Oracle may be ahead in marketing rhetoric, but it is actually way behind SAP in delivering true Internet solutions. And, it is one thing for customers to buy and another to actually implement. Speculation has begun that migrations from version 10.7 or earlier to 11i are going to be quite painful. The company is beginning to offer an early version of its software this week with the full version expected late this year. Workplace can be configured and customized according to personal preferences, just like the claim for IPortals.
Workplace is fully functional and has been available since last fall.
According to AMR Research, March 2000, an estimated 20 percent of SAP's Fortune 2000 global companies, and an estimated 30 percent of small and midsize businesses, will begin upgrading this year. Most are coming from a 3.x platform, and the resources required for an upgrade are substantial. Based on a detailed ROI model, IntelliCorp has found that it can reduce upgrade implementation time and cost by up to 40 percent. The company believes that its IntelliCorp Upgrade Solution differs significantly from that of other consulting firms, because of the use of internally developed tools that leverage the ASAP Question and Answer Database, and the SAP Reverse Business Engineer. XML, and server-side scripting with JavaScript.