Google is very serious about the applications market and is aggressive with pushing and further developing its Google Apps. Its vision for the applications market is to develop consumer oriented applications delivered within the “cloud” or simply put: software delivered through a browser and accessed from anywhere.
In my opinion, now is a right time for Google to make a further step in its applications strategy and acquire a vendor that can fit well into its cloud computing vision.
Lately we have heard about partnerships between Google and application vendors that share a common Cloud Computing vision. The first one is Salesforce.com, the second one is much smaller but so familiar in the Israeli market - Panorama. Does that mean that Google will make the extra move and acquire one of them? Let’s check these 2 options:
What if Google buys Salesforce?
Is Salesforce.com a possible acquisition for Google? This type of “strategic” acquisition It is definitely a possibility. Salesforce’s SaaS offering as well as their Web 2.0 initiatives (for example, AppExchange) offerings fit well into Google’s application vision as a “good option” to traditional application vendors’ software models. Salesforce and Google believe in the same model: software delivered through a browser and accessed from anywhere, or In other words, software delivered through the “cloud”. Salesforce can act as a good sales channel for Google Apps, Google is already doing a great job in consumers and enterprises’ advertising, but it can definitely use SF’s experience in selling software for the enterprise (the current partnership between Google and Salesforce is already doing exactly that - expanding Google into enterprises). Rumors about the possibility of Google acquiring Salesforce were already running around from about a year ago and pops up every now and then.
However, even if Google decided is does want to acquire Salesforce, it won’t be so easy, Oracle and Microsoft are likely to get into a bidding war. This will also be VERY EXPENSIVE acquisition, in a recent report by “451 Group” research company the evaluated cost of acquiring Salesforce.com these days can be around $10 Billion, that’s a very expensive price to pay.
What’s in it for Salesforce?
Some people say that the time is right for Salesforce to sell. It has made its mark and actually disrupted the software market. The SaaS model is now becoming quite common, and “traditional” vendors are starting to catch up – Oracle, Microsoft, SAP.
What if Google buys Panorama?
In my opinion, now is a right time for Google to make a further step in its applications strategy and acquire a vendor that can fit well into its cloud computing vision.
Lately we have heard about partnerships between Google and application vendors that share a common Cloud Computing vision. The first one is Salesforce.com, the second one is much smaller but so familiar in the Israeli market - Panorama. Does that mean that Google will make the extra move and acquire one of them? Let’s check these 2 options:
What if Google buys Salesforce?
Is Salesforce.com a possible acquisition for Google? This type of “strategic” acquisition It is definitely a possibility. Salesforce’s SaaS offering as well as their Web 2.0 initiatives (for example, AppExchange) offerings fit well into Google’s application vision as a “good option” to traditional application vendors’ software models. Salesforce and Google believe in the same model: software delivered through a browser and accessed from anywhere, or In other words, software delivered through the “cloud”. Salesforce can act as a good sales channel for Google Apps, Google is already doing a great job in consumers and enterprises’ advertising, but it can definitely use SF’s experience in selling software for the enterprise (the current partnership between Google and Salesforce is already doing exactly that - expanding Google into enterprises). Rumors about the possibility of Google acquiring Salesforce were already running around from about a year ago and pops up every now and then.
However, even if Google decided is does want to acquire Salesforce, it won’t be so easy, Oracle and Microsoft are likely to get into a bidding war. This will also be VERY EXPENSIVE acquisition, in a recent report by “451 Group” research company the evaluated cost of acquiring Salesforce.com these days can be around $10 Billion, that’s a very expensive price to pay.
What’s in it for Salesforce?
Some people say that the time is right for Salesforce to sell. It has made its mark and actually disrupted the software market. The SaaS model is now becoming quite common, and “traditional” vendors are starting to catch up – Oracle, Microsoft, SAP.
What if Google buys Panorama?
This is a very difference scenario. Acquiring Panorama would be a technological acquisition and a small one for Google to handle. It would provide Google the ability to incorporate dashboards and business intelligence on top of its apps (BI has become a must have piece of ANY application package).
Panorama recently partnered with Google and is investing a lot in this partnership. The interest from Panorama is very clear: Panorama had a stream of incidents that forced her to change its business model a couple of times (Microsoft’s acquisition of Proclarity, SAP’s acquisition of Business Objects). The traditional BI market has changed dramatically lately due to the major vendors’ aggressive acquisitions into this market. Panorama HAD to find something new, something that will position it as a faster, more innovative player in the BI space. In this respect, the Google partnership is great for panorama, and lets it move elegantly into could computing space by delivering BI on demand. On the other hand, Panorama is a Microsoft technological partner, the partnership with Google already puts it in a delicate position of partnering with 2 rivals - Google and Microsoft.
So what’s next for Google Apps? Google seems very determined about the applications area, I think several acquisitions are going to happen but it will have to be either point-specific, technological acquisitions that solve a particular issue (for example, an email encryption vendor called Postini that Google acquired in order to make their on-demand mail offering a more viable option for enterprises), or a large strategic acquisition that fits right into its application through a cloud vision (main visible one seems Salesforce but it can also be one one of the other on-demand players).
