Peoplesoft Targets Small Businesses

Hoping to capture more customers in the fast-growing small-business market, PeopleSoft Inc. last week unveiled enterprise applications that combine industry-specific business processes, implementation services, and hardware.

PeopleSoft World Express applications run on the IBM iSeries server platform and include modules for financials, distribution, manufacturing, human resources, and project management. The software is available in four industry-specific suites for industrial manufacturers, wholesale distributors, home builders, and construction companies.

Each suite comes preconfigured with as many as 30 industry-specific business processes.For example, the construction-company suite includes a job-costing process that lets companies define a job in the software, such as building a bridge, and then identify and track all the costs associated with that job, says Dave Siebert, group VP and general manager of PeopleSoft World Express products.

Pricing for the software varies, but a suite that includes iSeries hardware, preconfigured processes, and licenses for 10 to 20 users costs about $50,000. The software will be available in the second quarter.