Over the last several weeks, PeopleSoft has made some interesting revelations about its plans for the enterprise application suites it acquired when it purchased J.D. Edwards. Those plans will have far-reaching implications for the thousands of iSeries customers who run their businesses on J.D. Edwards' software.
Over the last several months, users of J.D. Edwards' World and OneWorld applications have been anxious to know whether PeopleSoft will continue to support their existing software. The good news is that PeopleSoft will not only support their software but will--at least in the case of OneWorld--enhance and extend it. This underlines a point that PeopleSoft executives make whenever they talk about the acquisition. Their goal is not to consolidate product lines but to expand those lines so that they can win over new customers and provide additional functionality to existing customers.
To achieve this objective, PeopleSoft is examining J.D. Edwards' two application suites (World and OneWorld) as well as its own eponymous product suite to identify capabilities in one line that it will offer in another product line. In some cases, the vendor will achieve this porting of capabilities through integration code that links a software module in one product line with a module in another line. In other cases, PeopleSoft will simply port the entire module to the other product line.
No matter how it cross-pollinates its software suites, PeopleSoft intends to complete most of the effort over the next 6 to 18 months. One of the biggest drivers for the effort is the prospect that customers of one product line will be highly likely to purchase additional modules from other lines if they are made available. For instance, many J.D. Edwards customers would benefit from PeopleSoft's human resources modules, as this is an area in which World and OneWorld have been historically weak. These and other opportunities have led PeopleSoft to set a goal of cross-selling its software modules to 36% of its existing customers.
PeopleSoft's Plan: The Details
Now that I have explained PeopleSoft's overall strategy, let's look at how it could change each of the vendor's product lines. In the process, I'll introduce the new names for each of those lines.
PeopleSoft World is the new name for the World application suite that J.D. Edwards developed to run on AS/400 green-screen interfaces. Later this year, PeopleSoft will ship a new release of World that was previously under development by J.D. Edwards. Beyond this release, however, PeopleSoft will maintain the existing code base and do little else. This reflects the vendor's expectation that most World customers will eventually migrate to what J.D. Edwards called OneWorld, but rebranded as JDE 5 last year.
PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne is the new name for J.D. Edwards' OneWorld (a.k.a. JDE 5) suite. While the suite has a new name, it keeps its original positioning as the lead product for mid-size companies in asset-intensive industries--such as manufacturing and distribution--as well as for real estate firms.
Over the next 18 months, PeopleSoft will integrate significant pieces of its software into EnterpriseOne. The vendor will achieve much of this integration through its own AppConnect middleware as well as through the eXtended Process Integration technology it acquired from J.D. Edwards. In other cases, PeopleSoft will port some of its modules to EnterpriseOne. Here is a review of changes that will likely take place over the coming months.
- In a matter of weeks, PeopleSoft will ship EnterpriseOne 8.9, a new release that it announced two weeks ago. EnterpriseOne 8.9 contains around 400 enhancements to 30 modules, all of which J.D. Edwards made to the product before PeopleSoft completed the acquisition. However, the new release does contain one PeopleSoft change: It includes PeopleSoft's user interface. This reflects PeopleSoft's goal of giving its Web-enabled product lines a common look and feel.
- Over the next six to nine months, EnterpriseOne will likely gain most of the human resources capabilities of PeopleSoft's original software suite. It will also gain most or all of PeopleSoft's supplier relationship management modules as well as its e-procurement and product sourcing capabilities. This will give EnterpriseOne much of the supply chain management (SCM) functionality it lacked before the acquisition, allowing it to compete more effectively with SAP and Oracle in medium-size businesses.
- On the customer relationship management (CRM) front, PeopleSoft is planning a new version of EnterpriseOne CRM in late 2004 that is code-named "Mount Evans." While PeopleSoft is offering little information about the new version, it is indicating that it will offer integration with PeopleSoft's call center management applications.
- Plans are also underway to expand EnterpriseOne's support for other platforms over time. For instance, the suite could gain support for BEA's WebLogic application server as well as for Linux. These enhancements would significantly increase the deployment options of EnterpriseOne customers.
PeopleSoft Enterprise, the original product of the acquiring vendor, will remain the choice for large enterprises and service-intensive firms. In the coming months, Enterprise will gain a number of EnterpriseOne modules. Among the first modules to be integrated into Enterprise will be EnterpriseOne's asset management and real estate management applications. Some of the applications in these modules could appear in Enterprise 8.8, a release that PeopleSoft plans to announce during the fourth quarter of this year. Other applications will likely appear in a new version of Enterprise, code-named "Kapalua," that PeopleSoft will likely unveil during the second quarter of 2004. Around the same time, PeopleSoft may also integrate EnterpriseOne's warranty management and service management applications into Enterprise.
Whither the Oracle Bid?
Clearly, PeopleSoft has a plan that should please nearly all of its customers. However, some customers may worry about making further software purchases because of Oracle's hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft. While I don't have space in this article to argue for my opinion on this issue, I believe that the odds of Oracle acquiring PeopleSoft are so remote as to be hardly worthy of consideration. Between its product strategy, its legal defenses, and the loyalty of its customers, PeopleSoft holds nearly all of the cards in this high-stakes contest with its most bitter rival. As such, I would encourage customers to not postpone their software decisions until the courts and the shareholders cast their votes. At least this time, the vendor who cares about its customers is the vendor who will win.
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online