Oracle Corp. said its first-quarter profit fell as the company recorded higher costs and lower sales, driven again by a double-digit decline in new software licenses.
The Redwood Shores, Calif., company has blamed disappointing results in recent quarters on the stronger U.S. dollar, which lowers the revenue it records from business abroad.
Business planning software start-up Anaplan is nipping at the heels of industry leaders SAP, Oracle and IBM, with sales of its cloud-based service tripling in each of the past three years as it seeks to shake up the market.
Customers are demanding more flexible ways to use business planning software, which crunches corporate data to allow companies to forecast growth and set performance goals.
While major players like SAP, Oracle’s Hyperion business and IBM’s Cognos and Applix units have been forced to offer cloud-based products, their focus has remained on packaged software as it makes up the bulk of their revenue.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/28/us-sap-competition-anaplan-idUSKCN0Q227Q20150728
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