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 Channel Futures

Best Practices


Business Intelligence Companies: Objects of Desire

  • Written by The VAR Guy 1
  • October 7, 2007

Another business intelligence specialist has been acquired, and this time Oracle wasn’t the company opening its wallet. It’s time for Business Objects to say goodbye to its independence. The buyer is SAP AG. The big question: What does the deal mean for Cognos, MicroStrategy and SAS — three of the larger business intelligence companies that remain independent.

SAP is paying $6.4 billion for Business Objects. The move is a clear indication that SAP knows it can’t rely purely on organic growth as it battles Oracle in the applications market.

The VAR Guy can’t help but wonder: Will the SAP/Business Objects combo force smaller BI rivals to reconsider their independence? Here are some potential answers:

1. Cognos: The Canadian software company is now roughly a $1 billion operation, and in September announced a $339 million deal to acquire analytics specialist Applix. The VAR Guy spent some time consulting with Cognos in 2005 and 2006, and the company seemed to prefer to remain independent at the time. Cognos’s corporate culture is the opposite of Oracle’s, and a combo between the two companies seems highly unlikely.

2. Microstrategy: You can’t trust anything The VAR Guy says about Microstrategy. During the dot-com boom, he was high on the company but an accounting issue caused Microstrategy shares to tank. The VAR Guy never forgave the company — but should have. Microstrategy shares are more than 10 times more valuable today then they were five years ago.

3. SAS Institute: The privately held BI provider enjoyed serious channel success over the past year. SAS had planned to host a partner summit in August but then postponed the conference and Channel Chief Miles Mahoney left the company. The VAR Guy wonders: Did SAS cancel the event to save money in preparation for a potential takeover? That’s a stretch by The VAR Guy to be sure. But SAS’s silence in recent months makes you wonder: Will the privately held company march forward on its own — or seek a business combo? Hmmm. It’s time to call says for an update.

In the meantime, Oracle and SAS are putting plenty of pressure on independent BI companies.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Best Practices Leadership

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5 comments

  1. Avatar Mark MacMullen October 17, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
    Reply

    After having experienced the takeover blues twice already and all the prevarications that follow from upper management about how great everything will be, I hope SAS will always remain an independent company. I’ve used SAS for the last 13 years and have always admired the company and its resources to be there for me when I neded them. If anyone were to buy SAS it would change the complextion of the company and as a result it would be far less then the complany it is today for customer service and developer support.

  2. Avatar TechIQ raquo; Archive raquo; Cognos CEO Watching Managed Ser October 17, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
    Reply

    […] Ashe#8217;s decision to join Third Brigade#8217;s board should be a win-win. Third Brigade gains valuable insights from a CEO who knows how to compete with some of the world#8217;s largest technology companies. And Ashe gains valuable perspective on the MSP and SaaS trends. Cognos can only benefit from that as the company faces heightened competition from Oracle and SAP. […]

  3. Avatar Cognos CEO Watching Managed Services laquo; MSP Mentor October 17, 2007 @ 2:55 pm
    Reply

    […] Ashe#8217;s decision to join Third Brigade#8217;s board should be a win-win. Third Brigade gains valuable insights from a CEO who knows how to compete with some of the world#8217;s largest technology companies. And Ashe gains valuable perspective on the MSP and SaaS trends. Cognos can only benefit from that as the company faces heightened competition from Oracle and SAP. […]

  4. Avatar MSP Mentor raquo; Cognos CEO Watching Managed Services October 17, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
    Reply

    […] Ashe#8217;s decision to join Third Brigade#8217;s board should be a win-win. Third Brigade gains valuable insights from a CEO who knows how to compete with some of the world#8217;s largest technology companies. And Ashe gains valuable perspective on the MSP and SaaS trends. Cognos can only benefit from that as the company faces heightened competition from Oracle and SAP. […]

  5. Avatar TechIQ raquo; Archive raquo; Four Reasons IBM Spent $5 Billi January 6, 2008 @ 2:50 am
    Reply

    […] the deal has its share of challenges. When SAP announced plans to buy Business Objects for $6.4 billion in October, lots of folks expected Cognos to be the next object of desire. Some Cognos insiders […]

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