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Ventana Research's IPM practice began with the recognition of an innovation value chain supported by an innovation business process. The value chain delivers ideas, deliverables and intellectual capital. The business process that supports this value chain is concerned with generating, converting and realizing innovation. The innovation management technology market supplies software tools and applications that support the innovation value chain and business process.

Overall, there is no leader in the innovation management technology market. This is because there is no one-product category that spans the innovation business process. For example, there is no innovation resource planning (IRP) product that compares with ERP or CRM. Consequently, there is also no significant representation in this market by industry leaders such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle or SAP.

Ventana Research proposes the innovation management technology market will not be dominated by a current insider fueled by organic growth/acquisition but by either Microsoft or SAP who will take different approaches to achieve this domination. The Microsoft approach will emanate from an information worker/Office technology perspective, whereas the SAP approach will be to incorporate innovation management into its existing enterprise suite of mySAP applications and the new SAP NetWeaver application platform.

Microsoft already has tools and applications that can be used to underpin a viable innovation resource planning (IRP) type application assuming an information worker perspective. These tools include the SharePoint portal, OneNote, MSN Alerts, etc. Whereas SAP already has parts of the innovation process covered in its new xApps focus on collaborative product development and projects and ideation offerings from partners. Microsoft could attack this market from the information worker or bottom up in contrast to SAP who will approach it from the business process or top-down.

Assessment

Ventana Research believes innovation management technology will not develop like the CRM market, whereby a new player rapidly becomes market leader. Instead, the market will become the latest battleground between Microsoft and SAP. Microsoft could play well in the innovation awareness, creativity and ideation spaces by judicious combining and development of existing Office application assets plus an acquisition or two. SAP could play well in the IP/Brand management, ideation and PLM spaces.

Once innovation management is embraced by Microsoft and/or SAP, a feeding frenzy could result as IBM and other ERP vendors (e.g. Oracle) strive to compete. Existing Ideation and PLM vendors in particular will become takeover targets and "low-end" or "low-maturity" vendors servicing the innovation awareness and creativity or brand management spaces could simply be driven out of business.