IBM’s Pop Gun Beats HP’s Bombshell
Everyone is blogging endlessly about HP-EDS (okay, I’m guilty of it too). Valued at nearly $14 billion, HP’s buyout of EDS is big news. But IBM, ironically, may be making wiser moves with smaller, more targeted relationships in the managed services and software as a service (SaaS) markets.
Here’s one prime example of what I mean:
IBM has announced that it is now the “official hosting provider” of Lawson Software’s on-demand and hosted applications in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA).
Smart move. Lawson is one of those quiet and often successful software players in the mid-market. The company specializes in enterprise resource planning (ERP), and increasingly offers its applications via managed hosting.
That’s where IBM enters the picture. Although Big Blue acquired Cognos, a business intelligence specialist, a few months ago, IBM has largely steered clear of the applications market. This means IBM can move aggressively to sign hosting and MSP relationships with leading software companies.
I don’t necessarily think the HP-EDS combo is a bad move. In fact, I suspect the deal will work out quite nicely for HP over the long haul. But the EDS deal won’t do much — if anything — for HP’s managed services and SaaS strategies.
HP is asleep at the switch with managed services. OpenView or an offshoot of OpenView could have served this market. OpenView already assists big telecom service providers. A junior version for small MSPs would have been advisable but it may now be a case of too little, too late if HP goes in that direction.