Business Objects deal bolsters BPM portfolio

Vendor agrees to buy ALG Software and adds new functionality BusinessObjects XI platform

Business Objects pushed further into business performance management (BPM) software this week, announcing its agreement to acquire activity-based costing and profitability management software specialist ALG Software and unveiling new performance management functionality for the BusinessObjects XI platform.

The business intelligence (BI) specialist has agreed to pay £30m for UK-based ALG and expects the deal to close by the end of the year.

Mark Doll, senior vice-president of global services at Business Objects said ALG's profitability management and activity-based costing capabilities would fill a gap in Business Objects' portfolio and complement the budgeting and planning software the company acquired through its purchase of SRC Software last year.

However, the deal prompted some criticism from BPM specialist Cartesis, which argued that Business Objects would find it tough to integrate the high-end profitability management software acquired from ALG and the more mid-market-focused planning functionality purchased from SRC.

Crispin Read, chief marketing officer at Cartesis, argued that Business Objects would also need to bolster its consulting capabilities to support the complex financial transformation projects that underpin many activity-based costing software deployments.

But Doll countered that the company was investing heavily to expand its BPM services capabilities. He added that the two BPM suites would remain separate at the front-end, but would both be integrated with Business Objects' BI platform at the back-end to enable full interoperability.

Mike Sheratt, founder and chief executive of ALG Software, added that the open APIs in ALG's software meant integration would be relatively simple.

Meanwhile, Business Objects also unveiled new performance management functionality as part of its BusinessObjects XI platform. The new modules, which have been integrated with the BI platform following their acquisition from SRC, include over 30 applications designed for specific industries and feature a range of planning and budgeting, metric management, data visualisation, scorecarding, and analytical functionality.

The company said the integration of BI and BPM data would give users a better view of both operational and financial performance and make it easier for IT departments to install and manage reporting tools.

The news came a day after BI rival Hyperion also strengthened its position in the BPM market, announcing enhanced integration with Google's Search Appliance. The company said the integration would allow users to search BI-related data and the business rules and metrics underpinning their BPM applications through a single search window.