Global Ecosystem Embraces SAP Acquisition of Business Objects

Business Wire, Jan 16, 2008

Partners Worldwide See Opportunities, Extended Benefits of Combined Offerings and Open Approach

WALLDORF, Germany & PARIS & SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In a strong demonstration of support of the acquisition of Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJ) (Euronext Paris: ISIN code FR0004026250 - BOB) by SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), partners of both companies worldwide voiced their endorsements, further underscoring the value of the combined offerings and open approach to the market. The partners issued their statements in conjunction with today's announcement of the next steps in the pairing that unites the global market leaders in business software and business intelligence (see Jan. 16, 2008 press release titled, "SAP and Business Objects Unite to Lead Emerging Market for Business Performance Optimization"). The combination of SAP and Business Objects brings together best-in-class software for performance management and analytical insight, offering expanded opportunity for collaboration, innovation, and profitable growth, with the two market leaders sharing a common vision to transform the way the world works by connecting people, information and businesses across networks

In the strongest evidence yet that SAP's ecosystem strategy is delivering value to customers, partners, and developers, IDC recently declared the SAP ecosystem a thriving economy in its own right. (please see October 1, 2007 press release titled, "Leading Research Firm Declares SAP Ecosystem an Economy of its Own.") With the addition of Business Objects' extensive partner network, developer community and expertise in business analytics, the vibrancy of this ecosystem is further amplified.

"The tremendous velocity of the SAP ecosystem has ushered in a new era of collaborative innovation," said Zia Yusuf, executive vice president, Global Ecosystem and Partner Group, SAP. "Now, with the acquisition of Business Objects, the expanded ecosystem offers customers and partners deeper insight and expertise and accelerated opportunities for collaboration and innovation around governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), enterprise performance management, business intelligence (BI), and enterprise information management."

"The SAP ecosystem brings together SAP, thousands of customers, partners, communities of developers, and business process experts to co-innovate industry-leading solutions, access resources, and share best practices," said Janet Wood, senior vice president, Global Partnerships, Business Objects. "We are excited about the opportunities for collaboration around performance optimization and business analytics, and look forward to expanding the dialog with this thriving community."

Partners Offer Comments in Support of SAP and Business Objects

Services Partners:

Accenture

"According to 160 CIOs recently surveyed, more than 75 percent of organizations plan on having enterprise-wide analytics in three years time," said Patrick Puechbroussou, managing director for Accenture's SAP business. "Accenture works with organizations globally to successfully harness and manage information across the enterprise: SAP's vision for business performance optimization aligns with ours. Our experienced practitioners, already familiar with SAP Business Suite and the Business Objects BI platform, will develop solutions that enable deeper analysis and drive performance through more competitive differentiation. And, the positive partnering environment already in place with both companies means we are optimistic about our joint business opportunities in this market."

Capgemini

"Capgemini welcomes the acquisition of Business Objects by SAP. With this step, business intelligence capabilities are moved from being adjunct to business processes to core of the business - something which we describe as the 'Intelligent Enterprise,'" said Paul Hermelin, CEO, Capgemini. "The combined business has a number of synergies and opportunities around the very hot market area of 'Performance Management' and we anticipate that this will bring highly flexible performance management solutions into the market which will be natively integrated into the operational applications speeding up the deployment of performance management solutions. We support this acquisition and look forward to future collaborating for the benefit of our mutual customers and continuing to deliver joint value to the market."

Deloitte

"The Deloitte organization welcome SAP's acquisition of BOBJ as a significant evolution of our strategic alliances with both companies," said Ainar Aijala, global managing partner for Consulting at Deloitte. "The combination of the BOBJ business intelligence platform and applications with SAP's arsenal of world-class technologies should further strengthen SAP's ability to provide integrated, architected solutions to help customers meet their enterprise-wide information needs. The acquisition will strengthen Deloitte's ongoing collaboration with SAP to help clients meet information management needs, including but not limited to GRC and CPM. As well, it will support Deloitte's global CFO Program, financial excellence and compliance, integrated performance management, and, more broadly, business intelligence initiatives at our joint clients."