VARBusiness 500 Executive Briefings Update: Oracle

Speaking to an exclusive audience at the annual VARBusiness 500 event on Tuesday in New York City, Rauline Ochs, Oracle's group vice president for North American channels, spun a story that many VARs probably haven't heard before. Claiming that the new and improved Oracle is "really about change," she outlined several new ways in which the company is trying to better drive return on investment for its solution providers.

"Why do we want to go to market with partners first?" she asked. "Because integrators are some of the best sources of the necessary skills to implement the technology."

She said one of Oracle's top priorities for 2005 will be investment in its ISV programs, specifically focused on expanding into the midmarket.

"I'm not sure how many people think of the midmarket with Oracle, but 10g [the company's latest database release] is easy to install and used and is priced just right for that sector," Ochs said.

She added that Oracle Consulting, a division that has created some consternation for channel partners in the past, also is undergoing significant changes, including the separating of technology sales reps from application sales reps.

"Oracle Consulting has a new mission: no more confusion," Ochs said. "We want only to enable license growth, and we're doing more proactive partnering to drive the right penetration for the channel and our joint customers."

Ochs also unveiled a recently launched pilot program designed to smooth the flow of business processes across an organization. Code-named Oracle Day One, the initiative aims to improve 28 "business flows" across 17 applications. The object-oriented modules are being preconfigured according to properties like industry, role and function, making it easier for users to set up and run various, everyday applications.

Ochs said the company is considering whether to provide channel partners more information about and access to intellectual property around its AIM Foundation environment, Java Custom Development Methods and other solution kits.

"It's all a work in progress, but we're getting great traction and opening dialogue with partners," Ochs said.

Finally, Ochs encouraged partners to explore the opportunity presented by the Oracle Customer Data Hub.

"There's an issue around where data is and whether it's integrated enough to enable customers to make decisions," she said. "If we make it available to partners, customers can use it to integrate with other legacy applications and get a better ROI on the technology they're already using."