PeopleSoft has doubled its services capabilities in SA and there are plans for further expansion.
Guy Dubois, PeopleSoft executive VP for international operations, says while the local market is not huge, it is a strong one with good prospects for growth and as a platform for expansion into Africa.
He says the group is keeping its options in Africa open, but is watching developments on the continent keenly. While it does have distributorships in various African countries, the priority now is SA, to which he says PeopleSoft is committed.
Before PeopleSoft acquired JD Edwards - the local office of which has become PeopleSoft SA - the PeopleSoft distribution in SA was carried out by ERP.com subsidiary Activ8.
"Activ8 has been a good partner for PeopleSoft in engaging and delivering on projects," Dubois says. He says the companies have reached an understanding that he believes will be formalised soon, in terms of which Activ8 will serve in the capacity of a services company.
Such an arrangement makes sense, he says, since customers would not understand the concept of sourcing software from another party when they can source it directly from the software provider.
Dubois says there are several goals for which the South African operation, the former JD Edwards, is striving. The first is to continue to build on its strengths and the second to establish itself not only a respectable software vendor but as a respectable services provider as well.
In addition, it has been set a challenge to accelerate the business by bringing in new products, such as the PeopleSoft customer relationship management solution, which is targeted at large companies. "We believe there is a market for that," he says.
Mike Edwards, PeopleSoft SA`s MD, says 20 people have been hired to bolster the services capabilities locally and there are plans to hire another 20 next year.
Dubois says the group is the alternative to SAP and is positioning itself to execute on that concept. "Frankly, the market here is not huge, but it is a strong market and there are good prospects for growth."
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