M&A activity continues

On March 5th Corvu announced that they were to be acquired by Rocket software.

Extract of Press release follows: "...Minneapolis – Monday, March 5, 2007 - CorVu® Corporation (OTC BB: CRVU), an innovative provider of Business Intelligence and Performance Management software solutions, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Rocket Software, Inc. and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rocket Software, Inc. under which CorVu will be acquired in an all cash merger transaction..."

So who exactly is Rocket software? I sure never heard of them, have you?

They certainly are a company on an acquisition trail (see http://www.rocketsoftware.com/news/news).

But what do they want with a BPM/BI Vendor? Well, it would appear from their website that they are quite a 'mixed' company and have their own BI tool called Rocket which appears to have multiple usages. So I can only guess that Corvu would server to add to that capability because Corvu has some great functionality surrounding a complete BPM solution.

I wonder if Rocket, who do not appear to have any exsiting Aussie presence plan on entering our market via Corvu?

Business Intelligence delivered as a Service (SaaS)

I have been reading so much about Software as a Service (SaaS) recently. Seems it is the flavour of the month right now and it is certainly starting to gain favour with companies embarking on their own Business Intelligence initiatives.

This headline caught my eye today: "Car Toys Signs Two-Year Deal for On-Demand Business Intelligence" (http://www.sys-con.com/read/349005.htm)

Yes, on demand is definitely starting to make its way into the world of BI/BPM. Locally I know only two Vendors who offer such a service. (The Vendor quoted in the article is not represented in Australia to the best of my knowledge).

The article goes on to say that non SaaS business intelligence solutions rely on an organization's group of "power users" and IT support staff to provide analysis and reporting, whereas on demand, hosted solutions offer a self-directed capability that puts the complete power of business intelligence in the hands of every user, enabling each user to create custom analysis and reporting tailored to their own needs.

Well I think this may only be partly true. Experience has shown me that with some good training and with some of the newer web-based BI solutions available, many end users can in fact elevate themselves to self-service. Of course it takes training and it also takes a willingness.

So what makes a company select a SaaS offering rather than buying the software outright? I asked one of my clients if they would do it and their response was a resounding 'NO' - too risky to have their market sensitive information hosted outside their own firewall.

Yet our (BPM Partners) recent survey that closed in February showed that approx 1/3 of valid respondees would choose such an option. (Results available on our website).

I am a bit ambivalent at this stage - either option seems reasonable to me depending on your risk profile and appetite for outright purchase v pay-on-demand and 'keep it inhouse' v let someone else worry about the headache of maintaining databases and version control.

Oracle and Hyperion - what does it mean for Australian Oganisations?

In a nutshell I think this acquisition will create short - medium term confusion for existing customers as well as those currently or about to go to market to procure new business software.

Clearly Oracle's ultimate goal here is to hurt its arch rival SAP. And this acquisition (of Hyperion) will certainly be a thorn in SAP's side, since many of SAP's platform customers use Hyperion for at least some component of their Performance Management strategy (budgeting, business intelligence, consolidation, strategic modelling.) This means that Oracle gets a footprint into those organisations that use the SAP/Hyperion combo and the Oracle sales force can now extend their target selling deep into SAP's base. Let's face it, along with the purchase of the technology comes an neat list of Hyperion's SAP clients.

So, existing SAP/Hyperion clients will suddenly find themselves as SAP/Oracle application clients. Hmm... let the confusion begin.

On the flip side of the coin, those organisations looking to procure software will be unsure as to Oracle's true intentions. Sure there are statments galore, but history shows that Oracle has been ramping up its own R&D into Performance Management / Business Intelligence. So now with the Hyperion suite, where does this leave Oracle's own products?

Since BPM Partners is a subject matter expert in evaluating such business software and has been tracking this space for a number of years, it has been clearly evident to us that consolidation will take place constantly. (And even with that, our anual buyers guide of BPM/BI vendors still grows each year - this year over 100 vendors). But with that so too will come market confusion. It takes a massive coordinated effort to align two software companies with different cultures, underlying technologies and management styles.

So what is next? Well it is anyone's guess but clearly Oracle have set an enormous precedent here and have paid a huge premium for Hyperion. Cognos and / or Business Objects (and maybe even Information Builders) are likely the next targets of an M&A. By whom - your guess is as good as mine!

One thing is for certain though - you need to do your due diligence before you rush out and buy software.