Progress Software blasts Oracle's plans
Software vendor slams Oracle's latest SME strategy
Software vendor Progress Software has slammed rival Oracle for taking money from resellers’ pockets with its latest SME strategy.
As reported by CRN Online last week, Oracle promised its SME partners access to a raft of new products following the launch of its Accelerate partner programme in the UK (CRN Online, 8 March) . The new products will be based around each of Oracle’s ERP brands: E-business suite, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel.
However, Kevin Aspindle, senior manager for partner development at Progress, said: “I’m sure what Oracle is doing is good for Oracle, but I’m not so sure it is very good for SMEs and channel partners. SMEs are not looking for mass-produced mediocrity from mega vendors such as Oracle, they are looking for something that is more specialist and tailored to their individual needs.
“It is tough in the SME world and they don’t all want to be constrained to one particular business process. Channel partners are the ones that add the value and Oracle seems to be taking the intellectual property away from resellers.”
Mark Armstrong, chief sales officer at Progress partner LexisNexis Visualfiles, said: “We specialise in the legal industry and have more than 600 customers. Not one of them has the same implementation because every firm’s process is slightly different.
“With players such as Oracle coming into the market, we are not sure where it leaves firms like us because our USP is being able to provide a specialist solution. Niche markets have niche requirements and don’t want to buy off the shelf.”
However, Hazel Nash, director for applications SME at Oracle, said: “The bottom line for the Oracle Accelerate programme is to bring our partners into more deals. Using existing Oracle technology we can offer partners the technical and go-to-market resources to add enterprise-ready reliability and scalability to their solutions.
“Oracle already has a strong global presence in the SME market place and the only way we have achieved that is by working alongside our partners to deliver effective solutions that reflect their requirements and end-user demand.”