At the recent Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Salesforce.com’s Marc Benioff and Google’s Dave Girouard reportedly blasted Oracle, SAP and Microsoft, saying the latter are a bit too late to the cloud party and will pay the price. According to this IDG News article, both displayed a “bring it on” attitude toward their larger rivals. While Benioff and Girouard’s confidence is admirable, they need to tone it down a bit. Oracle, SAP and Microsoft are no slouches when it comes to software, and now that they’ve realized the opportunities in the cloud, they are sure to become tough, deep-pocketed competitors. It’s true that Google and Salesforce.com have big leads in the cloud, but they should remember the regrets that followed the last time someone publicly challenged “Bring ’em on.”
Oracle, SAP and Microsoft have been building enterprise software for years, and they’re sure to bring that expertise to the cloud. While many enterprises do see platforms like Salesforce.com, Google’s App Engine, and even Amazon’s EC2 as bonafide contenders for running enterprise applications, if big-name vendors like Oracle, SAP and Microsoft were to actually produce true cloud-based versions of their software, Google and Salesforce would quickly see their lead decline. Most major organizations are more on the Oracle/SAP/Microsoft time frame when it comes to embracing cloud computing–just now checking out the possibilities. Why wouldn’t they stick with their current enterprise software vendor, who just happens to be moving along with them, vs. trying someone new and untried like Google?
For now, Google and Salesforce.com can rest easy, knowing that they do have a big lead in the arena. But they should, and for the most part have been, taking that time to keep innovating and adding features, not baiting the competition. That’s the wiser strategy.
