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After weeks of speculation, SAP has confirmed that it plans to take over competitor Business Objects for $6.78 billion. SAP's shares dropped on the news.

Ken Rudin, CEO of LucidEra (a provider of SaaS-based BI) mused on what the announcement would mean for Business Objects' fledgling SaaS offerings.

"Given all the overlapping BI functionality within SAP, it's unclear what direction Business Objects' SaaS offerings will now take, or how much support they'll get. This will create a lot of doubt and a strong sense of instability in the minds of prospects considering Business Objects' SaaS offerings," Rudin said.

Business Objects announced its offering Business Intelligence OnDemand last month. SAP also unveiled its Business ByDesign product, formerly codenamed A1S. eWeek reporter Clint Boulton wondered about the future of business intelligence collaboration as it relates to the news, pointing out that collaboration tools could unlock the true value of business intelligence. Analysts quoted in the eWeek article noted that Business Objects' SaaS offering allowed users to share BI reports, and Gilbane Group analyst Geoff Bock believed that the acquisition could create "a new kind of platform for collaborative information delivery."

ebizQ.net's editor-in-chief Liz Book also commented on the acquisition here.

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Posted by: hari at December 3, 2007 09:57 PM | Permalink