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PeopleSoft: What the customers and staff are saying

Alorie Gilbert CNET News

Published: 15 Dec 2004 14:35 GMT

Oracle may be celebrating its long-awaited union with PeopleSoft, but a day after the landmark deal not everyone is happy.

Among those likely to be looking at the $10.3bn merger with some trepidation are hundreds of major corporations and thousands of smaller companies that rely on PeopleSoft's programs to run their businesses.

In addition, PeopleSoft's 12,000 employees are wondering how the deal will affect their jobs. And Oracle competitors are weighing the merger's potential effect on their business.

Some of the most anxious companies are those using software from J.D. Edwards, which PeopleSoft acquired last year.

Oracle has repeatedly promised to bend over backwards to keep PeopleSoft's 12,200 customers happy, but some are already disgruntled.

"The customer has taken the back seat," says Ray Justus, manager of systems development at Kitchell, a construction company in Phoenix, Ariz. "This is all a money deal; it's about Oracle wanting to get bigger to compete with the bigger guys."

Justus is understandably unsettled. He just got used to working with PeopleSoft. Now Kitchell and thousands of other former J.D. Edwards customers must adjust to yet another set of owners for the company. The fact that Oracle initially preferred to acquire PeopleSoft without J.D. Edwards, is further cause for concern, Justus says.

"We're just wondering what's going to happen," he says.