PeopleSoft, PwC Push iAnalytics Envelope

CRM analytics is branching out, moving beyond customer and profitability analysis, as evidenced by the recent non-exclusive partnership between PwC Consulting and PeopleSoft Inc. The agreement combines the strategy and process analytics of PwC Consulting's iAnalytics solution with PeopleSoft's Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) solution for customer and profitability analytics. The partnership marks the first time an ERP vendor's enterprise analytics application is integrated into PwC Consulting's iAnalytics solution. For its part, iAnalytics helps PwC Consulting's Fortune 1000 clients plan, budget and forecast appropriately. As a key component of iAnalytics, PeopleSoft EPM will help deliver core solutions for financial, workforce, customer, supply chain and strategic analytics. While PeopleSoft already has analytical solutions for strategy and process with its PeopleSoft Enterprise Service Automation (ESA), Mike Schroeck, Global iAnalytics leader, at PwC Consulting, says the agreement with PwC Consulting enables PeopleSoft to "take ESA to the next level." Specifically, Schroeck says, iAnalytics enables PeopleSoft to provide deeper analysis in both vertical and horizontal solutions. PwC Consulting benefits as well. The agreement "gives PwC Consulting an important ERP vendor that is now formerly part of the solution set, enabling closed loop capabilities around business performance management. This not only includes data warehousing and business intelligence, but also budgeting, planning, and forecasting as an integrated part of the processes and solution sets. That's where PeopleSoft is allocating significant time and investment," he says. The partnership validates a Merrill Lynch study that states the e-business marketplace for analytics is expected to reach $25.1 billion by 2004, at an annual growth rate of 31 percent. "The next generation of CRM will revolve around customer analytics," says Schroeck. "One of the reasons CRM has not been as successful as many would like is because most of the investments have been in single application investments. Very few companies have accomplished the integration of all applications to get one view of the customer. The true promise of CRM is the ability to bring that information together and drive out more sophisticated analytics that are much more predictive in nature." Schroeck would not comment on the amount of existing iAnalytic customers, due to the company's current quiet period prior to its IPO. The date of the IPO has not yet been set. However, when PwC Consulting completes the initial public offering it will undergo a name change to "Monday."