BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 15, 2001 ISSUE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY How CEO Craig Conway Fixed PeopleSoft THE PROBLEM: SAGGING MARKET The market for PeopleSoft's core business software slumped badly in 1999 and is still growing at only 5%. THE FIX Conway bought Vantive, the second-largest maker of software for managing relation- ships with clients. That market is growing more than 50% annually, and those products are now PeopleSoft's top sellers. THE PROBLEM: ANTIQUATED TECHNOLOGY PeopleSoft's software was aging and not Internet-friendly. Technology development was split into three projects, none of which was yielding results. THE FIX Conway killed two of the three software projects, honed in on the Net, and more than doubled spending on development, to 25% of revenues. THE PROBLEM: EMPLOYEE ATTRITION PeopleSoft, which long had a stable workforce, saw turnover rates jump to 30% as low morale took its toll and dot-coms offered opportunities. THE FIX Conway bumped up salaries, repriced options,and cut the employee option-vesting schedule from four years to two. THE PROBLEM: WEAK FOREIGN SALES International sales only accounted for 17% of PeopleSoft's total. THE FIX Conway hired a French national to run non-U.S. operations. Products were altered to handle international tasks such as local tax rates. Foreign sales have more than doubled. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS PeopleSoft's Hard Guy TABLE: How CEO Craig Conway Fixed PeopleSoft INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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