PeopleSoft Updates J.D. Edwards CRM For Midmarket

This is the first release of the J.D. Edwards CRM product since PeopleSoft completed its buyout of the Denver-based company last spring.

Perhaps most important for integrators, the new CRM application, which assumes the look and feel of PeopleSoft's applications, will run across the 8.0 and 8.9 releases of J.D. Edwards back-end ERP and SCM systems.

"One CRM line of code works against all back-end systems. You don't have to update your ERP and CRM simultaneously, it will recognize the back end when it installs," said Joel Reed, senior director of product marketing at J.D. Edwards.

"They've re-skinned the product so it looks like PeopleSoft in terms of color schemes and fonts but the internal code remains J.D. Edwards," said Daniel Pass, director of client relations for Brij Image & Information, a J.D. Edwards partner in Greensboro, N.C.

Available now, the update supports the use of multiple currencies. It also now supports more languages out of the box as well as well as Unicode and double-byte characters, at least in read-only mode. Read/write support for double-byte characters will come in the next release, Reed said,

Also new are more interactive "visual assists" to immediately nip data input error. If a field requires six digits and five are entered, there is an immediate color-coded queue. In the past these prompts occurred only when the user was ready to update the system.

J.D. Edwards CRM has historically done well where the company's ERP applications already are entrenched, especially in manufacturing and distribution. PeopleSoft CRM's key target audiences are in financial services, public sector and other service arenas, Reed said. PeopleSoft had been fielding its own midmarket CRM solution but has downscaled that since the J.D. Edwards acquisition, he said.

PeopleSoft with its enterprise focus has had mostly a direct-sales effort. J.D. Edwards partners hope the acquired company's more channel-friendly approach will take hold with the new parent organization.

Pass said he is excited about new PeopleSoft opportunities going forward. "Maybe PeopleSoft hasn't been channel-friendly but it's also been channel-unsuccessful in companies with $100 million in sales or less. Hopefully they will learn."