5 dominating ERP software suppliers are SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Baan and J.D. Edwards.Together they control a lot more than 60% from the multibillion dollar global market.Each vendor, because of historic reasons, includes a specialty in a single particular module area for example Baan inManufacturing, PeopleSoft in Recruiting management, SAP in Logistics and Oracle inFinancials. There's also about 50 established and some more newly emerging smaller and midsizeERP vendors including 3rd party developers competing for that ERP market. The end result is stiffcompetition and feature-overlapping products hard to differentiate. Because of keen competition forcharge of the lucrative ERP share of the market the vendors are continuously updating many andadding new technology-based features. Long-term vision, resolve for service and support, modulefeatures, specialty, experience and financial strength for R&D are the major vendor qualitiesfor product selection and turnkey implementation. Within the following sections we offer brief profiles ofthese five ERP giants.

 

 

 

SAP AG ("Systeme, Anwendungen, und Produkte in Datenverarbeitung") or Systems, Applications andProducts in Data Processing, was started by five former IBM engineers in Germany in 1972 forproducing integrated business application software for that manufacturing enterprise (SAP, 2001). Itsfirst ERP product R/2 premiered in 1979 utilizing a mainframe-based centralized database which wasthen redesigned as client/server software R/3 in 1992. System R/3 would be a breakthrough by 1999SAP AG had become the third largest software vendor on the planet and also the largest within the ERP sector having ashare of the market around 36% serving over 17,000 customers in over 100 countries. In 1999 SAP AGextended the ERP functions with the addition of CRM, SCM, sales-force automation and data warehousing. SAPhas additionally invested significantly in the R&D sector using the consequence of newer versions of R/3 3.1, 4.0, 4.6including Internet functionalities along with other enhancements. SAP's Internet-enabled ERP solutions aresupplied by the recently launched ERP product called http://mysap.com/. SAP has got the broadest ERPfunctionality, capacity to invest significantly on R&D, strong industry focused solutions and long-termvision.

 
Oracle (Oracle, 2001), founded 1977 in the united states, is better noted for its database software and relatedapplications, may be the second largest software company on the planet after Microsoft. Oracle's enterprisecomputer programs began to use its database later. It makes up about $2.5 billion from thecompany's $9.3 billion in 1999 which places Oracle second to SAP within the enterprise systems categorywith 5,000 customers in 140 countries. Oracles ERP product is referred to as Oracle Applicationshaving a lot more than 50 different modules in six major categories: Finance, Accounts Payable, HumanResources, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Projects and Front Office. Oracle has other strong products inthe program field including DBMS, Data Warehousing, Workflow, Systems Administration, ApplicationDevelopment Tools (APIs), and consulting services. A notable feature of Oracle is the fact that it's both acompetitor along with a partner with a of the profession leaders in ERP market for example SAP, Baan andPeopleSoft due to the utilization of Oracle's DBMS within their ERP systems.Oracle has integrated its ERP solutions using the Internet and it has introduced several applications within theelectronic commerce and Internet-based commerce areas. Oracles Internet infrastructure is doneabout 2 powerful products: Oracle9i Database and Oracle9i Application Server. Another significantfeature of Oracle is its OSBS or Oracle Small company Suite providing you with consistent financials, payroll,inventory control, order entry, purchase orders, and CRM functionality - all delivered like a Web service.Oracle offers an easy-to-activate Website that can help companies to market their goods through theInternet.

 
PeopleSoft is among the newest ERP software firms were only available in 1987 in Pleasanton, California withspecialization in human resource management and financial services modules. PeopleSoft quicklywere able to offer other corporate functions and attained an income of $32 million in 1992. Enterprisesolutions from PeopleSoft include modules for manufacturing, materials management, distribution,finance, recruiting and provide chain planning. SAP AG and Oracle with longer experience,stronger financial base and worldwide presence would be the main competitors to PeopleSoft. Manycustomers comment that PeopleSoft includes a culture of collaboration with customers, that makes it moreflexible than its competitors. Among the strengths of PeopleSoft may be the recognition by its customers itis flexible and collaborative. The flagship application PeopleSoft8 with lots of applications wasproduced by PeopleSoft by having an expenditure of $500 million and a pair of,000 developers over 24 months like apure Internet-based collaborative enterprise system. "Our revolutionary eBusiness platform may be the firstopen XML platform to provide scalability and simplicity of use for those users. PeopleSoft 8 requires no clientsoftware apart from a typical internet browser, providing you with a chance to securely run your companyanytime, anywhere" (PeopleSoft, 2001). "Our eBusiness applications and consulting services enabletrue global operations¡ªmanaging multiple currencies, languages, and business processes in excess of4,400 organizations in 109 countries" (PeopleSoft, 2001). PeopleSoft about 10% share of the market isthe 3rd largest ERP vendor after SAG AG and Oracle.

 

 
Founded in 1978 within the Netherlands Baan (BaaN, 2001) started with expertise in software for thatmanufacturing industry by 1997 claimed an ERP share of the market of roughly 5%. Bann's revenue in1998 was roughly $750 million while facing slight decelerate in 1999 started growing again in 2001 withsales up 12% at £7,231million and operating profit of £926 million. Baan has a lot more than 15,000customer sites worldwide and most 3,000 employees. Baan believes that "the Internet isthe best enabler" and "Internet technologies help companies become order-driven and customerfocusedby enabling collaboration over the ¡®value chain¡¯. Suppliers, distributors, manufacturersand customers can function together to provide the best product in the right price". ERP solution areas thatBaan covers include Finance, Procurement, Manufacturing, Distribution, Integration & implementation,Planning, Sales, Service & Maintenance and Business portals, Collaborative commerce and BusinessIntelligence. Bann's flagship method is BaanERP (formerly called Triton, then Baan IV) launched in1998. One innovative product from Baan may be the Orgware tool that may cut implementation costsignificantly by automatically configuring the enterprise software. Baan's ERP software programs are most widely known inthe aerospace, automotive, defence, and electronics industries.

 
J.D. Edwards was founded in 1977 in Denver (co-founded by Jack Thompson, Dan Gregory and C.Edward McVaney) with long connection with supplying software for that AS/400 market. J.D. Edwards'flagship ERP product called OneWorld is "Capable of running on multiple platforms with multipledatabases, OneWorld revolutionizes enterprise software by liberating users from inflexible, statictechnologies" (JD Edwards, 2001). The merchandise includes modules for finance, manufacturing,distribution/logistics and recruiting, quality management, maintenance management, datawarehousing, customer care and after-sales service modules. J.D. Edwards' revenue jumped to$944 million in 1999 from $120 million in1992 having a lot more than 5,000 customers in over 100 countries.OneWorld product is regarded as more flexible than similar competing products and inside thereach of smaller enterprises. J.D. Edwards Internetextended version of OneWorld premieredrecently as OneWorld Xe ("Xe" means "extended enterprise").