"We make a few investments every year and China will be our biggest move this year in terms of market and products," Craig Conway, chief executive officer and president of PeopleSoft, said on Wednesday in an interview with China Daily.

He denied a report that the enterprise software giant will invest US$1 million in China and said it would be "well over that figure."

He said China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) means more local enterprises will have chances to compete with their international counterparts and are anxious to upgrade their management with enterprise software, so PeopleSoft is coming at a "prefect time."

PeopleSoft is the second largest enterprise management software maker globally and boasts its purely Internet-based solutions.

According to Rob Wells, the US firm's North Asia general manager, all key roles in the new company -- including a native general manager -- will be filled in four to six weeks.

He said the company will have 25 to 30 staff members in China at the end of this year, who will be mainly involved in technical support, sales and consulting assistance and training.

The China operation will first be based in Beijing and then another office will be opened in Shanghai.

PeopleSoft has set a goal to acquire five to 10 key customers in China this year. And target customers will mainly be large enterprises.

Shandong Electric Power Corp (SEPCO) and China National Petroleum Corp Service and Engineering Co Ltd (CNPCSE) have already purchased PeopleSoft's Enterprise Resource Planning solutions and SEPCO's project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

As to small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), PeopleSoft will also be active in this field.

"Among 100 of our new customers, 40 are SMEs, so that will be a market that we won't miss," said Conway.

PeopleSoft's China branch will focus on three areas: finance, telecom and utility.

It will seek the help of its partners in the initial stages, including IBM, Accenture and local firm Omega Consulting Co Ltd.

"We must rely on our partners right at present and will seek more local qualified partners," Conway said.

The company will ship in three of its four-component enterprise software suite -- PeopleSoft Customer Relation management, Supply Chain Management and Financials -- in June and the PeopleSoft Human Resources Management System will be released in China before December.

Many experts have welcomed the arrival of the software vendor.

"Although German software firm SAP and the US company Oracle have been established in the country for years, the entry of another big name will help popularize the conception of management software and the competition will also create a bigger market and better services," said Li Baoshan, a local software expert.

( April 11, 2002)