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Technology Stocks : Oracle Corporation (ORCL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: grogger who wrote (7263)	5/30/1998 7:14:00 PM
From: lml	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19080

From Monday's IBD: ORACLE SEEKS MORE LEVERAGE WITH DATABASE Oracle Corp. President Ray Lane has questions that he's sure top executives can't answer about their businesses. For instance, training spans all departments of a corporation. But Lane asks a hypothetical CEO, ''Do you know if the money spent on training last year actually boosted sales?'' That's just one of the 20 questions Oracle salespeople are being taught to ask top executives, as part of a company sales push for business software called enterprise resource planning software. Lane contends that most top executives, even those with ERP systems, can't answer questions that span departments. ERP software manages back-office tasks, but typically gets different uses in personnel, accounting, manufacturing and so on. And why can't these executives answer such questions? Because their ERP systems don't make proper use of the database software - usually Oracle databases - that is the foundation of the system, Lane says. The sales strategy is a direct strike against ERP rivals like Germany's SAP AG and Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft Inc. Oracle is looking to gain in ERP to make up for slowing growth in its mainstay database business. Lane recently spoke with IBD about the new selling approach. IBD: What's wrong with the ERP software that companies are buying? Lane: ERP vendors haven't focused on giving customers tools to deliver information. They've focused on automating transactions and creating data. I'm talking about being able to cut across HR (human resources), sales, manufacturing and supply-chain systems to get an answer about issues concerning the whole business. IBD: Does Oracle have to change how it sells? Lane: We're changing the whole selling approach of our sales force. Beginning in June and July, we're taking our software directly to the senior business users. We're going to ask them if they can get questions answered. If they can't, we'll then have them ask SAP why they can't. SAP will then try to get them to spend another $30 million to build an information warehouse. SAP simply doesn't use the Oracle database (the backbone of many ERP systems) like we can. IBD: Oracle has been a disciple of network computers - cheap, scaled-down PCs targeted largely at corporate networks. Is that still the push? Lane: Absolutely. Businesses should take all their programs, such as manufacturing and financials, off desktop (computers) and put them on a network server. The costs to update and deploy new (software) will go down. About 30% to 50% of companies' information-systems budgets are spent on costly desktop computers, operating systems, help desks and labor. Our so-called Release 11 (a new collection of business programs) is only available for networked computers. IBD: Will network computing benefit small businesses, too? Lane: We've created a sales force equipped to sell to companies with under $500 million in sales. We've also built an offering called Business Online, which will host our software on networks so customers don't have to install them. All they have to do is log onto a network and check on things with a (Web) browser. Business Online isn't launched yet; we're just piloting it. But we'll launch in the next couple of months. IBD: How else are you taking on the competition? Lane: Look at our manufacturing products. We should never lose. We have software for process manufacturing companies, which is something no one else has. Process manufacturing - such as steel, paper and chemical making - is the biggest industry other than government. IBD: PeopleSoft is getting attention for its new way of billing customers, where it pegs its price to the customer's sales or earnings. Will Oracle follow suit? Lane: No. I think that's crazy. This will create a mess for PeopleSoft. You end up making customers enemies. Of course, it's all a sales game. But if I (a user of business software) create a lot of profit, I don't want to turn it over to a (software) vendor. The vendor didn't do it. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Copyright (c) 1998 Investors Business Daily, All rights reserved. Investor's Business Daily - Computers & Technology (06/01/98) Oracle Seeks More Leverage With Database By Matt Krantz