We 'screwed up' with Big Five, says Oracle

Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chairman and CEO, has admitted that his database and enterprise applications company ‘screwed up’ its relationship with the Big Five consultancies, writes Nick Huber.

Speaking earlier this month, Ellison confessed that Oracle had lost business by using its own software consultants to implement software, bypassing Big Five consultants used by ERP competitors.

‘One of the mistakes we made when competing with SAP was competing against the Big Five, which recommended accounting systems to their customers as a result,’ he said.

Ellison added that he was keen to rebuild relationships with Big Five consultants in two fast-growing areas – electronic commerce and customer relationship management.

‘In the CRM space, we’re going to slow down our consulting organisation and work with the Big Five. We’ll blend our consultants with theirs,’ he said. ‘We’re reformed sinners now.’

Ellison also claimed Oracle was the only applications supplier that could offer users a full suite of CRM applications.

But one UK industry source said Oracle’s new strategy was riddled with contradictions. ‘It claims to be the biggest IT consultant in the world, but on the other hand say they want to work with the Big Five,’ he said.

The source added that Oracle had invested heavily in Web-based technology for its latest enterprise application version 11 and was well placed to exploit the e-commerce boom.

‘Oracle is streets ahead when it comes to e-business. Its product is completely redesigned for e-commerce.’

Additional reporting by VNU Newswire