SPL operates in two distinct areas. It is best known for its integrated customer information system software for the utilities sector which covers customer care and billing, asset and work management, meter data management, mobile workforce management, outage and distribution management, and enterprise business intelligence, and is the technology and customer base Oracle is interested in.
Oracle aims to provide an end-to-end packaged revenue and operations management solution for organizations within the utilities sector. SPL management and employees will form a dedicated global utilities business unit within Oracle.
SPL also provides tax management software for revenue management for use within the public sector but Oracle is not showing much interest in this side of the business, only saying that the SPL group will support the software, with no mention of development.
Terms of the transaction to acquire the 750 employee company which is headquartered in San Francisco, California were not revealed.
The CIS market has been flat for the last few years and is largely a replacement market rather than a growth market. Gartner Group identified SAP AG and SPL at the market leaders and Peace Software as the sector visionary. Other notable players include niche operators such as Indus International, Lodester, Soluziona and Excelergy.
However, there are estimated to be over 200 CIS vendors worldwide, primarily small operators. The level of fragmentation in the market indicates it is ripe for consolidation, especially as it encompasses many aspects of operational CRM, making it an ideal vertical add-on for established horizontal CRM applications.
Oracle’s latest acquisition and Gartner’s assessment of SAP as a leader within the sector, suggests that this is another market where the two vendors are likely to go head to head, in addition to retail and banking. As with these verticals, Oracle is gaining ground by buying its way into them, whereas SAP is relying on organic growth.
