CIO's, Consolidation & Freak Acquisitions

We have been covering a lot about the Imminent Consolidation that is due in the enteprise software market. User community perception and feedback varies from a sense of relief to deep worry based on the commitments made thus far in their enteprises. To add to that integration of new companies/products are never easy - as we see in the case of Oracle and TIBCO - lot more cases abound. In general the technology industry has a horrible track record of managing large mergers. Bold Oracle has been executing multiple acquisitions. To make this fail, only one of those acquisitions has to fail miserably. For it to succeed, all four must work well. Even thought the Oracle deals make a lot of strategic sense, bunching them together makes CIOs nervous. This is true even though—and here comes the other hand—the SAP choice is not only just as risky, it's arguably more risky. Evan Schuman points out, The CIO’s difficulty lies in taking risks with other people's money - especially not the money of the people who control their salary. To make a major, multimillion-dollar decision here on a new enterprise system, in his view as CIO's see it - it is difficult to pick up Oracle because th e general fear of lack of statement of direction for Oracle worries them and more so potential migration hassles forces them to think that it's much easier to pick a strong competitor (Say SAP) – as one knows what one is getting into. Oracle's sin? Ellison's appetite for buying companies- It may take a tough man to make a tender offer, but it takes an even tougher CIO to ride it out until all of those acquisitions are figured out, rationalized and cleaned up.
CIOs know who Oracle has gotten into bed with. SAP's still dating, and what that combination—if it ever happens—will look like is a big mystery. SAP's is doing a brilliant job of spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about Oracle, while avoiding the issue that SAP's own future is arguably more clouded than Oracle's, although both are certainly murky. In some respects, that's the point. CIOs know that Oracle is going to endure the pain of multiple, simultaneous integrations while SAP's future is unclear. It's sort of like the "devil you know" argument reversed. They know Oracle is going through the integration pain. The problem is compounded if you look at the past - the way decisions are taken & implemented - more so if you look through the prism of Softwar.