Peoplesoft has launched a range of server-side software that it
claims will slash costs for users, writes Antony Adshead.
Peoplesoft is betting on a strategy that centres on enterprise
software being delivered in HTML through a browser over the
Internet. Because the code does not reside on the client machine,
maintenance will be easier and cheaper and collaboration with
business partners will be facilitated through the browser-based
interface.
The claims came as the company announced the formal launch of six
customer relationship management (CRM) modules to its enterprise
software suite - Sales, Marketing, Support, Field Services,
Helpdesk and Interaction Management at its Leadership 2001 event in
Las Vegas last week. The CRM modules have been in beta testing with
selected customers since the company acquired the technology
through its takeover of Vantive.
Answering charges that CRM had failed to take the business world by
storm, Craig Conway, Peoplesoft's CEO, said, "With CRM to date
there has been no sense of ownership by the end-user and so there
has been a high mortality rate. It has been seen as something that
only managers look at. We have made the screen more user-friendly -
involving the user in a more rewarding and intuitive way."
Sam Clark, an analyst with Meta Group, said Peoplesoft's
architecture is unique but pointed out an ironic failing. "From the
business process standpoint it deserves to be back on peoples'
shortlists. But right now it doesn't have disconnected client
capability.
"You have to be connected to use it and this cuts out a whole bunch
of users - those working remotely or who are temporarily without
Internet access. And without synchronisation capabilities this will
be a deal killer for some."
Conway sees Peoplesoft as setting the standard in collaborative
commerce. He outlined three elements by which the company
differentiates itself from its rivals: a pure Internet
architecture, embedded business analytics, and seamless integration
with third party software.
Embedded analytics, he said, would be built into all the company's
CRM offerings and he predicted that the market would follow. "There
was a time when a spellchecker was separate software to the word
processor and you had to tell it the file name of the document
whose spelling you needed to check. Nowadays, it is built into the
word processor. This will be the standard in two years with CRM -
the analytics will be on every screen. It is illogical for them not
to be."
Conway rounded on Oracle to illustrate his vision of why supplier
interoperability was necessary. "CRM software must be able to
accommodate multiple databases otherwise it is like a lightbulb
that is welded to the lamp. What happens if you acquire a company
with a different database in the future?" he asked.
SAP came under fire following Conway's call for users to hold
software suppliers accountable for implementations.
"Software suppliers get into the finger-pointing game saying, 'I'm
not the system integrator, it's not my problem'. They just sell the
customer a CD and get out. The failed SAP implementation at Nike is
an example of this," said Ram Gupta, Peoplesoft's European
vice-president for products and technology.
"The software supplier has to have a stake. We aim to sprinkle our
personnel across implementations. We are willing to be
accountable."
Peoplesoft also claimed that its pricing strategy is unique. It is
value-based rather than being decided by the number of users, and
customers are charged according to revenue. "With an Internet-based
software model it becomes increasingly difficult to decide who is a
user," said Conway. "Peoplesoft is unique in offering value-based
pricing."