Do you see Oracle as an enabler or blocker for modernisation and innovation?

The world of IT has changed unrecognisably over the last 40 years and we’re now on the edge of a paradigm shift to another hugely disruptive force within IT; The Cloud.

Given that you’ve invested so much money and resource into Oracle (otherwise why are you reading this?!) do you see Oracle as an enabler or blocker for modernisation and innovation to enable you to take advantage of the opportunity that Private & Public Cloud brings?

That might be a strange question to ask. One with negative connotations towards Oracle perhaps. I ask because I speak to different organisations every single week about their usage of Oracle technology and I am constantly surprised at the lack of awareness of Oracle’s ability to help organisations take advantage of the opportunities that technology bring. Some customers have no idea that Oracle provide Cloud services!

• Is it because Oracle is perceived to be “expensive”?
• It it because Oracle are “difficult” to deal with?
• Or is it because we don’t like giving large corporations our cash?!

I hear all three to be honest but I never hear anything negative about the technology itself so they must be doing something right, right? I hear great success stories; from a start-up customer we have that relied on the Oracle Cloud to get their business off the ground and is now ramping up customer adoption, to the charity that uses Oracle as the central data hub for all donor information, to the SME that uses Oracle Engineered Systems to outperform and outmanoeuvre their competitors and finally to the worldwide financial services organisation that uses the full suite of Oracle solutions to underpin every major business function and consumer transaction.

As an Oracle Platinum Partner that has worked with several hundred customers over the last 21 years – we too have seen it all and experienced it all from Oracle; the good, bad and ugly! What remains though is our unwavering opinion and loyalty that Oracle develop and build THE most relevant technology solutions for managing Data.

Your data is at the core of your organisation, without it you cannot sell, service, buy or communicate – four pillars of any organisation anywhere in the world. Without your people, equally as important to any organisation, your data cannot be interpreted into valuable information that can affect the success of a company. Finally, without the correct infrastructure and applications your people cannot process, view, manipulate and share this data – a domino affect of success or failure based on fundamental decisions to do with IT. For 40 years, Oracle has successfully built up a worldwide customer base selling its products to enable organisations to manage data – Database anyone?

In my opinion there are too many Oracle users out there that avoid discussing these solutions with Oracle based on previous bad experiences with HOW Oracle have interacted with them; not the technology.

I’d encourage you to take a step back and ask yourself if Oracle technology could help you innovate and modernise.

Author: Jon Lingard

Job Title: Practice Director

Bio: Jon is a member of the Oracle sales team and works with customers from start-ups, SMEs to large corporations to gain maximum value from their investment in Oracle technology. Jon works with the technical and development teams to shape solutions based on customer demands and develops long lasting customer relationships based on his open and trustworthy approach.