5 Things: Why PeopleSoft is a great investment

There is a natural temptation to believe that because something is old that it's no longer as good as something newer.

PeopleSoft has been around for more than 30 years but then so has the Mini.  

We could all think of countless examples of this but I'm picking one that's close to my home in Oxford - the home of the Mini.

The Mark 1 Mini car production started in 1959. (PeopleSoft was founded in 1987)

1959 Mini

Would we say that the latest BMW Mini model was old?

2014 Mini

Look.... I'm not an expert in cars and I'm fully aware that all analogies fall down at sometime during scrutiny.  So, what's my point?

Java (prolific programming language)?  25 years old
Python (most popular programming language today) ?  30 years old
Windows operating system?  34 years old
HTTP (the language of the world wide web)?  24 years old
PeopleSoft ?  33 years old

PeopleSoft's name might be old but I'm going to argue that the product today is not.

(1) Oracle is committed to the PeopleSoft product & customers

https://www.oracle.com/applications/peoplesoft/

There has been relentless innovation in the PeopleSoft product line.  A roadmap with no delivery is just noise from a supplier that can't deliver - but this is NOT PeopleSoft.   If you doubt Oracle's commitment to the product and you want proof they will continue to invest and deliver then just look at the new features added in the last few years.  It's breathtaking!   

There is a comprehensive roadmap of new features and enhancement in the pipeline, customer focus groups and advisory boards influencing the product development.   Customers also have a rolling 10 year support commitment.  This is not just tinkering around the edges or doing just enough to keep the lights but a strategic effort by a supplier to add increasing value to an already rich, well liked and valued set of products. 

(2) Meta Data is King

The computer science behind the technical value of meta data based technology is beyond the scope of this blog (and probably my own abilities).  I do believe, however, it's the reason why PeopleSoft could make the relatively seamless jump from 2-tier to 3-tier client server in the 1990's; why PeopleSoft was one of the first ERP systems to provide a web based interface to it's entire application in the 2000's  without a complete re-write of it's application (many tried and ran out of money and failed);  why PeopleSoft was able to provide a mobile responsive UI in the 2010's.  Innovative ideas become easier to design and build in meta data driven applications.  This is the powerful reality that's behind PeopleSoft's agile and speedy delivery of  new features and enhancements.  The associated development tools and frameworks makes it eminently extendable allowing businesses to give themselves a competitive edge by customising and configuring the system to their needs.

(3) Technology is modern

It's quite likely that some of the code running on your Windows 10 PC or your Android phone is more than a few decades old.  That's ok.  Both of these software platforms have gone through quite a few iterations of innovation and improvement that make them very suitable for the modern workplace.

So.... just a few from the PeopleSoft world.

• PeopleSoft runs in recent versions of WebLogic, Tuxedo, Java, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server databases and  Elasticsearch/Kibana.   These are supported, security patched regularly, used by millions of customers around the world, documented, discussed, taught, presented on in conferences, scaleable, resilient, and etc. Outdated technology platform? Not in my opinion.
• The PeopleSoft user interface has gone through continuous evolution.  Have you seen PeopleTools 8.58, Guided Self Service, Activity Guides, Related Content, Simplified Analytics, native embedded Elasticsearch capability, embedded Kibana analytics, Related Actions, integrated security across all of these and all available on desktop and mobile devices.  Easy to use, self service and visual UI that runs on mobile?  That's a modern demand of  modern software.
• Will it run in public cloud?  See (4) below,  That's a modern demand
• Can I extend, enhance, improve and integrate with my other modern (and some not so modern) systems?  Yes. That's a modern demand that PeopleSoft today can solve
• Is the product continuously enhanced by the supplier?  Yes.  Selective Adoption's is a power continuous software delivery model.

(4) PeopleSoft in the Cloud

We used to install PeopleSoft using a box of CDs.  Remember those days?

Remember these CD Folders ?

Now I can install PeopleSoft on Windows, Linux, on a physical machine or virtual machine, in my own datacentre or a public cloud server all installed and configured to my own liking using a single command.

Has PeopleSoft lagged behind in the DevOps revolution of the last decade?  I don't believe so.  And my belief is not based on what Oracle are planning to release at some time in the future but it's based on what they have already delivered.

Checkout PeopleSoft Cloud Manager if you have any doubts about what's possible.  Cloud Manager only runs on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure but all the install and configuration management tools required for automation are natively built into PeopleTools, augmented by industry leading orchestration tool Puppet.  Throw Ansible andTerraform into the mix and you can automate just about anything on any platform cloud or on-premises.

Why is this important?  Well, companies are realising that their core competencies are in selling insurance, providing healthcare, fighting world poverty, manufacturing goods, providing banking services, providing education, doing pharmaceutical research or in providing professional services and not necessarily in running computer data centres.  For some it will make perfect sense to continue to manage their own hardware, networking, storage and security in an on-premises data centre but for some there is significant gain from paying someone else to solve those problems for you.  Just like we do with our electrical power, buildings, water supply and other commodity services.

The point is, PeopleSoft has been cloud infrastructure ready for quite some time.

There are other reasons why you might consider moving PeopleSoft to cloud infrastructure.  Why not join me for a discussion PeopleSoft in the Cloud on 1 July.

(5) Strong Community

Why is the PeopleSoft community so vibrant?  Why have most customers not ditched this "old product" and gone running to Software as a Service offerings?  Why do most of the PeopleSoft customers around the world speak very favourably about their PeopleSoft system?  (see above for some of the answers to these questions)

Ok... so a few PeopleSoft customers have decided they can run their business better on another software product or cloud software as a service. Nothing new there.  That's always happened.  But there's been no landslide shift to any alternative.  Customers are getting value from their existing investments and continuing to invest.

Ok... so a few customers grumble about the PeopleSoft system.  I get it.  Software is not perfect - it was built, implemented and maintained by humans.  I'd love the chance to understand what the issues really are but it could be that unhappy customers are not fully exploiting all the new features.  My Triumph Tiger 1050 motorcycle makes a lot of unpleasant noise in 2nd gear doing 60 mph.  I might need to invest the time to learn how to put it into 5th gear - it'll go faster, more efficiently and with a much sweeter noise.

The PeopleSoft community worldwide is buzzing with success stories of new features implemented, innovations created, businesses transformed, migrations to cloud infrastructure, Innovator Awards, teaching classes, conferences, webinars, meetups, blogs, podcasts, community channels and partner events.

If you doubt the enthusiasm for PeopleSoft from it's community, the strong commitment from Oracle, or doubt the exciting innovations taking place in businesses all around the world then don't take my word for it - join in the community, see for yourself.

As always, constructive discussion welcome in the comments below.