TomorrowNow confusion Down Under
A lack of information from the global headquarters of software giants Oracle and SAP has left the pairs' Australian divisions completely in the dark about what actions to take in the wake of the closure of SAP's Oracle services subsidiary TomorrowNow.
Following a long running legal case in which Oracle accused TomorrowNow of stealing corporate secrets, on Tuesday SAP announced it would wind down TomorrowNow, with the company's customers to be supported by Oracle or others.
This week, however, Australian spokespeople from both Oracle and SAP admitted they had no idea what they were supposed to do. No instructions had come from SAP's headquarters in Germany, an SAP Australia spokesperson told ZDNet.com.au today.
They added that TomorrowNow was run as a separate business to SAP. "[TomorrowNow] have got a few months to provide more detail on this," they said.
A spokesperson for Oracle's Australian operations said its US headquarters had not provided any instructions for a local transition strategy.
Today the confusion even appeared to extend to TomorrowNow's Australian customers. Although both the National Australia Bank and insurance giant Allianz have been listed as TomorrowNow customers in the past, neither were able to clarify if they still bought services from the SAP subsidiary.
Other Australian customers have included casino group Sky City Entertainment Group, and manufacturer National Foods, however, it remains unclear if the firms still use services from the SAP subsidiary.
Finally, a spokesperson for TomorrowNow's Australian division said the company had been instructed to stay tight-lipped about the company's closure. The closure will occur by 31 October.
Since its acquisition by SAP in 2005, TomorrowNow has targeted businesses using Oracle-owned Siebel, JD Edwards and PeopleSoft systems. The acquisition was SAP's effort to compete with Oracle.
The TomorrowNow closure has the potential to not only benefit Oracle's Australian division, but also local integrators which specialise on Oracle systems, such as UXC-owned Red Rock Consulting.