SAP buys Ariba and its online marketplace for $4.3B

Enterprise software giant SAP is buying Ariba in a $4.3 billion move that will give it control of what is probably the world’s largest online-marketplace for goods and services.

Businesses around the world use Ariba’s e-commerce and procurement services to buy and sell all sorts of products and services. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company has partnered with all the big enterprise software companies including SAP and its arch-rival Oracle so that businesses using Oracle or SAP supply chain or ERP software for their own production also use Ariba to connect with prospective buyers. In a similar move late last year, IBM bought Emptoris for its supply chain and commerce know-how.

“Ariba connects the supply side and demand side for end-to-end commerce. It also gives SAP another story in cloud though this is less important,” said analyst Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research.

Dana Gardner, principal with Interarbor Solutions, agreed that this is a good fit for SAP “which is all about what happens to the end of the enterprise and Ariba which is between enterprises.”

The strength of Ariba, said Gardner, is that it fields an “ecumenical” cloud that works with all the big ERP players except for Workday. The thing to watch is whether SAP will align Ariba more tightly to its own ERP customers and products as opposed to those running competitive products. 

By Barb Darrow May. 22, 2012, 12:57pm PT
Read on: SAP buys Ariba and its online marketplace for $4.3B — Cloud Computing News:

'via Blog this'

Social media marketing landscape complicated

This INSANE Graphic Shows How Ludicrously Complicated Social Media Marketing Is Now

Maybe this is the reason General Motors went "mental" and pulled its Facebook ad budget.

Digital marketing is confusing—really confusing—as this insane graphic shows (below).

Trying to navigate through the various new social media categories, blogs, sharing sites, and social media firms is an absolute mess.

Charlie Minato | May 17, 2012, 10:22 AM
Read on: Social media marketing landscape complicated - Business Insider:

'via Blog this'

Google Overtakes Internet Explorer As Most Popular Browser

Google Chrome Just Passed Internet Explorer To Become The World's Most Popular Web Browser

After months of chipping away at its lead, Google Chrome has finally overtaken Internet Explorer to become most popular web browser worldwide.

Chrome's share of the market rose to 32.8% in the week ending May 20, while Internet Explorer's share of the market dropped to 31.9%, according to new data from StatCounter, via TheNextWeb. This marks the first full week that Chrome has beaten Explorer.

Google's browser had previously topped Explorer for a single day back in March.

Mozilla's Firefox is the third most popular browser with just more than a 25% of the market.

Seth Fiegerman | May 21, 2012, 6:43 AM 

Read more: Google Overtakes Internet Explorer As Most Popular Browser - Business Insider:

'via Blog this'