Study: Many PeopleSoft Users Inclined to Ditch Software Post-Merger - ' ' (
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"Theres a lot of customers that are very happy [with the latest version of PeopleSofts CRM application]," Kingstone said. "[It] has significant customer interface improvements. You want to make sure Oracle pays attention to the benefit that application brings to the table."
Click here to read analysts take on Project Fusion being the death knell for PeopleSoft applications.
Where Oracle is going with its newly introduced Customer Data Hub technology is another major concern, Kingstone said, as its a "huge foundational element" for the Fusion product set. At least one analyst, Aaron Zornes, of The CDI (Customer Data Integration) Institute, has charged that Oracles hub architecture is immature and that the only referenceable customers Oracle has are actually running on highly customized versions of an early incarnation of Customer Data Hub technology, Oracle Customers Online.
"Its a very complex issue, when youre talking about CDI," Kingstone said. "Youre talking about bringing it to the next level of embedded business processes: customer hierarchy. Its not an easy problem to solve or an easy product to package. Oracle has to pay attention here."
Of all PeopleSoft customers, those running J.D. Edwards applications, particularly those who run on IBM AS/400 and arent interested in switching to an Oracle-centric platform, are particularly "in a tough spot," the report found, as rising maintenance costs and dwindling service levels remain "a distinct possibility."
The Yankee Group recommends that viable options for such customers are either to move to an Oracle infrastructure, implement an ERP solution that runs well on an IBM platform—such as SAP, QAD Inc. or Lawson Software Inc., for example—or remain on their current J.D. Edwards applications and continue to evaluate support options, including paying Oracle for maintenance, choosing a partner or abandoning maintenance altogether.
Sources say Oracle executives are preparing to implement a 2 percent increase in annual maintenance fees for PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards customers. Read more here.
Kingstone said that she has no concerns that Oracle will fail to live up to its oft-repeated promises of continuing support, but that doing so will require a diligent amount of customer research to find out what functionality it cant afford to lose as it ramps up Project Fusion. "Theyre very serious" about keeping customers satisfied, Kingstone said. "I have no concerns theyre not going to live up to that. But you want to keep the pressure on."
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