Enterprise Business Solutions

The classic war between the giants, SAP and Oracle continues. Once again, SAP is the winner, beating arch-rival Oracle by a wide margin. Oracle has however managed to cover some ground compared to last year. But then again, it's a see-saw battle between the two. No telling who will turn the tables when. Microsoft continues to remain at number three position, although there's been a small increment in its index. Microsoft entered this race last year after its acquisition of Navision. Given that it entered with a significant margin last year and its score this year has increased slightly, it is a serious cause of concern for the others. PeopleSoft was at number four last year, but since it's been taken over by Oracle, it's not visible separately in the club. Ramco finishes last, which is the same as last year. 

SAP enjoys the highest brand loyalty of the lot at a little over 92%. Oracle has lost some brand loyalty compared to last year, and worse still, 15% of its existing customers said that they'd like to move to SAP for their next purchase. Moreover, 5% of its existing customers said that they'd like to shift to newcomer Microsoft. All this sounds good for SAP, but if this trend continues then are we going to see an end to this see-saw battle between the two? Or will we see a new battle emerge?

Sounds exciting doesn't it!

Microsoft, as expected does face stiff competition from both SAP and Oracle, although the inclination is more towards the latter. More than 28% of its existing customers would like to move to Oracle. Given that enterprise business solutions involve significant investments, this is a huge figure to loose. Even a single account lost in this arena is a major blow for any company. On the other side, even a single gain is enough to make up for all losses. 

The only threat that Ramco seems to be facing is either from SAP or other players not in the club. Its brand loyalty points aren't too great, but then everybody except SAP is in the same boat. SAP seems to have consolidated its position quite well, as we've been noticing its brand loyalty percentage increasing ever since we started tracking brand shifts. 

Brand Shift (%) 2003

Analyzing the regional and industry specific preferences, we find that SAP is the top preference everywhere. It does face a little more competition from Oracle in the west, but everywhere else it seems to be comfortable. Oracle on the other hand is also facing competition from Microsoft in the west. So according to the results this time, it seems that Oracle is getting sandwiched between SAP and Microsoft. What will be the outcome of this? Next year's results should be worth watching.