Oracle rivals must wait to win PeopleSoft users

Computerworld - Competitors may be circling the PeopleSoft customer base like hungry sharks, but users agree that even those companies that want to abandon new owner Oracle Corp. face rough seas.
Last week, Microsoft Corp. launched an outreach program aimed at convincing users of PeopleSoft Inc.'s software to switch to its ERP and CRM applications. Microsoft's program includes financial incentives and consulting services.
Other vendors said they haven't started formal migration programs, but users report that some are aggressively courting them. For example, an SAP AG spokesman said that his company has reached out to PeopleSoft users ever since Oracle announced its intention to buy the firm in June 2003.
In an informal poll of 11 PeopleSoft customers, four of them said they would consider migrating to another vendor. For many users, the decision depends on whether Oracle can deliver on its promise to support and upgrade PeopleSoft's World, EnterpriseOne and Enterprise software lines.
PeopleSoft user Fred Pond, director of information services at Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. in Portland, Ore., said he will be closely watching Oracle's actions over the coming months. But he acknowledged that even a decision to change would lead to a long conversion process.
If concerns arise over the next 18 months, Schnitzer will first assemble a team to consider a migration, said Pond. He is also president of the Quest International Users Group, which is made up of companies running applications from the former J.D. Edwards, now part of PeopleSoft.
If the team decided to switch, the process would be complex, requiring any new ERP system to be integrated with the steel company's other applications in addition to data conversion and personnel retraining, Pond said.
There's the rub for any user thinking of changing vendors. "There is a huge switching cost, almost insurmountable and unjustifiable unless you're on your knees and/or cannot complete a migration to your new ERP [system]," opined David Conn, director of corporate logistics at Werner Co. The Greenville, Pa.-based ladder maker is a PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne shop.

"I think the ERP vendor owns you unless you don't care whether you stay on the upgrade path and are self-supporting," Conn said. "I can't imagine there are many Fortune 1,000 companies who fit that profile."
Left in Limbo?
Absent any specific plans from Oracle, PeopleSoft users are in limbo, said Robert Robinson, business systems supervisor at Durr Industries Inc., an automotive supplier in Plymouth, Mich. Until Oracle makes its plans public, Durr can't determine whether a switch will be needed. Robinson noted that SAP and Microsoft