SAP AG (ADR) (NYSE:SAP) and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) have announced a joint venture that will see SAP reselling Adobe Marketing Cloud. SAP and Adobe will invest joint development resources for additional product integration and marketing funds for joint co-marketing activities. Retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and telecommunications will be some industry sectors targeted first by the partnership.
Gerry Brown, senior analyst for customer engagement and marketing technology at Ovum comments:
“Although a strong player in the CRM area, SAP has always struggled to deliver a cogent digital marketing solution. SAP AG (ADR) (NYSE:SAP) will leverage the SAP HANA in-memory database platform and the SAP hybris Commerce Suite with the Adobe Marketing Cloud to provide clients with a complete solution for omni-channel customer experience. This alliance fills this gap in SAP’s solutions portfolio, and significantly augments the completeness of SAP’s overall digital offer.
“The new partnership will enable SAP customers to leverage data held within their SAP ERP and CRM databases and other SAP operational systems to provide a single real-time view of the customer within the Adobe Marketing Cloud. They can then use the Adobe Marketing Cloud platform to execute relevant and timely campaigns to both market segments and potentially individual customers. This capability is likely to prove attractive to both SAP and non-SAP customers alike.
“Adobe Marketing Cloud, SAP HANA and hybris are the core technologies that drive the adobe.com web site. Hybris and Adobe in particular have a large stable of joint customers. Indeed, Ariel Luedi, the Chief Executive Officer of hybris, and SAP’s Global VP Shawn Burns both spoke to an audience of 2,500 marketers at Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE)’s Marketing Summit Conference in April 2013.
“Hence this agreement leverages an existing strong relationship which significantly enhances the position of both AAdobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) and SAP AG (ADR) (NYSE:SAP) in the digital marketing arena. Adobe gains greater access to the large SAP enterprise installed base, a large partner eco-system and the global SAP salesforce; and SAP gains some great marketing technology and the brand credibility that accompanies Adobe’s strong position in the digital marketing arena.”
