RBC Sees ORCL, SAP Pressuring BOBJ, COGN

So maybe this is what’s really been going on with Business Objects (BOBJ). At its North American technology conference in San Francisco last week, RBC Capital unveiled a lengthy “disruptive technology survey” of corporate IT buyers. Among other topics, the survey looked at business intelligence software.

In the report on the results of the survey, RBC’s Mike Abramsky reports that large software vendors - in particular SAP (SAP) and Oracle (ORCL) - appear to be gaining ground on the independents in the business intelligence sector - namely Business Objects and Cognos (COGN).

RBC found that 13% of those surveyed intend to increase their spending on business intelligence software with Oracle and SAP over the next 90 days, versus just 4% for Cognos and 7% for Business Objects. For enterprises with more than 1,000 employees, 25% indicated increased spending on Oracle and SAP, versus 8% for Cognos and 12% for Business Objects.

My previous theories on BOBJ’s current slide included the sell-off in the French market and the filing of the company’s latest 10-Q, and fading takeover hopes amid the current credit crunch. Maybe they’ve all been factors. Or none.

BOBJ vs. ORCL vs. SAP vs. COGN 1-yr chart: