By Simon Hodgson
PeopleSoft Corp is rumored to be in the market to acquire one of customer relationship management vendor Clarify Inc, or supply chain software provider Descartes Systems Group. Industry sources told ComputerWire that the Pleasanton, California enterprise resource planning firm needs a coup to demonstrate to customers, share-holders and partners that it is still a force to be reckoned with.
Analysts are unanimous in their support for the Clarify deal in particular. It would be a major splash, says Judy Andaloro, senior analyst with AMR Research in Boston. PeopleSoft has been wreathed by CRM acquisition rumors for many months, first with stories about Vantive, then Siebel, now Clarify. Right now, Clarify has a lot of momentum. It’s more a question of pricing. San Jose, California Clarify’s market capitalization is currently around the $910m mark, far above the $246m price-tag of Vantive, the purchase that most industry tipsters have expected.
All the other ERP vendors have made moves in the CRM space, says Cassandra Millhouse, an analyst with Ovum Ltd, London. Whereas SAP is building its own CRM, Baan has acquired its Front Office offering by buying Aurum Software Corp (CI No 3,160) and Oracle has been steadily filling out its suite through development and acquisition.
PeopleSoft Inc posted second-quarter net income down 92.5% last month, with earnings per share decimated from $0.15 last year to $0.01 (CI No 3,707). PeopleSoft’s US user conference starts on Monday in New Orleans, while the European version in Hamburg is scheduled for October.
