SAP New-Product Blitz Tomorrow

Looking to transcend ERP and become the world leader in real-time analytics, SAP tomorrow will roll out 15 real-time analytics applications in concert with six major customers. The launch of new apps, hosted by CEO Bill McDermott, will highlight the industry-specific functionality SAP has built in and will underscore "the importance and evolving role of analytics in business today," the company said.As noted in the second half of today's Global CIO column, called Global CIO: As HP And Oracle Brawl, IBM And SAP Snatch Customers:

In the middle of last week, SAP announced its intentions to stage on Sept. 14 a "global event to unveil SAP's vision for business analytics along with a new industry-tailored approach and family of solutions."

The online presentation will feature SAP CEO Bill McDermott plus CIOs from six customers to discuss "the importance and evolving role of analytics in business today," according to SAP.

And SAP's McDermott concurred that the recent goings-on with Oracle and SAP make this an ideal time for his company to push back aggressively against Oracle in the applications space, according to a New York Times interview with the SAP executive. Here's an excerpt from that article:

"This is net-positive for us,' he said in an interview on Wednesday.

The potential benefit to SAP, Mr. McDermott explains, is that Oracle's executive-suite shuffling serves to underline the different paths the two companies are taking.

In Mr. Hurd, Oracle is bringing in a top-shelf executive who knows computer hardware, both from his years at H.P. and at NCR before that. That strategic and operational know-how is crucial to Oracle, since it acquired Sun Microsystems earlier this year.

Mr. McDermott called the Sun purchase "Oracle's wild move into hardware."

By contrast, he said, SAP is "staying true to its core" in software.

In addition to the 15 new real-time business applications coming out tomorrow, according to the Times story, SAP will also unveil a set of tools to help developers create mobile applications to complement the aggressive mobile position SAP has staked out, led by its acquisition this year of Sybase.

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