??? 上周末，SAP宣布以34億美元收購(gòu)人力資源管理軟件供應(yīng)商SuccessFactors——無(wú)論如何，這絕對(duì)是條大新聞。

????第一個(gè)問(wèn)題是，SAP耗費(fèi)如此巨資，通過(guò)收購(gòu)?fù)卣乖朴?jì)算市場(chǎng)，有意義嗎？（當(dāng)然，SAP為何選擇周六早晨宣布這筆交易也是一個(gè)問(wèn)題）

????SAP的SuccessFactors收購(gòu)價(jià)比該公司上周五收盤(pán)價(jià)高出52%。但總部位于加州圣馬特奧市的SuccessFactors物有所值：這是一家在蓬勃發(fā)展的云計(jì)算軟件市場(chǎng)上迅速崛起的企業(yè)。這家公司聲稱有超過(guò)3,500家客戶，遍布168個(gè)國(guó)家，2011年第三季度營(yíng)收同比增長(zhǎng)77%。與此同時(shí)，SAP是企業(yè)軟件市場(chǎng)的巨無(wú)霸，但在云計(jì)算市場(chǎng)卻并非如此。雖然SAP也在嘗試內(nèi)生性地拓展云計(jì)算業(yè)務(wù)，但同時(shí)并不想錯(cuò)過(guò)通過(guò)收購(gòu)?fù)卣惯@一市場(chǎng)的機(jī)會(huì)。

????為什么？因?yàn)镾AP（和其競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手）已清楚地認(rèn)識(shí)到，通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)交付的軟件已經(jīng)不再只是一股風(fēng)潮，面向的只是捉襟見(jiàn)肘的的小企業(yè)。10月份，SAP的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手甲骨文（Oracle）以15億美元收購(gòu)了另一家云計(jì)算軟件公司RightNow Technologies。大型軟件企業(yè)通過(guò)收購(gòu)進(jìn)入這個(gè)軟件服務(wù)市場(chǎng)的趨勢(shì)方興未艾。還有一些公司也是不錯(cuò)的收購(gòu)對(duì)象，比如總部位于加州普萊森頓的Workday，與此同時(shí)，市場(chǎng)上有意收購(gòu)的公司也不在少數(shù)。

????過(guò)去，SAP在收購(gòu)方面沒(méi)有這么大的動(dòng)作。但SAP已經(jīng)進(jìn)入新時(shí)代，兩位新上任的首席執(zhí)行官孟鼎銘和施杰翰正在踏步地將這家公司帶入社交、移動(dòng)和云計(jì)算軟件領(lǐng)域。“云計(jì)算是SAP未來(lái)增長(zhǎng)的核心。SuccessFactors的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)團(tuán)隊(duì)及技術(shù)與SAP實(shí)現(xiàn)融合將誕生一家云計(jì)算巨頭，”SAP聯(lián)席首席執(zhí)行官孟鼎銘在上周六的新聞稿中稱。“這項(xiàng)收購(gòu)將有助于我們幫助全球的首席執(zhí)行官們解決他們的第一要?jiǎng)?wù)——管理人員和人才。”

????孟鼎銘周一接受《財(cái)富》雜志（FORTUNE）采訪時(shí)補(bǔ)充道，雖然近期內(nèi)SAP不太可能再次進(jìn)行如此大規(guī)模的云計(jì)算業(yè)務(wù)收購(gòu)，但SuccessFactors的收購(gòu)價(jià)是合理的。

????“我們要摘的是‘皇冠上的明珠’，這些業(yè)務(wù)本身或與SAP聯(lián)手后能讓我們?cè)谔囟I(lǐng)域居于領(lǐng)先地位，” 孟鼎銘稱。“SuccessFactors就是這樣的資產(chǎn)。”當(dāng)然，有些分析師并不看好這項(xiàng)策略——也不認(rèn)同SAP的收購(gòu)價(jià)。“如果SAP此項(xiàng)交易的戰(zhàn)略意圖是將SaaS融入企業(yè)，我們認(rèn)為現(xiàn)實(shí)情況將有很大不同，”調(diào)查公司Cowen and Company的高級(jí)研究分析師彼得·戈德馬徹在周一早間的報(bào)告中寫(xiě)道。“很難想象SAP的企業(yè)銷(xiāo)售團(tuán)隊(duì)怎樣才能成功地向客戶傳遞這樣一條信息：什么時(shí)候該使用企業(yè)預(yù)置型軟件，什么時(shí)候應(yīng)該使用SaaS。更難想象的是，SAP的銷(xiāo)售代表銷(xiāo)售SFSF 【SuccessFactors]】，因?yàn)樗膬r(jià)格只有SAP人力資源模塊的一個(gè)零頭。”

????Over the weekend, SAP announced the $3.4 billion acquisition of human resources management software provider SuccessFactors -- big news by any measure.

????The first question (besides why SAP (SAP) chose Saturday morning for the announcement) is whether or not shelling out so much money to buy its way into the cloud makes sense?

????SAP's purchase of SuccessFactors was a 52% premium to Friday's closing stock price. But San Mateo, Calif.-based SuccessFactors is valuable -- it's a growing player in a growing market for cloud-based software. The company says it has more than 3,500 customers across 168 countries, and recorded 77% revenue growth year-over-year in the third quarter of 2011. SAP, meanwhile, is the 800-pound gorilla in business software, but not in cloud computing. And while it's making attempts to grow its cloud-based offerings organically as well, it can't afford to miss the opportunity to buy its way into the market simultaneously.

????Why? It's now become evident to SAP (and its competitors) that software delivered over the web is not just a passing fad for cash-strapped small businesses. In October, rival Oracle (ORCL) bought another cloud-based software company, RightNow Technologies, for $1.5 billion. And the trend of larger software companies buying their way into the software-as-a-service market won't end anytime soon. There are still quite a few promising acquisition targets out there such as Pleasanton, Calif.-based Workday and plenty of appetite to eat them up.

????In the past, SAP wasn't so big on acquisitions. But this is a new era at SAP, where its two newish CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, are taking bolder steps to get the company into social, mobile and the cloud. "The cloud is a core of SAP's future growth, and the combination of SuccessFactors' leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse," co-CEO McDermott said in a press release issued on Saturday. "The acquisition will help us address the top priority for CEOs globally – managing people and talent."

????In an interview with FORTUNE on Monday, McDermott added that while SAP is unlikely to make any additional, large-scale cloud acquisitions in the near future, the price was just right for SuccessFactors.

????"What we try to do is buy 'crown jewel assets' that have attributes that either on their own right or in combination with SAP allow us to lead in a category," McDermott said. "In the case of SuccessFactors it was a one of a kind asset."

????Of course, some analysts aren't convinced the strategy -- and the price SAP is paying -- will work. "If SAP's strategic intention with this deal is to sell SaaS into the enterprise, we think the reality in the field will be very different," Peter Goldmacher, a senior research analyst with Cowen and Company, wrote in a note on Monday morning. "It's hard to imagine the company's enterprise sales force successfully delivering a message to its customers when to use on prem [on premise] and when to use SaaS, much less an SAP sales rep selling SFSF [SuccessFactors] for a fraction of what SAP's HR modules sell for."