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by Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor   | Abstract: | Though manufacturers show a preference for packaged software suites, SOA's promise of flexible integration and users' desire for full feature sets are keeping the door open for best-of-breed applications. |
Back in 2000, when Uponor Corp., an international supplier of plumbing and heating systems, opted for the Oracle packaged application suite, it did so because it wanted a platform to which it could add modules from that same vendor when and where it made sense. When warehouse management became a core requirement, Uponor figured it was a no-brainer to plug in Oracle Corp.'s WMS product because Uponor was already covered for the license. Turned out, that decision wasn't so black-and-white. For Uponor's purposes, the Oracle WMS didn't hold its own in a feature-to-feature comparison with best-of-breed applications specializing in that particular area of functionality, according to Chris Moore, vice president of IT for 1.5 billion euro Uponor. Yet, integrating a third-party WMS application with the core Oracle enterprise suite was likely to open a Pandora's box of integration headaches. In the end, concerns about integration took a back seat to the need for high-end features, such as order consolidation functionality. In 2004, the Finland-based company added HighJump Software's WMS offering to its core Oracle ERP platform. [Click to continue] |