In my last post, I painted a bleak picture where CIOs worry all-around. General consolidation in the software industry has not made things easier, and support and maintainance are weighing on CIOs' minds. It seems SAP has pulled a move to ease CIOs minds through acquiring TomorrowNow, a company that provides PeopleSoft support. Thus, although some CIOs are getting ulcers from the Oracle-PeopleSoft acquisition, PeopleSoft customers can have comfort in the TommorrowNow/SAP safe harbor. As reported at CNET News.com,

... SAP described the buy as part of a plan to give customers a "safe passage away from the uncertainties" associated with Oracle's takeover ...

... TomorrowNow, a Texas-based start-up that employs about 30 people, has signed up some big clients--including Lockheed Martin, Safeway, Coors Brewing, Circuit City and Petco--since setting up shop five years ago. Founded by two former PeopleSoft executives, the company promises to cut the maintenance and support bill for PeopleSoft's applications in half and give customers a reprieve from tiresome software upgrade cycles. TomorrowNow is able to offer cheap support because it's not investing million of dollars in research and development for future versions of the software; it focuses instead on simply keeping the software up and running for an annual fee...

I hope this SAP move will cause CIOs to feel less angst.

Steve Shu