"There is a lot of interest in business process management capability, and Oracle--like SAP--is putting a lot of effort in," said Ken Vollmer, an analyst at Forrester Research. "They will probably hold their own with other vendors offering BPM, especially if the customer doesn't need all the bells and whistles that the pure-play guys offer."
In another move, Oracle plans to make its Customer Data Hub--now part of its e-business suite--available as a stand-alone offering as part of the 11i.10 release of Oracle applications this summer, Kurian said. The stand-alone product, which will require the use of Oracle's database, also will include data integration functionality now present in Oracle's 10G application server, he said.
The idea behind the hub, which presents one view of "truth" gleaned from multiple data sources, is ideal, CGE&Y's Ton-That said. "[But] getting to a single number is more of a business issue than a technology one," he added. "Most businesses don't know what that single, true number is."
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