With the hype surrounding the future Fusion product, it was refreshing to see a live demonstration of an enhanced PeopleTools product that brings the user interface more in line with today’s Web 2.0 standards.
Review the article to better understand some of the updated capabilities with Tools 8.50.
2009-6
2
Coming release of PeopleTools 8.5 in 2009
2009-4
21
Oracle buys SUN reduces competition in the database market by removing the threat of MySQL
Oracle Corp.’s US$7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. will bring together the world’s most valuable relational database with the most popular open source one — MySQL.
Oracle reaped $8.34 billion from database sales in 2007, giving it 37.6% of the $22.2 billion global market, according to IDC. The 2008 figures are not yet available, IDC said.
MySQL’s sales, meanwhile, were just $38 million in 2007, ranking it just 19th in the market, according to IDC. The open source database placed behind a plethora of unheralded database vendors, such as Siemens, Unisys, Hitachi, even Apple Inc., whose Filemaker personal database had triple MySQL’s revenue.
Also, Oracle has said early on that Sun will continue to operate as a separate entity. That means MySQL will likely at least maintain it independence, as well as staying far enough away from Oracle’s pricey database to prevent inadvertent cannibalization, he said.
Alfresco’s Newton agreed, though he argued that Oracle may try to subtly steer the course of MySQL’s development to slow the addition of features such as more scalable clustering that would compete with Oracle’s main database.
But even if that happens, the open-source community as well as makers of third-party MySQL storage engines could ensure that such options remain available, he said.
2009-3
19
IT - Slowdown & Recovery
Going forward, the following trends are likely to prevail in the market for the cost optimization that they deliver.
Reduced travel and communication costs: Cutting back on plane trips and hotel stays is one of the most obvious ways for companies to save money, but that must be balanced against the value of person-to-person interaction. Today, videoconferencing and new collaboration tools are making virtual meetings much more like face-to-face interaction and companies are finding that in many cases, information sharing and collaboration can be accomplished more efficiently and for much less cost when done virtually. A prime example of this would be Raymond which has reduced costs by 30% using Microsoft UC solutions.
Going virtual: Virtualization makes it possible to run more than one operating system on a single machine, which can help companies reduce costs by enabling them to use more of the computing power that they already own. Virtualization also presents opportunities to consolidate the number of servers companies own and use.
Reduced PC energy consumption: There are incredible power management tools in software today that help companies more effectively manage energy consumption. Companies should make sure they are taking advantage of all power management tools in todays software.
Using business intelligence: Business intelligence delivers on a simple promise to improve business performance by driving better decision-making throughout your organization. BI helps you make better and quicker fact based decisions, enables all types of decision making in the organizationoperational, tactical or strategic, lowers TCO, gets deployed fast and scales with your requirement and enables decision making at all levels of the organizationpersonal, team or organization wide.
Leveraging cloud computing: Many companies are beginning to consider the benefits of a Software-as-a-Service model for their IT environments as a potential cost saving strategy, which provides the flexibility and options for customers to help them make educated decisions. To save costs - customers will now start exploring options to see how they can manage and access softwarewhether its online, on-premises or both.
CRM solutions: CRM offers a robust suite of sales, marketing, and service capabilities; it offers businesses of all sizes a fast, flexible, and affordable solution for finding, winning, and growing profitable customer relationships. Lilliput Retail, a retail company specializing in kidwear has in fact seen a 60% increase in efficiencies of warehouses.
2009-2
27
Maybe one of the most useful links - EVER!
Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Hosted PeopleBook website
http://www.oracle.com/pls/psft/homepage
This is the full searchable set of PeopleBooks. It will be updated as the the documentation changes. You can LINK your PeopleSoft applications directly to this site.
This is a publicly accessible site.
You can also access the PDF versions here - http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/psftent.html
Check this link:
Customer Connection References Within PeopleSoft Enterprise Documentation
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E05317_01/psft/acrobat/pb_metalink.pdf
This document lists the new MetaLink navigations for Customer Connection pages
PeopleSoft Related Tips and Training Material:
http://www.itwisesolutions.com/PsftQuiz.html
2009-2
1
Important ideas to help technology buyers navigate the ERP
ERP buyers take a realistic, and sometimes tough, stance when negotiating with both services and technology vendors.
- If your ERP is going pear shaped, it is better to seek help now rather than try continue swimming in mud.
- Use your industry peers. They will talk reality.
- If that means a brutal assessment then go for it. It only need happen once and you’ll thank the bringer of bad news. Management will also appreciate your honesty.
- Make sure the people you’re hiring have got the stones to stand up to the implementers AND the vendors. That could mean some tough talk but should mean a better outcome.
- Make sure the people you hire are truly independent and do not make their primary living from scratching the vendors’ or implementers’ backs. That could be tricky but there’s a few names to play with here.
- As [Erik] Kimberling says: never be afraid to say ‘No’ and stand your ground.
- Get your vendor and implementer to understand you’re looking for a partnership - not a transaction. If all they see are dollar signs then it’s fair to say you’re on your own. That’s not a good place to be on any project.