While a lot of buzz has been generated about some Google-Salesforce announcement including speculations on Google acquiring Salesforce (and dismissals), the important news of the day seems to have been missed – IBM made a significant investment and acquired equity in Kingdee one of the local ERP vendors in China with global ambitions. Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will end up with 3.85% of Kingdee – an equal investment being made by Lehman Brothers.
I have previously written on some of the regional software vendors such as Ufida, Kingdee, Tally etc. and the fact that as India and China grow rapidly, the software consumption in those economies is expected to jump significantly. Gartner has made predictions on rise of atleast one disruptor in ERP from China/India.
So while Google-Salesforce may make for a great copy for industry press, they are missing out on something that may just be the beginning of an emerging trend- software leaders fighting for the future leadership in China/India (BRIC).
Let the real China games begin… ahead of the Olympics next year.
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