Hardly so, I would imagine, unless you're in the business of buying, selling and/or using enterprise-class software.
Approximately four days after PeopleSoft announced its US$1.7 billion stock purchase of J.D. Edwards, Larry Ellison launched Oracle's "merge and purge" strategy--absorb PeopleSoft into the fray and give Craig Conway the boot.
Ellison has pledged to enhance support for all PeopleSoft products. "We will be incorporating the advanced features from PeopleSoft's products into future versions of Oracle eBusiness Suite," he said.
Conway, said to be Ellison's former protege at Oracle, has dubbed the bid "classic Larry bad behaviour", according to a New York Times report.
I'm not sure if the duo had a massive fallout when Conway joined PeopleSoft as president and COO in 1999 or if this is a smokescreen of sorts but corporate mud-slinging aside, where does this leave the customers?
J. D. Edwards customer Fred A. Hood, chief information officer at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (soon to open its first Australian store in Penrith, NSW), told NYT the takeover bid could worry PeopleSoft's customers.
"If I were a PeopleSoft customer, I'd be a tad nervous," Hood said. "I'd want to have a say, and I think shareholders are going to want to know what customers think." He said he understood the benefits of the merger of PeopleSoft and J. D. Edwards because it would expand the product line. With the Oracle acquisition of PeopleSoft, however, he said, the result for customers would be less rather than more.
But if you're in the middle of a J.D. Edwards or PeopleSoft deployment, you should proceed, says market researcher Gartner. However, if you're considering a purchase of J.D. Edwards or PeopleSoft products, don't sign a deal until it becomes clear whether Oracle's plans to acquire PeopleSoft are serious, Gartner said in an advisory note.
If the deal goes through, Gartner says:
- Oracle will benefit by removing an enterprise application competitor. More importantly, the deal will do more to convince the market that Oracle is a provider of a complete software, application and infrastructure stack, and is more than a database management system vendor.
While absorbing PeopleSoft, Oracle and its customers may experience short-term disruptions, such as confusing marketing messages and delays in releases. But Oracle customers will feel little long-term impact.
- PeopleSoft customers will face significant long-term disruption as they feel pressure to migrate to Oracle applications and infrastructure or to find alternatives. Although Oracle plans to extend support for PeopleSoft v.7, Oracle will not support any PeopleSoft products in the long term. Therefore, in building any exit strategy, PeopleSoft customers should evaluate how long installed products will support their business needs and should understand what migration plans Oracle will offer. Those that recently decided to upgrade to v.8 should reconsider since Oracle will likely provide only minimal enhancements to v.8.
- If Oracle also purchases J.D. Edwards, this announcement will not directly affect World customers as Oracle will keep them for the renewable service revenue. OneWorld customers will face pressure to migrate to Oracle in the long term. In building any exit strategy, evaluate how long your current products can support your needs and understand any migration plans from Oracle. If Oracle does not purchase J.D. Edwards, customers should not begin new initiatives using J.D. Edwards because the company will likely seek an alternative buyer.
However, in the event the deal doesn't proceed, Gartner believes:
- Oracle will at least benefit from the publicity, which will raise questions about rival PeopleSoft's viability as an independent vendor. Oracle customers should feel little impact.
- Damage has already been done to PeopleSoft--Oracle's announced intent has raised market concerns about PeopleSoft's long-term independence. Furthermore, if PeopleSoft's stock value declines, its own acquisition of J.D. Edwards could be at risk. PeopleSoft will feel a short-term negative impact on revenue as customers delay purchase and upgrade decisions, but PeopleSoft's viability will not be irreparably damaged. Continue to evaluate PeopleSoft products based on whether they offer you suitable functions.
- In the short term, this announcement will hurt J.D. Edwards as it complicates its acquisition by PeopleSoft. Customers or prospects should hold off on any new project or purchases until the status of PeopleSoft's acquisition of J.D. Edwards is clarified.
Hopefully, Oracle has no desire to protract the process--the PeopleSoft offer is set to expire July 7 but the former could extend the offer, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
But no matter the outcome, PeopleSoft will still be the loser as this window of uncertainty allows rivals to pounce upon the gates of opportunity.
7%
2%
Is there no backfire on Ellison other than a protracted lawsuit threat? Doesn't it seem wrong that a bully like Ellison can throw a low punch with no repercussions?
If I was a Peoplesoft customer - all Ellison's stunt has done is force me to look elsewhere for ERP/CRM/HR software - more likely than SAP than a company like Oracle that has such a barbarian CEO who I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw him!
It seemed when IBM tried to do this a decade or so ago, they were pounced upon. There's also a LOT of other questionable actions by Oracle like the $95 Million dirty deal with the State of California that ended up with some serious repercussions to folks in the Govt.
I guess we just put this down to the business of big business and wash our hands of any acknowledgement that something is horribly wrong :(