Greg,
You have always given great info and I thank you for that. I am sure that
Praxair comes in on the red phone at TomorrowNow because of your great
references. So I would consider your results to be 125% of typical.
But more importantly that the number of minutes for a callback are the
business critical situations. The 2 most important as I see them are:
1. Tax and regulatory updates. While I truly believe that TomorrowNow is
positioned better than anyone else to deliver these updates, the proof must
be in the pudding. They have yet to deliver year end requirements to a JD
Edwards customer, and because of their need to manually install updates,
that leaves the question what is going to happen?" Customers running
Payroll in many states could face millions in fines if somthing goes wrong.
We all know the pains gone through each year when JDE put out the new yearly
updates with beta testing for 2-3 months to get it right. Again, they have
been doing it with PSFT already, so the requirements knowledge is there, but
again - the proof is in the pudding.
Greg, PLEASE keep us posted on how it goes this year end or if you here of
others experience.
2. Hardware, hardware, hardware... We all know that NOBODY can provide
foundation fixes so the rule of thumb is to lock down your systems and don't
do anything new in order to be safe. But what happens if your SAN goes out
in a year or 2 and new protocols are all that is available? If you are
iSeries, what happens if your drive or processor dies, and the only
replacement requires new unsupported OS releases? Are you doomed to
aftermarket parts?
CASE IN POINT: Everybody thought World customers were safe because they can
play with most any code to keep it going - they don't have the restrictions
from foundation... Well I learned of a customer that had to upgrade their
box, which required the latest OS, and BANG! They lost the ability to sign
into World! The culprit? An assembly language component called X0001M
sitting deep in the system that whoops! required an update from JDE to make
work again! What happens now? Reverse engineer the thing? Steal the
update from somewhere? These are the unknowns of such a complex system.
Absolute fact: NOBODY can distribute base object without violating
licensing agreements, so what happens when there are 100 customers all
needing various SUI updates, etc.? A slew of dozens of developers remoting
in and "paper" fixing the system?
Again, I am not knocking TomorrowNow they are the clear leaders - I just
wish there were clear answers to questions like these....
_____
From:
[email protected] [mailto:
[email protected]] On
Behalf Of gregglarkin
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 1:30 PM
To:
[email protected]
Subject: Re: TomorrowNow - Up or Down Vote?
Shawn,
Here's an interesting article on this topic:
http://yahoo.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_43/b3956092.htm
SAP's End Run Around Oracle
Its TomorrowNow unit is siphoning service revenue from its archrival
Like a lot of companies, Praxair Inc. (PX ) got caught by the wave of
consolidation sweeping the software industry. The $6.6 billion producer of
industrial gases, based in Danbury, Conn., ran financial and manufacturing
software from J.D. Edwards & Co. and human resources programs from
PeopleSoft Inc. Then, in June, 2003, PeopleSoft announced plans to buy J.D.
Edwards. Days later, Oracle Corp. (ORCL ) made a hostile takeover bid for
PeopleSoft.
Now all three companies are rolled into one -- and Praxair is plenty worried
about the future of its old software packages. So it has taken a bold step.
Instead of p! aying Oracle a fee equal to 22% of the value of its software
each year for maintenance and support, Praxair has signed up with a
100-person outfit in Bryan, Tex., called TomorrowNow Inc., that does the job
for half the price. Praxair's chief information officer, Melissa Buckwalter,
says the move will give her company "more control" over its tech
investments. No matter how Oracle goes about weaving together all its
programs into a hybrid dubbed Fusion, Praxair can keep running its old
software.
The curious wrinkle is that tiny TomorrowNow has been a wholly owned
subsidiary of German software giant SAP (SAP ) since last January. In other
words, SAP is now in the business of providing post-sales support for
software owned by its fiercest rival. It's a sly move, emblematic of the
bitter battle being waged by the titans of corporate software. "We saw it as
a very clever and cheeky way for SAP to start going after its competitors'
customer base," says JPMorgan Chase &am! p; Co. (JPM ) analyst John M.
Segrich in London.
TURNING ON THE CHARM
The moment is ripe. Oracle's acquisition binge has upended the old order
because PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards programs will be gradually phased out.
That's prompting some customers to consider switching. To woo them, SAP is
turning on the charm. By supporting Oracle's acquired packages, for
instance, SAP lets those customers postpone upgrades to newer versions --
giving them time to consider other options. Still, TomorrowNow founder and
Chief Executive Andrew J. Nelson insists that his staff doesn't promote one
brand of software over another. "It's essential that our customers don't
think we're there to push them to SAP," he says.
TomorrowNow also siphons off from Oracle millions of dollars per customer in
annual support revenues. "This is a customer-friendly move with an ulterior
motive," says Joshua Greenbaum, principal for Enterprise Applications
Consulting, a Berkeley (Calif.! ) advisory firm.
Oracle waves off the threat. "It is highly unlikely that SAP will convert a
significant number of customers," says spokesman Bob Wynne. Oracle clients
"aren't only looking for the best deal" when it comes to service, he adds.
"They want support from the company that develops the software."
Still, TomorrowNow is on a roll. Since being acquired by SAP, it has nearly
doubled its staff and client base, which now includes Safeway Inc. (SWV ),
furniture-maker Haworth, Brigham Young University, and the cities of
Atlanta, Huntsville, Ala., and Flint, Mich. SAP CEO Henning Kagermann says
TomorrowNow has been "instrumental" in the success of a program that has
already lured nearly two dozen Oracle customers to SAP. "This has to be done
in a way that makes customers feel comfortable," Kagermann says.
Oracle is taking notice. At a late September users' conference in San
Francisco, the company unveiled longer support programs for users of! old
PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards software. And though he hasn't made any firm
promises yet, Oracle CEO Lawrence J. Ellison says his company is considering
allowing future applications to run on non-Oracle databases -- a significant
issue for the thousands of PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards customers using
servers from IBM (IBM ) and other computer makers. Oracle is sweetening its
message. But with TomorrowNow in its arsenal, SAP has a stealth weapon to
fight back.
Production: XE, Update 6, SP22E, Win 2K, Win 2K3, SQL 2K, Websphere 4, XPI
4.7, Citrix XP Sandbox: XE SP23G, Websphere 5.02 36 servers, 4200 users from
6 countries
_____
The entire <http://www.jdelist.com/ubb/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=> JDELIST
thread is available for viewing.
Looking for a job? Check out the Job
This is the JDELIST EnterpriseOne Mailing List.
The instructions on how to unsubscribe from any JDELIST mailing list are
available here <http://www.jdelist.com/unsubscr.shtml> .
JDELIST is not affiliated with JDEdwardsR.