Where Did My Software Company Go?

Almost since the inception of the invention of software itself M&A activity in the industry has been the norm not the exception. Great companies like Peoplesoft, Siebel, Mercury, Business Objects, and yes our very own Primavera have been gobbled up like plankton by the whales of the industry. IBM, Oracle, CA, Cisco, HP and Microsoft seemingly have an insatiable appetite for adding to their product portfolios. Once proud companies for which growth seemed to be unlimited are now adding profits to somebody elses’ bottom line. With the development of new technologies such as SaaS and Cloud Computing we will see more and more of the industries standard bearers disappear for one reason or another. A look at the Software Top 100  reveals an interesting fact. Eight of the top 25 companies are consumer game makers, something that would have been unheard of ten years ago.  The revenue difference between number 1 and number 25 is nearly 50 fold showing that the top 5 companies keep getting bigger as the industry consolidates. There is no reason to think this situation will not continue unabated, so the question is not if, but when most major players will cease to be independent.  Rumors abound over even the largest companies, just last year speculation surfaced for a second time that Microsoft would acquire software giant SAP.  With that question already answered for Primavera we can now look to the future with confidence and not uncertainty.

Since Primavera was acquired by Oracle in October 2008 we and our customers have been asking is this a good thing for us? There have been many times in the past 16 months when that question would have been difficult to answer. Looking forward from the Primavera customer perspective I believe we have successfully guided our customers through the sometimes difficult process of navigating the organizational maze that is Oracle. By assuming that burden for our customers they have been able to realize all the benefits of the Primavera to Oracle transition and none of the pain.  Going forward the benefit of being part of the Oracle brand will be obvious.  The lifeblood of any good software product is integration. Silos of technology only hasten obsolescence and by being a part of a larger family of products Primavera has the ability to continue to grow and add value by integrating with Oracle (and other) ERP solutions to complete the enterprise PPM vision. Under Oracle’s leadership the Primavera product portfolio of  P6, Contract Management, Primavera Earned Value Management, Risk Analysis, Portfolio Management, Primavera Inspire for SAP,  Contractor, SureTrak and P3, will continue to provide the most comprehensive and full featured product managment suite in the industry today.  As a founding Primavera PAR we see this as our opportunity to continue the work we have been doing for 26 years as an expert in project management in general and Primavera in particular. Oracle can provide a huge R&D budget for Primavera to continue to grow and thrive, but organizationally they are 25 years behind CBA in the knowledge of project management and the nuances of successfully implementing the Primavera solution. We at CBA welcome the opportunity to help our customers to face this new reality.   We know that CBA and Primavera will continue to thrive under the Oracle umbrella and with our help you can as well.