 3rd generation Republicans while Oracle/PeopleSoft users are ‘Independents’.
