Like rival Oracle Corp., SAP SE is aggressively expanding its marketing automation portfolio in a bid to capture a bigger slice of CMOs’ technology budgets. This week saw the initiative move beyond software after the company introduced a pair of new cloud services that provide access to consumer buying data and, more curiously, advertising space.  

Inventory from publishers who participate in SAP’s effort can be booked through an online portal called Exchange Media that is based on Hana, its speedy in-memory columnar store. The marketplace offers a familiar value proposition: Brands are able to handpick the outlets that will carry their promotions and negotiate terms directly to ensure they’re getting the most out of the deal. The arrangement also reduces the risk of fraud in the process, since there isn’t a layer of separation between buyers and sellers like on networks that handle ad placement automatically.

SAP EX does, however, provide some programmatic targeting functionality that enable companies to optimize engagement on the sites where they choose to advertise. The service can match promotions to audiences who are receptive to the pitch using a combination of the vendor’s consumer buying data, a brand’s internal customer records and third party intelligence. it also displays key performance indicators about campaigns in a visual dashboard not unlike Google Analytics.

Of course, SAP won’t be displacing Alphabet Inc. at the top of the marketing food chain any time soon. But EX does provide a valuable new media buying medium for large enterprises that spread out their marketing dollars over multiple channels and advertising networks. That should help the company become more competitive against Oracle, which does not yet have a similar offering despite the fact it invested billions of  dollars into expanding its marketing portfolio over the past few years.

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