One of the UK's largest PeopleSoft users fears its access to the
latest upgrade from the supplier is being delayed.
As PeopleSoft today unveils Version 8 of its enterprise software
to UK customers and prospective purchasers, questions are being
asked at Bupa, the UK's largest private healthcare provider, about
the progress of a key PeopleSoft project.
Bupa currently runs PeopleSoft 7.5, and Computer Weekly
understands that in June it signed a deal with the software
supplier to become an early adopter of key parts of the financial
suite of the new, Web-enabled, Version 8, which became available on
1 September.
However, senior staff in Bupa's IT department are becoming
increasingly frustrated at PeopleSoft's reluctance to deliver on
the project or return calls over the last two weeks, according to
sources involved with the work. Bupa has not seen a demonstration
of the product or had it installed on its systems, the sources
said.
Bupa finance chiefs have been anxious to centralise its
purchase-to-payment process on a single system in the hope of
making substantial savings.
Adrian Reynolds, PeopleSoft's UK managing director, said, "We
have been in continuous dialogue with Bupa over the last few
weeks". He said PeopleSoft and Bupa were working on a new
purchasing product but were "still defining the project".
Bupa e-commerce director Mark Ralph said, "We are keen to
implement the Version 8 e-purchasing product as soon as
possible."
Bupa has a highly distributed infrastructure with 36 hospitals,
34 health screening centres and 300 care homes. Each carries out
its own purchasing and billing of a wide range of products.
Nigel Wood, research director at Gartner Group, said similar
difficulties could affect other early adopters of emerging
technology.
"Businesses that are keen to be early adopters of software that
may not be ready for release face particular problems. If you want
to be a beta site or an early adopter you have got to be very aware
of the risks, particularly if the software involves critical
business systems," he said.
PeopleSoft expects to unveil the first three UK users of its
Version 8 product, including a government department and a large
retail bank, at its European user conference in Spain next
month.
It is marketing Version 8 as the first pure Internet e-business
software, and claims it "marks the largest technological advance in
enterprise software in a decade".