Which Has The Better Apps Strategy: Oracle Or SAP?

A key decision criterion for enterprise applications is how compelling and clear the vendor's vision for the future is. Oracle's vision for the future of its apps business is now clearer and more compelling than that of archrival SAP. But Oracle's biggest test is yet to come — it must deliver the Oracle Fusion Applications system with its associated promises of better flexibility and lower cost of ownership and do it within the next two years to keep the upper hand in apps innovation. SAP offers a gradual and potentially less disruptive path for enterprise customers, evolving its current release piece by piece; it has also taken its innovative SAP Business ByDesign product off the table as its next-generation suite. Each vendor now offers more (and more complex) paths for customers to consider, but it is unlikely that mass defections will take place in either direction. Despite the size and influence of Oracle and SAP, customers should challenge the vendors to prove the value of their migration and upgrade strategies, including assessing whether either vendor offers better front-office or vertical solutions than best-of-breed suppliers or emerging cloud-based solutions.