Salesforce, a leading CRM Software-as-a-Service firm, could soon be the target of a takeover – just not with SAP.
Contrary to earlier reports, SAP SE Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott said Tuesday (May 5) that the company has “zero interest” in acquiring Salesforce.com, noting that the company is not up to par with SAP’s requirements for potential buyouts, according to Bloomberg.
“We have always tried to buy assets that were the best in class or assets that were ascending in value and actually bringing new innovation solutions to the market,” McDermott said during the company’s annual Sapphire conference. “We have never bought something we thought was impaired or on the decline…We have zero interest in Salesforce.com and never have we ever had any interest in Salesforce.com.”
According to reports, unnamed sources have told the media that McDermott has previously met with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff to discuss possible collaborations. One source said that these discussions included talk of a possible merger.
Instead, experts say Microsoft or Oracle could potentially be more suitable acquirers of Salesforce. Last week, Oracle Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz did not discredit such a deal, instead declaring that it would significantly disrupt the software industry. In an earlier interview, Oracle Senior Vice President Shawn Price told reporters that Oracle plans to eclipse Salesforce as the leading cloud service provider.
McDermott’s remarks on a Salesforce purchase overshadowed SAP’s announcement at the event that it has reached a deal to partner with Google and launch initiatives for enterprise-focused data analytics and applications. The two companies already have complementary ties as SAP’s data analytics platform Lumira integrates into Google Sheet, but according to McDermott, the companies will strengthen their relationship.
“If it makes it easier for people to use Google tools and SAP data together on their devices, that will make work life better,” McDermott said at the event.
Reports said that part of that strengthened collaboration includes business users now being able to save Lumira data visualizations be saved on Google Drive and as Google Docs.
Other aspects of their partnership include integrating SAP’s SuccessFactors human capital management software, along with its Fiori user interface, into Google Drive as well. The project would allow employees to access and use Google Apps from within the Fiori interface.
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