Oracle Vows To Mend Partnerships

On Sunday, Oracle President Charles Phillips said the company will roll out its Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system in North America over the next few months. The homegrown system, already in place in 30 countries, should help Oracle "manage opportunities jointly with you," Phillips told a few hundred VARs, ISVs and integrators at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

The system will facilitate lead-sharing and lead-distribution directly to partners, Phillips added.

Attendees were mainly interested in whether the database giant really means to mend fences with its channel.

Partners cite a litany of past complaints, including Oracle field salespeople competing with partners for deals that the solution providers brought to the table, and undercutting partner prices on Oracle software. One East Coast partner said his Oracle reps invite non-Oracle VARs to participate in deals to eliminate the risk of sharing margin on the license sale.

Partners acknowledged that Oracle management, led by Phillips and Rauline Ochs, group vice president of North America Alliances and Channels, said what VARs wanted to hear, but many are reserving judgment until real change is seen in the field.

Ochs said channel-building is evolutionary, but that improvements are coming. Starting this month, Oracle partners selling foundational technologies as well as the E-Business Suite can request "appropriate discounts with the appropriate business justification," Ochs told the crowd. In the past, those partners had to work with Oracle's direct-sales or field-sales personnel to get those discounts.

Phillips said possible conflicts are being reported to top executives much more quickly than in the past. "We have had issues around channel conflict, and we all understand it's not good for anyone," Phillips said.

Deke Johnson, president of Aware Technologies, a San Carlos, Calif., Oracle partner, is excited about Oracle's new channel vigor. "They have definitely turned the corner and hopefully will now continue around the block," he said. "If so, I think you will see an energy level in the partner community you haven't seen in a long time."