ERP Solution Spotlight: Oracle eBusiness, JD Edwards, and Peoplesoft
We regularly work with a number of leading ERP software solutions including SAP, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, and Oracle’s ERP solutions. As we’ve outlined in other blogs and research, each software solution has its strengths, weaknesses, and tradeoffs.
Oracle’s product suite, which includes eBusiness, JD Edwards, and Peoplesoft, is number two in the ERP market in terms of market share and install base. In addition to our client experience with Oracle, we also recently compared the product to other leading enterprise software packages as part of our 2008 benchmark study of over 1,300 ERP implementations across the globe. More recent data from our 2010 ERP Report will be made available in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, some of the findings we discovered from our experience and research include:
- Oracle is installed by 28% of organizations that use an ERP software solution.
- Its product line is evaluated, selected, and implemented in an average of 18.6 months, below the overall average of 20 months for other solutions.
- Oracle implementations have the highest level of predictability of all ERP software vendors in our study.
- The average initial cost to implement Oracle is approximately 25% less than SAP, its primary competitor in the marketplace. Expressed as a percentage of annual revenue, Oracle’s total cost of ownership is nearly 50% less than SAP.
- Oracle software solutions tied for first in executive satisfaction (76%).
However, in addition to the above strengths, there are two key tradeoffs to consider when evaluating Oracle as a potential option:
- Oracle products are implemented with a total cost of ownership of $12.6 million or 10.6% of annual revenue, both of which are significantly higher than the overall averages of $8.5 million and 9%.
- eBusiness Suite, JD Edwards, and Peoplesoft as an aggregate had the lowest level of employee satisfaction of solutions in our study.
The point is not to suggest that Oracle’s products are better or inferior to other enterprise software solutions, but rather to provide one data point as part of a robust ERP software selection process. While this provides useful information on the surface, it is also important to consider business requirements that are unique to your business, understand the key functional and technical differentiators, and assess the overall fit with your organizational and operational needs.
Learn more about how Oracle stacks up to other leading ERP software solutions by viewing the below video presentation.
About Eric Kimberling
After 15 years of ERP consulting at large firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers and SchlumbergerSema, Eric realized the need for an independent consulting firm that really understands ERP. He began his career as an ERP organizational change management consultant and eventually broadened his background to include implementation project management and software selection. Eric’s background includes extensive ERP software selection, ERP organizational change, and ERP implementation project management experience. Throughout his career, Eric has helped dozens of high-profile and global companies with their ERP initiatives, including Kodak, Samsonite, Coors, Duke Energy, and Lucent Technologies to name a few. In addition to extensive ERP experience, Eric has also helped clients with business process re-engineering, merger and acquisition integration, strategic planning, and six sigma. Eric holds an MBA from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.
