Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show, hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the Cloud.
This episode is sponsored by Acceleration Economy’s “Cloud Wars Top 10 Course,” which explains how Bob Evans builds and updates the Cloud Wars Top 10 ranking, as well as how C-suite executives use the list to inform strategic cloud purchase decisions. The course is available today.
In this Cloud Wars Minute, Bob suggests that Salesforce’s 9% price increase across many product lines gives competitors Oracle and SAP a big opportunity.
Highlights
00:17 — Salesforce announced it will be raising prices across its most popular cloud product beginning in August. “I think that creates an enormous opportunity for Oracle and SAP to step in and demonstrate the unique differentiation that they bring to CX or CRM.”
00:55 — This 9% price hike comes at an interesting time, suggests Bob, as budgets are tight and business leaders look for ways to maximize value from every investment they’re making. This gives Oracle and SAP the opportunity to use this change as a way to highlight their differentiation.
01:15 — “I’m all for price hikes in any sort of business, provided the customer agrees,” says Bob. Salesforce’s 9% price increase is the first to occur in seven years. As such, Bob believes that Oracle and SAP are going to push very hard for ERP and HCM differentiation.
02:10 — SAP’s president and chief product officer of industries and CX/CRM Ritu Bhargava told Bob via email that SAP’s goal is to “deliver value by bringing together disparate data insights” from across the enterprise.
02:51 — Salesforce’s fiscal Q2 ends on July 31. Ultimately, as always in the Cloud Wars Top 10, this is great for customers — more competition, more opportunities, and more innovation coming their way.
