Oracle Hyperion has Momentum

 digg it |   delicious |   StumbleUpon |  reddit 

We have witnessed a significant trend in the last 6-9 months and thought to share it -- Oracle Hyperion is taking market share.

I know this might be hard to believe, since Hyperion was the market leader before the Oracle acqusition, but witness events of the last year.

• SAP acquires OutlookSoft, SRC & Cartesis - confuses market - We hear from many folks, both existing SAP clients and not, that a mixed message has come from SAP in the last 6+ months as it digests the acquisitions.  Many folks appear to have trepidation about the upcoming merger of these disparate technologies into a consolidated package orginally due in 2009, now 2010.  Not that OutlookSoft or Cartesis are fading, in fact implementations are probably steady or rising, but many of these implementations are existing SAP as we are just not seeing them elsewhere.
• IBM acquires Cognos which had acquired TM1/Applix - We haven't yet figured this one out and it could be that IBM has internalized the Cognos/Applix salesforces in that they are selling to existing IBM customers - time will tell.  One large client we worked with ruled Cognos out right after the product manager (in a sales call to this client) announced TM1/Applix would be the core database of the future.  Not that they did not like TM1, they just did not want to buy a technology that would go through such sudden reengineering right after their implementation.
• MPC loses momentum - a former dominant technology, many feel Comshare MPC, now badged PM, has been lost in the shuffle.  Gartner punished them on their "Magic Quadrant" when Infor acquired GEAC although there was absolutely no change in the software.  The newest release, Infor PM10, is a strong package and warrants inclusion in your evaluation process
• Microsoft buys Yahoo (or not) - some might think a recession is the time to shine for Microsoft with lower initial price points on software in this area.  We simply have not seen them in many serious evaluations, although a few clients have allowed them through the first round only.  At the same time, we know of underfunded IT shops in a few firms that are pushing initiatives in this area.  Sound similar to how MS SQL got its start?

All of this technology has been rolled into larger companies that do not disclose detailed data at the product line level.  However, we have more than anecdotal evidence that Oracle's strategy of buying Hyperion and relying upon that single acquisition for a strategy in Performance Management is working.

Posted by Scott Crow on Sun, Nov 16, 2008