Event
Summary
Seeking new
avenues for growth, $8.8 billion Oracle Corporation will extend its reach into
the small enterprise market. The suite includes Oracle's new APS (Advanced Planning
and Scheduling) package announced near the end of June, which includes Demand
Planning, Supply Chain Planning, Global Available to Promise, and Manufacturing
Scheduling. Details of the small enterprise offering will be given at the Oracle
Applications User Group (OAUG) conference in Orlando, Florida in October.
Market
Impact
In its June
28 announcement, Oracle spoke confidently of single-day implementations of its
APS suite and next-day returns on investment. Those who have struggled through
the stressful months of the organizational change that inevitably accompany
APS projects might conclude that Oracle is working from a non-standard definition
of the word "implementation". Clearly Oracle hopes to grab the attention of
companies that may be eyeing competitive APS offerings from best-of-breeds like
i2, Manugistics, or even integrated suites like SAP's Advanced Planner and Optimizer
(APO). Although supply chain management implementations can be less costly in
terms of time and resources when compared to full-scope ERP installations, they
still require full participation of an experienced project team and well-defined
business processes. The same holds true for both large and small organizations.
Although APS
is presumably a home-grown product, Oracle may find it difficult to convince
prospective clients that it is a superior alternative to the Rhythm applications
currently embedded in its suite. Oracle will also face pressure when SAP APO
version 2.0 emerges from final testing later this year. Other vendors such as
J. D. Edwards, Manugistics, and Baan have already begun raising the profiles
of their own supply chain products to claim territory in the hot SCM marketplace.
User
Recommendations
Few user conferences
surpass those of Oracle for vendor self-promotion and this year's bash in Orlando
promises to be brimming with hype. While most will regard Oracle's one-day implementation
claim with an appropriate level of skepticism, others who are willing to forge
ahead may want to consider looking at the Demand Planning application as a start.
Demand Planning can be the least painful of new applications, as forecast generation
can be accomplished with a relatively small amount of data, and integration
to other systems, though efficient, is not absolutely necessary to gain some
benefits. The other planning tools, especially Global ATP, will require much
greater effort.