SAP's ByDesign could be a winner, making SAP the loser?
110416
SAP has a new SaaS suite, which may end up being its biggest competitor.
399150
This book attempts to demolish the notion that ''new is better.&quot; For the most part, it succeeds. Sergio Zyman and coauthor Armin A. Brott build a solid foundation for their argument that innovation can be disastrous for the bottom line. Innovation is like a sugar high, they say -- a quick fix that just doesn't work.
176059
Oracle's  search for a  smoking gun to prove the truth of its allegations that rival  SAP  stole its software is likely to be long and  arduous, making an out-of-court settlement attractive for both  parties.
590925
Oracle's  search for a smoking gun to prove the truth of its allegations that rival SAP  stole its software is likely to be long and arduous, making an out-of-court settlement attractive for both parties.
6968
Oracle's Ellison has made SAP enemy No. 1. But SAP is fighting back the right way: by getting customers.
119775
A smaller and more efficient design could help the chipmaker better compete.
461536
Opinions are mixed on whether SAP and its subsidiary will be able to restore customers' trust in the companies.
484389
SAP reported a 10 percent rise in revenue for the fourth quarter, but earnings fell 6 percent compared to a year earlier, dragged down in part by the cost of&#160;launching Business ByDesign, a new offering for the mid-market, the company said Wednesday.Revenue for the fourth quarter totalled &#8364;3.24 billion ($4.77 billion as of Dec. 31, the last day of the period reported), up 10 percent from &#8364;2.95 billion a year earlier, but net income fell 6 percent to &#8364;756 million.Software and related services revenue grew at 13 percent year on year, while consulting activities, representing around a fifth of SAP&#39;s revenue, remained stagnant.For the full year, revenue rose to &#8364;10.25 billion, up 9 percent from &#8364;9.39 billion, while net income rose to &#8364;1.92 billion, up 3 percent from &#8364;1.87 billion.The results do not include any revenue gains from&#160;SAP&#39;s $6.8 billion acquisition of&#160;business intelligence software vendor Business Objects, which the companies only completed on Jan. 16, 2008, although they do include &#8364;61 million in acquisition-related costs.SAP&#39;s operating margin for the year fell from 27.4 percent in 2006 to 26.7 percent in 2007, but if the effects of exchange rate fluctuations and the company&#39;s investment in Business ByDesign were excluded, the operating margin would have risen to 28.2 percent, Chief Financial Officer Werner Brandt said in a conference call.Developing Business ByDesign cost the company &#8364;125 million in 2007, &#8364;40 million of it in the fourth quarter, and the company expects to spend at least a further &#8364;175 million in 2008. An additional &#8364;50 million of expenditure will fall in late 2008 or early 2009.Sales and related services for subscription-based products like the new ByDesign contributed just &#8364;53 million in the fourth quarter, up 47 percent year on year.Looking ahead, CEO Henning Kagermann expects mid-market products like ByDesign to boost growth in 2008, he said during the conference call.Another growth driver will be SAP&#39;s acquisition of Business Objects, which will help the company increase its penetration of the business user sector, Kagermann said.SAP expects full-year revenue from software and software-related services to grow at between 24 percent and 27 percent. Excluding the contribution of Business Objects, SAP&#39;s existing activities will contribute between 12 and 14 percentage points, the company said.
678945
Oracle is concerned PeopleSoft customers might abandon maintenance contracts that could help it spend more on new software products to compete with SAP AG, the world's biggest business software maker.
688301
Oracle may be the big winner in PeopleSoft&#39;s firing of CEO Craig Conway. PeopleSoft offered little convincing rationale for the ouster, and speculation centered on the possibility that it is
339569
The software giant's CFO says a target as big as SAP is less likely, but some big buys could be in Microsoft's future.
710953
The software maker is moving along -- but not enough to get investors excited.
528011
A great company doesn't necessarily translate into a great stock to own.
466408
I got an interesting teaser in the e-mail this week: âStudy Suggests Nearly Half of All Leaders See a Disconnect Between Strategy and Execution.â I wonât say who sent it because they blew the execution: The so-called study wasnât posted anywhere online, and when I called the number, theyâd already left for the weekend.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
126797
BARCELONA, Spain  - Europe's biggest software  maker SAP could need a year more than anticipated to reach its  profitability target as it spends on research, development and  marketing, its chief financial officer said on Thursday,  sending its shares lower.
537022
(InfoWorld) - Two months after theÂ resignation of Shai Agassi, a driving force behind SAP's product strategy, the German software vendor on Wednesday announced the appointment of its first chief technology officer. Vishal Sikka, formerly senior vice president and chief software architect at SAP, will head the company's newly created Office of the CTO, responsible for ensuring a "clear and harmonized roadmap" for SAP's products, the company said. He will report to CEO Henning Kagermann and be based in the U.S. SAP felt it needed a CTO to oversee some broad changes that are underway at the company, including its renewed focus on the midmarket, the introduction of new on-demand products, and the continued rollout of NetWeaver and its SOA strategy, said SAP spokesman Frank Hartmann. "We thought it was necessary bearing in mind the strong strategic focus of such a role and the responsibilities he is going to bear," Hartmann said. Sikka shouldn't be seen as a replacement for Agassi, whose responsibilities have been divided among several executives who report directly to Kagermann, although part of his job will overlap with Agassi's former duties, Hartmann said. Agassi had been president of SAP's product and technology group and was credited with spearheading its NetWeaver and on-demand strategies. Once tipped as a future SAP CEO, he resigned April 1 after SAP voted to keep Kagermann in that position until 2009. SAP also recentlyÂ lost another senior executive, Aliza Peleg, managing director of SAP Labs in the U.S., who will leave the business applications company by the end of June. It wasn't immediately clear how Sikka's responsibilities as CTO will differ from those of his previous job, where he was responsible for SAP's roadmap and software architecture. Before joining SAP, he was responsible for application development technologies at Peregrine Systems. He holds a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University and is based in SAP's office in Palo Alto, California.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
337711
With only weeks remaining before the elections, it&#39;s too early to say who will come out a winner. But at least one loser has already been named: Diebold, the company that makes touch-screen