Last December, when Oracle Corp. bought PeopleSoft, SAP AG of Walldorf, Germany, wasted no time in setting out to court PeopleSoft customers. As the database giant laid out plans to upgrade PeopleSoft software into Project Fusion, SAP aggressively ramped up a transition program it hopes will lure PeopleSoft customers to SAP’s own ERP software.
Leading this charge in the U.S. is William “Bill” McDermott, CEO and president of SAP America Inc. of Newtown Square, Pa. McDermott took the helm in late 2002, just as the company was ambitiously switching its ERP software to its new NetWeaver platform. SAP touts NetWeaver as a hub for integrating SAP’s software and other applications, using Web Services and other open standards.
Prior to joining SAP, McDermott worked in executive roles at Siebel Systems Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., and Xerox Corp. McDermott also served as president of Gartner Inc. of Stamford, Conn. He received a master’s in business administration from Northwestern University and has completed the executive development program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
GCN associate writer Joab Jackson interviewed McDermott at the FOSE trade show.
GCN: You’ve said that SAP is the biggest reseller of Oracle databases because your software uses theirs on the back end. How has your relationship with Oracle changed since the company bought PeopleSoft, which, if anything, is a competitor of yours?
MCDERMOTT: That part hasn’t changed. We’ll do whatever the customer wants us to do, even if it is Oracle.
GCN: So you are still getting the same reception from Oracle when discussing new software product development, either yours or Oracle’s?
MCDERMOTT: Absolutely. Wouldn’t you, if you were Oracle? If anything, I would want to cozy up to SAP more, because you wouldn’t want SAP cutting you out of the database sales, right? From Oracle’s standpoint, I think they would be very concerned if we were to choke out the channel.
GCN: You had said in your FOSE keynote speech that best-of-breed software is dead. Why do you think this?z
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