Oracle urges channel to specialise
Software colossus thanks partners for FY09 growth and stresses specialisations for FY10
Phillips: If you invest in your future with Oracle, you could not have picked a better horse to back
Software behemoth Oracle has praised its channel for a successful FY09, but is swiftly looking to next year with a message for partners to stay focused on specialisations.
Charles Phillips, president of Oracle, told partners during the company's online Global Virtual Partner Kickoff event that they should prepare for more changes.
He said: “You will see more changes for FY10 as we take Sun on board. Change is a way of life at Oracle – the alternative is not to change and not to grow. We are asking you to be flexible and think of all the opportunities this will represent for you.
“It will be a tough year, but we are aiming to blow past competitors because they do not have the size, scale and ability that we do to invest the way we are. We are not slowing down – most of our competitors are; they are looking backwards. So if you invest in your future with Oracle, you could not have picked a better horse to back.”
Phillips added: “Oracle has acquired 50 businesses over the past five years so it is important to keep our partners and our people up to speed when our portfolio is expanding so rapidly.
“The danger partners face is getting distracted by so many products – people value focus and expertise from a partner. Partners will have to pick their areas and make their bets on what they want to specialise in so they do not lose focus.”
Phillips said Oracle’s direct field sales force looks for three key elements in a partner: “Most sales reps want a partner that knows its customers well, brings a new customer that we did not know about and stays current on the products and expertise available.”
Judson Althoff, group vice president of worldwide alliances and channels at Oracle, said for Q309 more than 40 per cent of Oracle’s revenue came from its partners, with 80 per cent of transactions being made by its channel.
“For Q3, indirect licence revenue growth was up seven per cent year on year, which grew faster than our direct business. This is a truly great effort and a great set of results. We have experienced strong growth and we appreciate your business,” he said.
Althoff added that Oracle’s partner ordering portal received more than $62m (£39m) in bookings for FY09.
Of the vendor’s Enablement 2.0 partner training programme, Althoff said Oracle skilled up 2,000 partners last year, laying on 200 boot camps globally.
“For 2010 we will continue to develop Enablement 2.0, which is a foundation for specialisations. Specialisations provide value to partners in terms of delivering differentiated solutions to customers and provide greater value to the Oracle field sales force,” said Althoff.
He concluded: “In FY10 Oracle will evolve its strategy to support you through our partner programme and by focusing on specialisation. The development on Enablement 2.0 will deliver more value to our customers as well as address the Oracle field sale force with a partner programme that is relevant to them, so they know which partners are the key ones to be working with.”