[Video] SMB Is Suitespot for SAP+Sybase, co-CEO says

August 19, 2010

At the SAP+Sybase media event today in Boston, both software companies unveiled their roadmap for the next 9 months to launch an “Unwired Platform” that will bring SAP applications anywhere, to any device.

A strategy that is paramount for SAP, if it wants to reach its ambitious goal of 1 billion users in 2015; 3 times the number of its current user base.

“60% of the world’s transactions touch SAP,” said SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott.

According to McDermott, the 38-years old German company is now:

  1. The #1 software business applications company in the world;
  2. The #1 in business intelligence software;
  3. The #1 in business analytics software;
  4. And now the #1 mobile leader in the business software industry after the Sybase acquisition.

In a follow-up interview, I’ve asked Bill McDermott what the Sybase acquisition means for SMBs:

The small companies want mobile even more than the big ones because they don’t have the infrastructure, the onsite systems. So either the computing powers coming on-premise, from on-demand or in the cloud, everyone wants to enable it on device. Especially the small and mid-size ones.

Small and mid companies are the suitespot for SAP and Sybase because the mobile is going to go even faster, is going to be even more important for companies that don’t have a lot of infrastructure and a lot of complexity/ They’re going to want to enable their mobile workers.

McDermott went also to great length to explain that SAP is not a “command and control” kind of company anymore and that its management team is very racially diverse pointing to Sybase CEO John Chen (Chinese) and SAP CTO Vishal Sikka of Indian origin.

“Look at this leadership team. Coming from all corners of the globe. All different skillsets. All different cultures. The know-how is amazing. It’s a very collaborative management team. Not a control and command style,” adds McDermott.

Not sure why he thought this was an important thing to point to. Perhaps there was a time when everybody at SAP were blond with blue eyes, fluent in German and wearing a tie!

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Posted by TechPulse 360

[Video] Sybase Bearish On Mobile Advertising Opportunity; Sees Mobile Video Surge

November 17, 2009

Sybase 365 Marty Beard bullish on the mobility market, but not mobile advertising

When I think of Sybase, I naturally imagine large databases and perhaps analytics software, but not as a mobile messaging operator!

But as I learned last night, I was dead wrong: Sybase, through its mobile subsidiary Sybase 365 is the world’s largest inter-operator mobile messaging company.

This year, Sybase 365 expects to reach $200 million in revenues (up 14% from last year) or about 1/5 of the company overall revenues.

“We connect virtually all the 900+ mobile operators in the world and reach over 4 billion mobile phone users [out of 7 billion worldwide],” explains to me Sybase 365 President Marty Beard, speaking yesterday at TiE’s first entrepreneur week in Santa Clara, Calif.

For Beard, the closest competitors are Syniverse – which recently acquired Verisign’s mobile messaging business for $175 million in cash – and Ericsson IPX solution.

Mobile advertising has not lived up to its promise

By being at the centre of the world’s SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) traffic, Sybase 365 can spot early trends in mobile commerce around the globe including hot areas like mobile CRM, mobile banking and mobile money transfer. Surprisingly, mobile advertising is not one of them.

“Most of the mobile advertising business has been around messaging, sending SMS or MMS to consumers and not banners or even ads inside these messages. Pure advertising on mobility has just not lived up to its billing at this point,” adds Beard.

Sybase saw traffic surge after Apple enabled MMS on iPhone

Another new trend in the mobility market is the uptake of videos transferred on mobile networks using MMS. This is especially true since Apple added the MMS feature to its latest iPhone 3GS device. ”When Apple enabled MMS, the traffic spiked 600% and video is a huge part of that,” said Beard.

Follows are excerpts of our video interview with Beard at the TiE event. First on Sybase 365′s business:

And then on mobile advertising:

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Hesitant Financial Industry Will Spend On Risk Management Systems

March 26, 2009

Financial firms are hurting.

So it’s easy to understand why the Citigroups of the world won’t be buying lots of new software this year But there is one area of technology where sales could soar: liquidity management systems.

Since the global downturn upended financial markets last fall, technology purchasing by the financial industry has been depressed, says Don DeLoach, CEO of software maker Aleri. Projects have been delayed or canceled altogether.

The growth of liquidity risk management projects is accelerating, says Aleris Don DeLoach

The growth of liquidity risk management projects is accelerating, says Aleri's Don DeLoach

“A lot of the financial-services firms have pulled in the reins,” says DeLoach. “This is certainly not confined to the U.S.,” but is taking place around the world.

However new regulations are causing major banks to update systems that keep track of their liquidity – the money flows that are the best gauge of an institution’s assets, or financial strength.

Typically, liquidity calculations have been updated once a day. Now regulations expected from the U.S. and elsewhere will require more frequent revisions. Already the Financial Services Authority in Britain has begun imposing the new rules.

DeLoach argues that Aleri is well positioned to capitalize on the opportunity. It has been working on products for liquidity risk management since August 2007 and early this month bought Coral8 to broaden some key technologies.

But it won’t be alone. Giants such as Oracle, IBM and Sybase are already angling for a piece of the business – aware of its potential for attractive growth.

The number of liquidity risk management projects grew 300 percent last year and that growth is accelerating right now, says DeLoach.

While the downturn has brought financial distress to most companies domestically and abroad, at least a few software providers will prosper.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Big Software Comes To The IPhone, Blackberry

March 11, 2009

SAP has tried but with limited success to bring its core back-office software to mobile devices – the Blackberry in particular.

With workers increasingly on the go, more was obviously needed. So on Wednesday, the German software giant took hat in hand and launched a key initiative with the help of software vendor Sybase to more fully integrate its business programs with Apple’s iPhone, Research in Motion’s Blackberrys and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile phones.

SAP is going mobile as Apple finds its way into the business world

SAP is going mobile as Apple finds its way into the business world

The initiative is key in several respects. For one, SAP realized it no longer could rely on in-house capabilities to expand to the mobile world, says Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.

“Part of the problem lies with SAP’s inherent engineering mentality which required it to rely on its own tools and development environment (NetWeaver) to extend its platform to the mobile device,” says Gold. “The problem is, these tools were never quite up to the task.”

Equally important is the recognition of a fundamental change in the work place – and a backhand endorsement that Apple may finally have found a toehold in the business market, with its iPhone leading the way.

Apple’s App Store has been a big hit and is being copied by RIM. It also appears to have sparked the imagination of big software makers, such as SAP.

The first step of the SAP-Sybase partnership will be limited, says Gold. Only selected capabilities of SAP’s customer relationship management software will be available on mobile devices.

This is to expand over time.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Sybase Offers More Proof Software Is Doing Better Than Hardware In Downturn

January 28, 2009

Sybase reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday that added to the evidence that software is navigating the downturn better than hardware and computers.

The company said sales increased 3 percent to $305 million and new license revenue for its database software rose 38 percent. Overall license revenue was up 8 percent.

Database licenses grew 38% in the fourth quarter, John Chen said

Database licenses grew 38% in the fourth quarter, John Chen said

Net income came to $47 million.

Sybase joins companies such as IBM, VMware and Oracle (so far, at least) that have reported growth or relative stability in software sales.

Sybase CEO John Chen attributed the success to the company’s investments in its “unwired enterprise” strategy. The market is responding well to Sybase’s mobility and analytics technologies, he said in a statement.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

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