PeopleSoft will launch supply chain planning software in
May in a renewed effort to win market share from rivals including
Oracle and JD Edwards.
PeopleSoft had failed to integrate technology it acquired with
its purchase of supply chain specialist Red Pepper in 1996, said
Patrick Walravens, managing director and senior analyst at
investment bank JMP Securities.
However, PeopleSoft has rewritten Red Pepper's products using
its own application development tools and will launch it at
PeopleSoft's Leadership Summit in Las Vegas in May.
The software will have special features for companies that
outsource manufacturing tasks. It will also offer extensive
analytic capabilities that link with PeopleSoft's Enterprise
Warehouse business intelligence application, said Walravens.
Supply chain planning is a "significant potential growth area"
for PeopleSoft, since the supplier has very little presence in the
area today. PeopleSoft has set itself a goal to become the world's
number-two SCM (supply chain management), behind SAP.
PeopleSoft plans to increase its sales team by 150 people this
year with the US getting half, according to Walravens.
SCM software is meant to help enterprises run their supply chain
more efficiently with the goal of reducing inventory and cost. The
two main types of SCM software are planning applications and
execution applications.
Planning applications help determine the best way to place an
order, while execution applications track the flow of goods, manage
related materials and equipment and handle financial information of
the transactions.