Oracle as the Software Gorilla to Hold
I talked to my wife some more about Ariba last night (she does B2B implementations and has become an expert in the field, from front to back office - nice to have someone in the family who can make a living;), marry smart people!)
Anyways, she says that even Ariba's flag ship procurement products are inferior to Oracles offering.
But as to B2B marketplaces Ariba has about 2900 vs. CMRC with around 900. But the really amazing number is that although Oracle only came out with the product in April of this year, it is already signed up for 2700 some B2B marketplaces and has almost caught up with Ariba's industry leading product from nothing in less than a year.
What Oracle is doing is so analogous to what MSFT did to its competitors it is frightening. What MSFT did was bundle all of its office products. All the competitors could do is form strategic alliances and sell their products bundled together.
The result: MSFT earned 3x as much revenue per sale, and its products were much better integrated.
What Oracle is doing is bundling all the procurement and B2B stuff with the back end financials, supply chain and database; get the whole package bundled at Oracle. And according to my wife, not only this, but except for ITWOs supply chain offerings, everything Oracle does runs better, application for application, than the competitors products. So not only is Oracle leveraging its gorilla position, it is doing so with superior products (except again vs. ITWOs supply chain stuff, but is ITWO so much superior to to through the integration hassles when Oracle offers the entire integrated package?)
So, although I doubt Oracle can dominate this field the way MSFT did office applications, it looks like to me that Oracle is "THE" dominate software gorilla to hold today. So sell MSFT buy Oracle IMHO.
Then watch for either ITWO or ARBA to acquire or develop fillers for the holes in their product offerings. If they can't close them, I do not think the ITWO/ARBA/IBM alliance will be a match long-term against ORCL, or so history is our guide.
Tinker
P.S. I am still infatuated with ARBA however. I'm sure they are on top of the situation. Would like it to get a bit cheaper however, and some insight as to how Ariba intends to combat the Oracle gorilla strategy.
Leave it to Ellison to copy his hated rival Mr. Gates in regard to strategy. |
