PeopleSoft adds more outsourcing

PriceWaterhouseCoopers is using PeopleSoft's human resource management software to launch an outsourcing program in which it, with PeopleSoft's help, will run clients' staffing, HR data management, training, compensation, and benefits administration business practices.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers joins a slew of other firms that PeopleSoft has hooked up with to form its outsourcing services including Computer Sciences Corporation, KPMG Peat Marwick, Usinternetworking, Corio, Ciber, and Resource Partner.

But like rival SAP, PeopleSoft is cutting its own risk by turning over the majority of work, and therefore the gamble, to its partners, while it simply provides the software. The strategy also removes a lot of the expense of offering such programs.

Outsourcing is becoming a necessary service for software companies to offer but it is not a huge revenue stream for them. By turning over the bulk of the duties to service companies that specialize in this field, the ERP vendors are free to concentrate on more revenue-generating ventures.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers already has an extensive HR consulting service in place. The $1 billion HR services division provides retirement, health, and other HR support services for 100 companies and nearly 5 million employees at those firms.

"For each client, we can assemble HR data for use in normative comparisons and strategic HR planning," said Reed Keller, head of PriceWaterhouseCooper's global human resource division. "The opportunity for data mining and benchmarking across our client base will provide PriceWaterhouseCoopers' clients with valuable, proprietary insights regarding the link between human capital management and business performance."