PeopleSoft migration will be 'difficult'
However, Oracle claims it will continue to support all PeopleSoft products and begin incorporating PeopleSoft features into future versions of Oracle E-Business Suite. At issue is the fate of the numerous organizations that currently employ PeopleSoft products.
Migrating to Oracle will be like new install
From Oracle's perspective, customers could migrate (or would be
migrated by Oracle) from PeopleSoft 7.x or 8.x to its E-Business
Suite. Yet we believe Oracle has severely understated the
complexity of such a migration (we believe it will be comparable
to a new install), including moving non-Oracle database users to
the Oracle database and addressing custom code, different
infrastructures, etc. Oracle gets to preserve its own
architecture (e.g., Oracle tools, PL/SQL, forms) and also claims
it will add both horizontal components (PeopleSoft EPM and SRM
would be good candidates, for instance) and vertical components
from PeopleSoft.
From our perspective, PeopleSoft will undoubtedly despise this takeover bid and accuse Oracle of disrupting the marketplace/ruining the JD Edwards deal (which may be abandoned if Oracle succeeds; Oracle did not require the JD Edwards acquisition to happen as a condition of the PeopleSoft acquisition).
We believe PeopleSoft, through the JD Edwards acquisition, would slowly drift toward IBM infrastructure (i.e., WebSphere). The only real issue is whether PeopleSoft can stop the acquisition (which also may depend on the ultimate price of the offer, which quickly became too low after it was made). Ultimately, the key ERP players would become SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft, with IBM likely to lose some infrastructure and services traction. We believe a world that includes SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Microsoft provides better choices for our clients.
Take a pause
Although Oracle might be able to succeed with this
acquisition, migration for PeopleSoft customers would be
extremely difficult. Firms that have migrated or are in the
process of migrating to PeopleSoft 8 should continue; PeopleSoft
and JD Edwards prospects or organizations without firm upgrade
plans should pause until a clear direction between Oracle and
PeopleSoft exists.
Barry Wilderman is senior vice president & director, Enterprise Applications and John Van Decker is senior program director, Enterprise Applications with The Meta Group.