Here are a few comments from some of those affected by Oracle’s purchase of PeopleSoft:
”I don’t know how they’re going to match up. It looks like there’s two solutions, I guess. I kind of need more direction on where they’re heading with it.”
”Some of the PeopleSoft applications
are similar (to those of) Oracle. But the J.D. Edwards’ World piece obviously is a different piece than the Oracle application. I guess it broadens Oracle’s market as far as the types of solutions and the numbers of solutions and systems it covers.”
Gordon Thompson, regional contact, PeopleSoft’s National User Group
”We don’t really know what’s going to happen. There’s all kinds of rumours flying around the industry, of course. Many times we’ve always talked about the same thing: what would it mean to us? I don’t see that there’s anyone who can answer our questions. At this point in time I’m anxious to see how the new organization is going to unfold. I’m anxious to see what kind of support Oracle is going to bring forth for the three PeopleSoft platforms. I’m interested to see if they’re going to enhance the support, and if so, where that may be. I think the next year is going to be exciting.”
”Right now, our 2005 initiatives are pretty much locked in. Initiatives don’t really depend on software platforms. Nonetheless, we’re running the old J.D. Edward’s OneWorld, which is the PeopleSoft World platform. We don’t intend to change it, we tend to stay exactly on the course that we’re on. It’s an excellent ERP system. I can’t see ourselves ever moving away from that.”
Marie Sargent, vice-president of IT, Cambridge Towel Corp. and president, PeopleSoft Eastern Canada User Group
”The number of potential new Oracle sites is no longer growing dramatically. To a large degree they1re focused on selling upgrades, new products and enhancements to their existing customer base. I’m not saying there are no new Oracle sites, they’re not in a decline, but they’re in a mature market segment, at which point, mergers and acquisitions becomes one of the standard things they do.”
”Look for more mergers and acquisitions between companies with established sales volumes.”
”We will know afterwards whether this was a good one or a bad one.”
Albert Daoust, manager of special projects, Evans Research Corp.
–Compiled by Greg Meckbach, Shane Schick and Fawzia Sheikh
