“After repeated false starts of trying to build its way into the enterprise eCommerce space, SAP has finally decided to do a U-turn on its strategy and buy its way in,” writes Forrester Principal Analyst Peter Sheldon in a blog post analyzing SAP’s acquisition of hybris. The biggest surprise, notes Sheldon, is not why SAP has decided to purchase the eCommerce solution provider, but rather why the decision was made now. “There is no single answer to this question — but we can look at the factors that have increasingly piled on the pressure for SAP to change direction and pull the trigger on this acquisition.” These include:

  • SAP’s WCEM product was simply too far behind the market leaders.
  • Hybris has recently been treading on SAP’s traditional ERP turf.
  • SAP had a huge void in its portfolio against IBM and Oracle.

“For existing hybris customers, business will continue as usual for now,” writes Sheldon. “But over the next 18 months we can expect SAP to make significant investments in integrating the hybris suite with ERP and CRM, making it easier for existing SAP customers to use hybris in an integrated fashion.”

To view the full analysis, visit the Forrester eBusiness & Channel Strategy blog here.