TomorrowNow - Up or Down Vote?

shawnscanlon

Well Known Member
Does anyone have any experience with TomorrowNow? I saw that Gregg Larkin had some positive things to say but I was wondering if anyone else has had any experience positive or negative.
 
We reviewed Tomorrow Now (SAP Maintenance) and decided to stay with JDE
Support as we didn't want to re-license the software to get new
releases. Also we were fearful that the "Fixes" provided by Tomorrow
Now might cause our code to become "customized" to the point that we
could not upgrade to a new release and have to do a new install.



ERP 8.0 (installing ERP 8.11) Win 2K servers, SQL 2k



Rich Brown

ACTUS Lend Lease LLC

Phone (707) 256-1574

Fax (707) 254-3149

_____

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of shawnscanlon
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 8:34 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: TomorrowNow - Up or Down Vote?



Does anyone have any experience with TomorrowNow? I saw that Gregg
Larkin had some positive things to say but I was wondering if anyone
else has had any experience positive or negative.

Shawn F. Scanlon Partner Enterprise Solutions Providers
[email protected] (586) 530-2800 Member of The iConsortium

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Shawn,

Positive - we were one of their first JDE customers. We actually had some influence in their decision process to enter that market. We used them to support PeopleSoft HR and met with them at Connect and had conversations with them about entering the JDE support market.

Their response time has been excellent. Generally 30 minutes or less. Dominos couldn't do better.

They seem to be the safe harbor for a lot of top ex-JDEers. Unlike my previous experience with JDE support, I do not have to wait until I have the second or third level tech before I get someone that can actually help. That was not ment to be a bash, that's just the way that most help desks operate. With TomorrowNow support, I start with a topflight guy and then if things need to escalate they move up to some former GATS guys. Anyone who has ever dealt with a GATS guy knows that those guys have some seriously large propellors on their beanies.

And for you sketics out there that think that TomorrowNow is just a way for SAP to pressure customers to switch, that is NOT true. We are NOT receiving any pressure to switch.

Two thumbs way up from the Praxair CNC guys.

Gregg Larkin
JDE System Administrator (CNC) / North America
Praxair, Inc.
 
I do not know anything regarding TomorrowNow but our company has been using JDETips for about one year now and we are getting all the support we need and we are saving a ton of money. They have different support packages, and their help desk is much more responsive then JDE's was. They also provide annual updates for the 1099 and other tax tables.
 
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 paying 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 & 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.
 
Re: RE: TomorrowNow - Up or Down Vote?

Rich,

Here is the business model for TomorrowNow (they should pay me for this free advertising...). If you are happy and stable on your JDE platform and moving to the next release of the software does not provide a high ROI (return on investment), then consider third party support. We looked at 8.10. There was not enough changes in that release to warrent an upgrade for the sake of remaining under (at the time) PeopleSoft support. There is a good article on JDEtips that talks about the ERP lifecyle and when it makes sense to look at shifting into maintenance mode. It's a good read, even for an article that I didn't write for them. (Gotta have a little fun at my pal Andy Klee's expense).

Gregg Larkin
JDE System Administrator (CNC) / North America
Praxair, Inc.
 
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



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Have you actually GOTTEN any updates yet? That is my ultimate question...

_____

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Bill Means
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 2:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: TomorrowNow - Up or Down Vote?


I do not know anything regarding TomorrowNow but our company has been using
JDETips for about one year now and we are getting all the support we need
and we are saving a ton of money. They have different support packages, and
their help desk is much more responsive then JDE's was. They also provide
annual updates for the 1099 and other tax tables.


_____


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thread is available for viewing.


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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.
 
Re: RE: TomorrowNow - Up or Down Vote?

Hi Tony,

This must be "Questions from Iconsortium Guys Day." That's two of you guys mentioning me by name.

You are correct - the proof is in the pudding. We haven't crossed the foundation code bridge yet. The closest that we have come to that is our webserver. My production web server is on Websphere 4. Websphere 4 is incompatible with current Microsoft security patches. Fortunately I downloaded SP 23 before we terminated our contract so I can move forward to Websphere 5. As for year end payroll stuff, we do not use JDE for that.

As I said, so far so good. They have captured dozens of other customers, so they must be doing something right. SAP has some pretty deep pockets, and has dumped a nice pile of it into TomorrowNow.

Gregg Larkin
JDE System Administrator (CNC) / North America
Praxair, Inc.
 
Awesome! Hmmmm... Maybe there is a niche within a niche here! Who wants to go ahead and provide the year end updates and supply them to ALL of the 3rd party maintenance companies?
 
Re: RE: TomorrowNow - Up or Down Vote?

Hi,

Actually, TomorrowNow value is not excedding 15% of Oracle Support value.

Support is not only call respons We have take into our consideration the added value of knowledge transfer, Support account mangement and many other benefits.

Mohamed


gregglarkin <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Tony,

This must be "Questions from Iconsortium Guys Day." That's two of you guys mentioning me by name.

You are correct - the proof is in the pudding. We haven't crossed the foundation code bridge yet. The closest that we have come to that is our webserver. My production web server is on Websphere 4. Websphere 4 is incompatible with current Microsoft security patches. Fortunately I downloaded SP 23 before we terminated our contract so I can move forward to Websphere 5. As for year end payroll stuff, we do not use JDE for that.

As I said, so far so good. They have captured dozens of other customers, so they must be doing something right. SAP has some pretty deep pockets, and has dumped a nice pile of it into TomorrowNow.

Gregg Larkin
JDE System Administrator (CNC) / North America
Praxair, Inc.
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
 
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