Elliot,
OK, you asked for some comments on Aspect. Here's one IT market research firm's take on Aspect's alliance with SAP:
"Yesterday afternoon (February 20, 1997) SAP and Aspect Development unveiled a comprehensive agreement that will allow SAP's sales force to market Aspect's Component and Supplier Management (CSM) system worldwide. The two companies will work together to integrate Aspect's Explore software and VIP content database with SAP's R/3 ERP system. The agreement is effective immediately. In fact, product integration is expected to be demonstrated next month at the CeBIT trade show, (March 13-19, Hannover, Germany) and available for customer shipment by June. . . .
One natural question: What might this alliance produce in revenue for Aspect? We spoke with Chris Mortenson, managing director, at Alex Brown this afternoon for one Wall Street insider's view of this announcement. His initial forecast shows R/3 related revenue as modest for 1998 - generating $4M-5M of the estimated total revenues of $65M. In our view, what the numbers may not show is SAP's endorsement has just made CSM a major new market category."
That last point is the key one, as far as Dega is concerned. Nobody's saying that Dega's a threat to Aspect. What the real issue is that while Aspect, with the help and blessing of ERP giant SAP, evangelizes the CSM market, there's plenty of room for other competitors in other niches. Dega can clearly play in areas that couldn't even pretend to afford Aspect, but who can benefit from the technology. A rising tide lifts all boats, as long as the boat's in good shape. Scam's is kinda harsh word to use. |
