ID Number: G00250218



Eloqua Acquisition Gives Oracle a Stake in Cloud-Based Digital Marketing
12 February 2013
 
Chris Fletcher  

Acquiring the software-as-a-service vendor Eloqua will help Oracle expand on its investment in marketing automation and enhance its digital marketing capabilities.











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News Analysis

Event

On 8 February 2013, Oracle completed the acquisition of Eloqua, first announced in December 2012, for $871 million net of Eloqua's cash.

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Analysis

Oracle's acquisition of Eloqua — which Gartner named a Leader in the "Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management" — caps two years of IT industry investment and development in marketing automation and digital marketing functions, ranging from Exact Target’s acquisition of Pardot and Microsoft's acquisition of Marketing Pilot in October 2012, Eloqua’s IPO in August 2012 and Responsys’ IPO in April 2011.

Eloqua will provide Oracle with:

  • A well-respected portfolio of lead management and campaign management capabilities that integrate with digital and nondigital marketing channels.
  • Additional revenue that we estimated at more than $95 million for fiscal year 2012 and more than 1,200 enterprise customers in technology, manufacturing, business services, financial services, telecom, and sports and entertainment.

Eloqua customers will benefit from broader resources in regions outside of North America or future potential integration with Oracle CRM, analytics or database assets.

Gartner believes that two primary objectives drove this deal:

  • Oracle's need to remain a significant CRM player and to expand on investments in CRM, sales force automation, and marketing automation. Oracle must capitalize on the growing marketing automation and digital marketing segments that have become focal points for CRM and customer experience applications. Oracle sells multiple CRM applications that support marketing, sales, e-commerce, and customer service and support, but its marketing automation assets depend on the Siebel Marketing product (a Leader in the "Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Campaign Management" ); on the marketing capabilities in CRM On Demand; or on Oracle Fusion Marketing, which Gartner believes Oracle will stop selling and replace with Eloqua.
  • Competitive pressure from enterprise application vendors. The deal keeps Eloqua's assets away from salesforce.com, widely speculated to be shopping for its own marketing automation portfolio. Eloqua has now been removed from salesforce.com's public and searchable list of AppExchange partners.
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Recommendations

Eloqua customers:

  • If you are satisfied with Eloqua capabilities, there is no reason to change.
  • If you use salesforce.com on Eloqua, request further details regarding Oracle’s plans for support, including technology road map and service agreements. Ask Oracle or salesforce.com for further information regarding support for salesforce.com/Eloqua users.
  • If the acquisition raises concerns, evaluate alternative marketing automation products to compare functions, price and support. If necessary, develop a contingency plan. Prepare for your account to undergo a 12-month transition that may include changes in product, professional services or sales support.

Oracle customers:

  • Evaluate Eloqua capabilities in lead and campaign management. If you use B2B or B2B2C sales models, evaluate SaaS solutions such as Eloqua to replace internally developed lead management systems or ad hoc lead management based on desktop tools.
  • Assess Oracle’s integration strategy for Eloqua with Oracle applications such as Siebel, CRM On Demand, Oracle Sales and Oracle Commerce.

Salesforce.com customers:

  • Evaluate capabilities available from AppExchange partners, such as ExactTarget, Marketo or Neolane, as well as Eloqua.
  • Watch for salesforce.com's response to market pressure for marketing automation through internal development or through a merger or acquisition.
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Recommended Reading

Some documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.

  • "Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management" — In June 2012, Gartner named Eloqua and Marketo as the two Leaders in the Magic Quadrant for CRM lead management, and included Oracle and salesforce.com among five Niche Players. By Chris Fletcher
  • "M&A Activity Poses Risks and Benefits to E-Commerce Plans" — Gartner offers a framework to minimize potential disruptions and maximize the effectiveness of e-commerce initiatives while the e-commerce solution market consolidates with mergers and acquisitions. By Chris Fletcher
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