CA under fire over ERP demise claim
Companies attack vendor for taking simplistic view of slowdown in market.
Computer Associates (CA) has waded into a row about the future of enterprise resource planning software by declaring that ERP, as it exists today, is dead.
Following predictions by several market analysts about the slowdown of the ERP market, Reuven Battat, president of the vendor's newly launched interBiz Solutions division, compared ERP vendors to "mighty dinosaurs that once roamed and ruled the earth".
Speaking at the launch of CA's BizWorks technology, Battat said: "Current monolithic ERP systems not only fail to integrate seamlessly with third-party applications, but cannot keep up with the flexibility required in today's environment."
Battat's statement comes as several ERP vendors continue to struggle.
Last week, JD Edwards was the latest company to reveal a consecutive quarter-on-quarter loss (PC Dealer, 1 September).
Neil Brookes, application marketing manager at ERP vendor Oracle, conceded that Battat was "probably almost right", but accused the CA official of "overstating and over-simplifying" the ERP problem.
"The downturn in the market will be short lived and once most businesses survive the millennium, ERP will pick up again. But the internet has changed the way ERP systems are deployed and vendors will have to evolve to reflect that," Brookes suggested.
But Brookes dismissed CA's attempt to position the BizWorks technology as the answer to connecting applications and the internet. "Enterprises do not need any more string and jam," he said.
Trevor Salomon, marketing director at JD Edwards, said the statement came from a vendor that had "lost its way in the ERP space".
"Nobody sees CA as a serious competitor in this sector anymore and due to that failing, I would question its credibility to make this statement. ERP is quieter, but it is not dead," he claimed.
Salomon admitted the ERP market had been tougher recently, but added: "It will pick up, even if only because some vendors disappear."
MARRON HEADS FOR US
Mark Marron, senior vice president of EMEA at Computer Associates, has left his post to take up a position at the software vendor's New York headquarters. George Kaskarkou, who was vice president for information management solutions at CA, will replace him with immediate effect.
Although Marron's exact position with the company was unclear as PC Dealer went to press, it is understood that he will continue to have some European responsibility for CA's recently launched channel programme, VIP.