Thoughts on PeopleSoft, Oracle Fusion and Roadmaps
I wasn’t able to attend Oracle Open World (OOW) this year, but feedback from my colleagues indicated that there is still concern and confusion about how, why and when PeopleSoft users will need to move to Fusion. What we heard is that PeopleSoft customers are still thinking they will be forced to move to Fusion.
Having worked at Oracle, I’ve experienced Oracle-speak first hand. While the folks at Oracle certainly mean well, the critical information can get lost in translation — leaving clients confused. Consider me your translator!
So what is a PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) customer to do? How does the Fusion strategy affect their HCM roadmap? How do you decide whether or not to make the transition to Fusion? Is Fusion all about SaaS?
The answers are not complex, at least for now. Oracle is not forcing anyone to go to Fusion. They would like to gain momentum in the marketplace with Fusion. They would like to be sure their PeopleSoft customers understand that there are Fusion options that cater to onsite, hosted and SaaS-minded customers when the competition comes knocking on their doors, but by no means are they saying Fusion is for everyone.
From briefings I’ve attended, it is apparent that we are still in an early adopter stage with Fusion for the existing customer base. Customers who want to be on the cutting edge of technology and are willing to make the investment of time and resources, who need the features available in the Fusion applications, whether full suite or one module, should look at Fusion. Customers who are considering moving to SaaS should look at Fusion, even if it is for only one module, such as compensation or performance management.
For the vast majority of PeopleSoft HCM customers, however, we recommend they sit tight. Upgrade to 9.2 and/or the latest PeopleTools release, both of which have some exceptionally nice features (influenced by Fusion capabilities), and stick to your HCM roadmaps for now.
The future may be Fusion, but as far as Oracle is concerned, there is still a definite future for PeopleSoft.
