A lot of companies discuss the differences between
Oracle/Peoplesoft and SAP, when they go for any implementation. I feel there are two BIG ones:
1. Superior
Integration in SAP due to Organic build up vs acquisition strategy of Oracle.
2. SAP's vision for next 5-10 years is very
tangible and clear - so reduced risk for a CIO vs Oracle with its stable full of various competing and myriad products like
Peoplesoft/Oracle/Siebel and no clear, well defined, strategy for a CIO of the next 5-10 years.
If I were a CFO and
was evaluating the ERP/BI/New products implementation from a "Real Options" model.. I will virtually find no way to figure
out the ROI on Oracle.. whereas I could somehow work with SAP. THAT is the biggest win for SAP!
Point by
point, Oracle was very close to SAP on Sport Chalet's list.
"We did a very thorough job with the RFP process. We
defined the most important internal processes and had vendors demonstrate how they could handle them," said Howard Kaminsky,
chief financial officer of Sport Chalet.
"Oracle's Retek is a proven retail system, so from a merchant's perspective
it does everything. Oracle Financials is proven and very good. The only thing [Oracle] was missing was the integration," said
Kaminsky, who also indicated that pricing was similar.
Sport Chalet's current homegrown system is tightly integrated --front-office merchandising and administration are tied to back-office merchandise and vice versa. To Sport Chalet, SAP for
Retail offered the best integration going forward.