At Sapphire Vienna, a couple of us bloggers got to spend sometime with Doug Merritt, He is now one of the SAP corporate officers, who is responsible for the development of software for the business user, as i understand this acquistion of outlooksoft was his baby and during the he also detailed their approach to the due diligence from the product side, they did so by deploying the product internally within SAP and getting feedback from the CFO and the CIO, both strongly recommended the product.Another point during the discussion is that outlooksoft fills the whitespace of Planning and budgeting solution of SAP.

Infact during the discussion a topic that came up was is outlooksoft tied in with SQL Server 2005/MS Analysis Services ? Looks like it is the case and that Outlooksoft can be made available only on two platforms MS SQL / Oracle (Analysis Services/Analytic Workspace), Don't see SAP BI DW/ NetweaverBI, How long is it going to take to get it done, Is it even possible ? I am sure the team has thought about those factors but sure would like to hear details about the integration road map.

On the acquisition here is an excerpt from an article by Doug Henschen

it's clear to me that the early movers gain the best advantage by not only setting the trend but also by picking the best acquisition targets to fit the new strategy. Outlooksoft wasn't the best choice for SAP, but it was the best option still available. 

Dougs reasoning?

• ony 25% of outlooksofts customer base is SAP driven
• Its not even certified on netweaver, the hooks need to be build now.
• Outlooksoft is based completely on microsoft technologies

This list doesnt make it a resonating win of the argument, but at the same time we cant afford to dismiss it. One really wonders how great a challenge it is going to be for them to get the integration in place with the SAP platform but more importantly the way outlooksoft integrates with the office suite of products is very different from the way DUET does so SAP has to invest some effort in harmonizing that as well.

More to follow on this.

Tags: outlooksoft - sap - sapphire07 - sapphire07+vienna - planning - M&A

Prashanth Rai