The ERP Giants

Some interesting "Facts" about SAP

Is Microsoft buying SAP?

- Microsoft Corp. initiated merger discussions late 2003 with ERP leader SAP AG. The talks ended several months ago after Microsoft decided the deal and the postmerger integration would be too risky. Sometime in June 2004, SAP and Microsoft said in written statements that they have no intention of reviving their merger talks.

How did Oracle bought PeopleSoft and JD Edwards?
- At the turn of the Y2K, there were at least 5 Giant EPR solutions: SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics (Great Plains)

In June 2003, Oracle launched its takeover bid for PeopleSoft Inc., just days after PeopleSoft itself had entered a merger agreement with J.D. Edwards. But Oracle struggled to purchase PeopleSoft for almost 18 months as in June 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice file a lawsuit to block Oracle Corp.'s proposed acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc. The DOJ's case centers on its argument that a PeopleSoft/Oracle combination would adversely consolidate the high-end ERP market, which the DOJ sees as including only SAP, PeopleSoft and Oracle. Finally in December 2004, Oracle finally was able to acquire PeopleSoft at $10.3 billion.

Oracle have extended Premier Support for PeopleSoft and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.2 at least through 2034. 

That is why the 3 remaining ERP Giants today are SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics, but it would have been a different story if the SAP and Microsoft Corp. merger were successful. 

Why did SAP wait to embrace the Cloud technology?

Around 2006, Oracle decided to rewrite all of its existing software products to be available as cloud services. Initially, it offered a set of core cloud services, including compute, storage, and networking, to compete with established cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. And after 10 years, Oracle launched its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in October 2016 with a single region and core services across compute, storage, and networking.
Initially unveiled as SAP NetWeaver Cloud belonging to the SAP HANA Cloud portfolio on October 16, 2012 the SAP Cloud platform was reintroduced with the new name SAP HANA Cloud Platform on May 13, 2013 as the foundation for SAP cloud products, including the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud. On February 27, 2017, SAP HANA Cloud Platform was renamed SAP Cloud Platform. On January 18, 2021, SAP Cloud Platform was officially removed from SAP's product portfolio to support SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). Compared to Oracle, SAP was a latecomer to the cloud and though it have lost some market share to earlier adopters (like Oracle, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud). BUT SAP explained that its delay in embracing the cloud is to give itself an opportunity to audit the landscape and develop its own strategy; SAP showed its Cloud intent buy acquisitions of companies with cloud products, notably Concur, Success Factors, Hybris and Ariba.

SAP HANA

It is only recently that the possibility of using memory for working space and primary data storage has become viable. The first in-memory database systems from the 1990s were not “big data” or “analytics” systems as they were not capable of handling the volume of data required to do true analytics over very large data sets.

SAP's first use of a type of "In-memory" is when it introduced its proprietary "SAP liveCache technology" in early 2000. It was developed for managing complex objects in applications in which large quantities of data must be constantly available and changeable. And specifically for its Advanced PP system called APO (Advanced Planner and Optimizer).

10+ years later, in 2010, SAP HANA (High-performance ANalytic Appliance) was announced and a pre-release version was shipped to select customers in November of that year. HANA is a database that could process transactional and analytical data (Combining OLTP and OLAP processing), and is also a multi-model database that stores data in its memory instead of keeping it on a disk.

SAP Ditched Oracle Database?

SAP R/3 and ECC can run on many databases, including DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and SAP MaxDB. And for many many years, the Oracle Database is the #1 database among SAP customers around the globe, with a large customer base that gains long-term cost benefits from the two companies' integrated technologies. Organizations can run SAP applications with Oracle databases on the same code base on Unix, Linux, and Windows operating systems.SAP ditched Oracle Database in 2015 when it released S/4HANA on 3rd February 2015 which runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Unix Operating Systems BUT on a single "Database system" which is the HANA Database.

The TOP ERP Packages today?

As in 2012, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics take the top spot of each having 25 to 26% of the ERP Market (which means the 2 Giants have more than 50% of the ERP Share Market). Interesting 3rd Spot is a Software called "Workday", securing around 12.5% of the ERP Market; And another ERP Software Giant - Oracle, is having around 6.5% Market Share.
Microsoft Dynamics - Great Plains, is an independent company based in Fargo, North Dakota, released the first variation of what would later become Dynamics GP in 1993. Dynamics Release 1.0, as it was known, was one of the first multi-user accounting programs available in the US. In 2001, Microsoft Corp. announced the completion of its acquisition of Great Plains Software Inc. for approximately $1.1 billion in stock.

Workday Software - Founded in 2005 by American David Duffield, former CEO of PeopleSoft. "Workday" is primary a On-Demand Cloud-based Software of "ERP", human resources (HR) and financial management (financials) system built for large businesses to use in the cloud. It's a one-stop-shop for managing a company's workforce, including payroll, timesheets, benefits, and more. Classified as an ERP software, which today has over 32,000 Customers with a ERP Market Share of 12.42%. 

What a the Bad Reputations of the Giant ERP companies? 

Oracle - Oracle's high costs, poor customer support, complex software, compatibility issues, and security concerns make it a risky choice for businesses. Interesting fact that Oracle has a history of suing companies that it believes are using its software without proper licensing or permission, and there are also many lawsuits against the Oracle. 

SAP - The use of SAP requires relatively large investments. In addition, the maintenance and upgrade costs are quite large. This SAP system was never too friendly and requires qualified human resources to enter data precisely and with timeliness. This makes the company have to spend more to pay for the salaries of qualified human resources.