SAP compra Business Objects

EbizQ publica la noticia de la compra de Business Objects por SAP, en una operación de 6.800 millones de dólares (4.800 millones de euros). Como allí se indica, una respuesta también a la compra de Hyperion por Oracle, concretada a un costo algo menor. Evolucionan ambas hacia la oferta de un software que abarque todo el manejo corporativo, extendiendo las funciones típicas de un ERP a la extracción de valor sobre la información operativa con software de análisis de negocios, ahora con herramientas de primera categoría. Así como el software ERP ha llegado a un grado de concentración de oferta notable, así quizá también abra una capa de negocios en todas aquellas empresas para quienes una solución "de alcance mundial" les resulte demasiado grande.
La noticia:

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Business Objects S.A. (Nasdaq:BOBJ) (Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 – BOB) today announced that the companies have reached an agreement that will "bring together two of the information technology industry’s leaders, resulting in an unmatched offering for Business Users, enabling timely and accurate decision-making." (...)
Under the terms and conditions of the tender offer agreement, SAP will make a cash offer of € 42.00 per ordinary share and for American Depositary Shares (ADS) at the US$ equivalent based on the EUR/US$ exchange rate as of the settlement of the tender offers. The transaction volume taking into account the transaction costs will be slightly above €4.8 billion. The Business Objects board of directors has approved the tender offer agreement between the two companies and anticipates recommending the offer to its shareholders subject to fulfillment of certain regulatory requirements.
Together, SAP and Business Objects intend to offer high-value solutions for process- and business-oriented professionals. The solutions will be designed to enable companies to strengthen decision processes, increase customer value and create sustainable competitive advantage through real-time, multi-dimensional business intelligence. SAP and Business Objects believe that customers will gain significant business benefits through the combination of new, innovative offerings of enterprise-wide business intelligence solutions along with embedded analytics in transactional applications. Additionally, the joint partner ecosystems will be fueled by the industry’s most powerful business process platform providing customers with the best enterprise information management platform available for SAP and non-SAP environments.

Una evaluación de Joe McKendrick:

According to a report in ComputerWorld, acquiring Business Objects will allow SAP to move into the BI market in a big way. SAP CEO Henning Kagermann said that the acquisition will enable SAP to offer integrated software, versus solutions arising from a partnership between the two companies. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.
Enterprise systems and business intelligence tools have been moving closer in alignment in recent years. The thrust of the BI industry into corporate performance management draws directly from a enterprise/ERP foundation, so the synergy has been ripe.
In addition, over the years, one of the biggest complaints about ERP software has been its less-than-stellar reporting features. Adding a robust BI capability to the mix may help change that perception. Of course, many leading BI vendors have made a living off filling the reporting gap in ERP systems. It remains to be seen if having Business Objects built into these systems will pose a competitive threat to the bread and butter of BI industry competitors. Plus, since many organizations manage multiple ERP systems, the challenge of consolidating reporting into single views still remains a challenge.

La referencia a la debilidad de facilidades de impresión en los ERP´s, le da un lugar importante a Crystal Reports, el software de creación de reportes de BO.
La noticia en el sitio de Business Objects y en SAP.