PeopleSoft Inc. and IBM Canada Ltd. announced on Tuesday an expansion of their partnership, as they work together to assist enterprises in providing better human resources support to their employees.
PeopleSoft's Human Capital Management (HCM) software will be implemented into IBM's e-HR component for its Dynamic Workplaces initiative.
The initiative will provide enterprises a set of intranet-based collaborative technologies such as e-HR, e-meetings, e-learning, and instant messaging that will allow companies to manage, connect and align their workforces.
Jacob Abramowicz, Toronto-based senior research analyst for E-Search Canada said the e-workplace space is an area in which Peoplesoft can really grow.
"Through our research in CRM (customer relationship management) we found that one of the areas that hasn't been developed, and what companies miss, is that you have to deal with your employees first before they are ready to deal with the customers properly," he said. "It's a good first step for them (PeopleSoft)…it's a natural progression for them in their fight with Siebel and their other ERP (enterprise resource planning) competitors."
Though he feels this announcement is a positive one for PeopleSoft, Abramowicz said e-HR has so far not been in high demand in the Canadian market.
"It's not an area that I have seen a huge demand for in Canada, but that's not necessarily a problem," he said. "That said, PeopleSoft's strengths have been in HR, and I know they have had relative success here."
The companies will jointly market the solution worldwide. PeopleSoft should benefit from IBM's first-point-of-sale abilities, Abramowicz said.
In other announcements, PeopleSoft released version 8.8 of its Enterprise Performing Management (EPM) solution created to help companies deal with future regulations proposed under the Basel Capital Accord. The latest version features risk management capabilities that will give banks the ability measure the full spectrum of risk types, including credit and operational risk.
PeopleSoft also announced the release of PeopleSoft for Staffing, a global solution for staffing firms. The solution enables the integration of front- and back-office operations so staffing companies can manage their available resources and quickly match the appropriate skilled person with the right job.
IBM Canada in Markham, Ont. can be found at http://www.ibm.com/ca.
PeopleSoft can be found at http://www.peoplesoft.com.