InformationWeek

June 14, 1999

E-Buying Option

PeopleSoft and Commerce One team to offer online procurement service

By Eileen Colkin and Tom Stein

Related links:

Procurement For High End

Easier Web Procurement

And from our sister publications:

Computer Reseller News Industry Slices Up Procurement Pie

InternetWeek Enterprise Users Poke Holes In E-Procurement

eopleSoft Inc. last week unveiled a partnership with Commerce One Inc. in which the enterprise resource planning vendor made an $8 million equity investment. Commerce One's technology lets companies purchase office supplies, raw materials, and repair parts via the Internet. It will be integrated into PeopleSoft's newly launched PeopleSoft Business Network, letting PeopleSoft users order goods and services directly from their desktops.

Despite having outlined an E-commerce strategy in October, PeopleSoft has not executed on it until now--and the company is playing catch-up. SAP and Oracle already have introduced electronic-procurement engines, while J.D. Edwards & Co. has forged an online procurement deal with Ariba Inc.

Erica Rugullies, an analyst at the Giga Group, says taking an "if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em" approach to E-business is the best way for ERP vendors to jump into the market--and partnerships with smaller procurement vendors are essential if the ERP players want to survive. "The ERP vendors need to get into E-commerce--their lunch is being eaten by startups like Ariba," she says.

PeopleSoft is playing catch-up in procurement to rival ERP vendors.

The deal comes as something of a surprise, however, since SAP also has an equity investment in Commerce One. But that relationship may have cooled since SAP launched its own, internally development E-procurement application in May.

Meanwhile, SAP last week enhanced its SAP Business Information Warehouse 1.2 by adding retail-industry specific human-resources reporting tools it gained through its acquisition of Campbell Software in January. SAP is adding SAP Campbell's StaffWorks scheduling and Time and Attendance software to enhancements in this latest version of Business Information Warehouse, including stronger business content and analytical capabilities. The enhancements will be available this summer. Pricing has not been set.