Last week SAP announced that BusinessObjects Planning & Consolidations (BPC) is now a Microsoft "preferred solution" for Microsoft customers looking for budgeting, planning, forecasting and financial close solutions.  This makes a lot of sense given the legacy of BPC (Outlooksoft, acquired in 2007) was purposefully designed on Microsoft technology from bottom to top.
Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda...Didn't
In my opinion Microsoft should have acquired Outlooksoft when they had the chance rather than going down the development route with PerformancePoint Server.  Outlooksoft had the right technology, a growing client base, and knew how to sell to the office of the CFO.  I'm not the only one who thought an Outlooksoft/Microsoft marriage would be a good one so I'm sure there were internal dynamics that I don't know about that prevented it from happening.  Regardless of why that acquisition never happened, the natural fit remains and the "preferred solution" relationship should be attractive to Microsoft customers and creates an opportunity for SAP to expand its footprint in "Microsoft shops".

 What Does "Preferred Solution" Mean?  Will They Be Dating Other Vendors?
I found the wording in the press release interesting.  It says: "Microsoft Corporation supports the SAP® BusinessObjects™ Planning and Consolidation application, version for the Microsoft platform, as a preferred solution."  The key word here is "a" rather than "the" preferred solution.  Microsoft will likely continue to work with other vendors who provide planning solutions on Microsoft's technology.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out once SAP and Microsoft have finished "identifying potential targeted go-to-market initiatives to accelerate the adoption of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation among the Microsoft user base."   Other vendors have been working with Microsoft to fill the void left when PerformancePoint was shut down.  Will this relationship with SAP supercede the others?

  Is this a tag team against Oracle?  Yes, and More
Both of these mega-vendors see Oracle as the evil empire.  The relationship reminds me of the alliance between the United States and Russia during World War II.  They don't see eye to eye on everything but know that uniting against a common enemy will improve their chances of winning the war.  Together they are looking for ways to prevent Oracle from infiltrating their turf.  This relationship is a way to keep Oracle from using its planning and consolidation products as an entre into SAP or Microsoft strongholds.

I believe this is also targeted at some of the niche players that are beginning to make some headway in the planning and consolidation space.  Vendors like Clarity Systems, Tagetik, Host Analytics and others have been working to fill the void left by PerformancePoint and are aggressively targeting the mid to upper-mid market for planning and consolidation.  While Oracle is the high profile competitor that this arrangement targets it can also help SAP prevent these smaller vendors from establishing a strong foothold in the mid-market.

Reassurance for SAP BPC Customers on the Microsoft version
Another important thing that this arrangement does do is ensure that SAP will continue to support its BPC product on both the Microsoft stack and SAP Netweaver.  This has always been their stance but there have always been rumblings in the market that once the Netweaver version went commercial (which it has), development on the Microsoft version would be phased out or at least diminished.  This very public arrangement with Microsoft should quell any fears that the Microsoft version of BPC is going away.

    

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