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Tag: Oracle

  • Cloud adoption hampered by complexity, lack of integration – Oracle

    Cloud adoption hampered by complexity, lack of integration – Oracle

    • A growing divide between IT and business is leading many businesses to take the wrong approach to cloud

    Oracle’s new pan-EMEA study has revealed that while many European companies are embracing the move to the Cloud, nearly half are struggling, wrestling with increases in Cloud integration costs and data silos.

    A key reason for this is that more than 60% of a company’s overall IT spend is being driven by individual business units versus traditional IT departments, making it difficult for companies to fully benefit from the Cloud services they are subscribing to.

    According to the research, another significant part of the problem is that most organizations continue to fund their IT investments without aligning to revenue potential and innovative projects: two in three business decision makers said IT funding is too traditional and is stifling innovation, while one in three IT-decision makers admit their organizations’ IT funding models are hindering them from IT innovation, according to Oracle’s Putting Cultural Transformation at the Heart of Cloud Success report. For the research, Oracle partnered with Coleman Parkes to survey 600 senior IT and line of business decision makers across Europe and the Middle East

    The findings reveal businesses must rethink their IT funding models and undergo a cultural transformation in order to fully exploit the benefits of cloud computing. One third (33%) of respondents say an inappropriate IT funding model is inhibiting their business. One third (33%) also believe their company’s IT culture is unfit for the cloud computing age.

    Tellingly, 72% of respondents say a new cloud funding model will allow IT departments to deliver more cloud services to the business, and 70% expect it will help the company to reduce costs.

    Shedding light on Shadow IT, the Oracle study also found that increased IT spend outside the IT team (also known as Shadow IT) is standing in the business’ way. More than one third (35%) of technology respondents believe Shadow IT practices are inhibiting the ability of IT to deliver on business goals. Indeed, 46% said the approach they’ve taken to cloud so far has increased integration costs, with the same percentage saying it has led to the creation of data siloes.

    Additionally, the vast majority of respondents (95%) believe Shadow IT is a major cause of complexity. Roughly one-third say leaving lines of business to manage their IT-spend independently results in increased security concerns, making funding more difficult to manage, and diluting the company’s control of its IT.

    Johan Doruiter, Senior Vice President of Systems, Oracle EMEA, said:  “The issues companies face with their cloud resources is less to do with the technology itself and more to do with a lack of synchronization across lines of business. Decision-makers in each department are increasingly making cloud purchasing decisions without involving the CIO due to the ease of procurement. However, without one IT point-person to unify their cloud investment strategy companies will continue to struggle with individual departments tugging time and resource in opposing directions.”

    On CIO as Cloud Navigator, Oracle’s research reveals that in many companies, there is no single person with a view across all technology investments. This makes it difficult for organizations to develop and follow a unified cloud strategy.

    The CIO cannot continue to be side-tracked and must be an integral player in leading the business as it transitions to an enterprise cloud model. With integration and data management still critical to organizations, alarmingly, CIOs control less than half the IT budget in 66% of businesses.

    Doruiter added: “Companies are having their expectations met by the cloud in many respects, but their approach to IT investment remains stuck in the past. The cloud is about seamlessly joining up data and workloads across the organization and yet we continue to see individual lines of business implement IT systems in siloes. This breeds added complexity and leads to integration issues that could easily be avoided with a more integrated approach.

    “CIOs must work more closely with line of business leaders to ensure IT is supporting innovation. They must serve as ’cloud navigator’, collaborating with each department to manage cloud procurement issues, cost and risk and ensuring that all lines of business are working towards a common cloud strategy. The CIO should also be the voice of change in the boardroom, calling on the CEO and CFO to mandate a unified approach to cloud across the business.”

     

     

  • Oracle pays $9.3b to acquire NetSuite

    Oracle has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NetSuite, a cloud company. The transaction is valued at $109.00 per share in cash, or approximately $9.3 billion.

    Explaining the rationale for the acquisition, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle, Mark Hurd, said: “Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever. We intend to invest heavily in both products – engineering and distribution.

    Founder, Chief Technology Officer and Chairman, NetSuite, Evan Goldberg, said:  “NetSuite has been working for 18 years to develop a single system for running a business in the cloud.  This combination is a winner for NetSuite’s customers, employees and partners.”

    “NetSuite will benefit from Oracle’s global scale and reach to accelerate the availability of our cloud solutions in more industries and more countries,” said Zach Nelson, Chief Executive Officer, NetSuite. “We are excited to join Oracle and accelerate our pace of innovation.”

    The evaluation and negotiation of the transaction was led by a Special Committee of Oracle’s Board of Directors consisting solely of independent directors. The Special Committee unanimously approved the transaction on behalf of Oracle and its Board of Directors.

    The transaction is expected to close in 2016. The closing of the transaction is subject to receiving certain regulatory approvals and satisfying other closing conditions including NetSuite stockholders tendering a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares in the tender offer. In addition, the closing is subject to a condition that a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares not owned by executive officers or directors of NetSuite, or persons affiliated with Larry Ellison, his family members and any affiliated entities, be tendered in the tender offer.

     

  • ‘Oracle’ shoot commences in Calabar

    ‘Oracle’ shoot commences in Calabar

    FILM production company, Akata, has commenced shooting its TV series titled Oracle in Calabar. According to the producers, the series will target the international scene.

    Written by American born screenwriter, Danisha Bethune and directed by American based Nigerian, Boyce Uboh, the production stars popular African Magic star, Erick Didie; actor cum film producer, Archie Sam; glamour model cum actress, Nunnsi Ojong among others who are already on set in Calabar.

    In the pilot episode of Oracle, William Reisling (played by Erick Didie), a con artist engaged in sales of fake artworks, finds himself trapped in the web of the mystery of what he finds hard to decipher and begins a journey to self discovery only to square up to the fact that he has powers less than he knew he had capable of saving the whole endangered species of mankind.

    Mike Edet (Archie Sam), a private detective, is a good friend ready to lend his investigative prowess to help William’s mysterious life set out; but Cicely (Nunnsi Ojong), responsible for all the mayhem in the flick is on the mission of foiling all human kind at the behest of powers she serves, will become handy in no less destructive measure increasing momentum in an attempt to stop Williams.

    According to film producer and director, Magnus Edet, who doubles as Akata’s Country Manager and Assistant Director in the project, the TV series is one masterpiece that creates a platform for most Nigerian acts to thrive in the international film scene adding that when finally released the flick will be one of the most sought after that audiences drawn from around the world will crave to search for online and tune their TV sets to watch.

  • Oracle’s brand campaigns attract awards

    Oracle’s brand campaigns attract awards

    Oracle Experience, a foremost brand activation agency, has won awards for its prowess in interpreting clients’ briefs. At the 2015 Marketing World Awards (MWA), the agency won the 2015 experiential agency of the year for its Star Bottle Tree and Gulder World Biggest poster brand activations campaigns.

    For Star Bottle Tree brand activation, this makes it second time in two weeks to win a major prize.  The campaign was confirmed as the best experiential marketing campaign in the year under review at the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) Awards for Marketing Excellence.

    At the keenly contested category at the ADVAN awards, Star Bottle Tree defeated Nescafe Get Started, Star Music Trek, MTN Project Fame, Fayrouz L’Original Expression, Jaguar Landover Ride & Drive, Heineken House, Ranger Odyssey and Orijin Drum unveil   to emerge the best for the year.

    However, the agency behind the award-winning campaign, Oracle Experience, was adjudged the best experiential marketing agency in its category at the 5th Marketing World Awards as result of its several groundbreaking activations between 2014 and 2015. The agency defeated EXP and Brands Optima.

    In the Excellence in Marketing Innovation category, Nigerian Breweries’ Gulder World Biggest Poster, which was unveiled in Enugu some months ago pitched against Coca-Cola’s Share-A-Coke and MultiChoice’s DStv Explora Box office won. Also,  Star Bottle Tree defeated Star Music Trek, Guinness’ Made of Black and Coca-Cola’s Coke Studio.

    The World’s biggest poster measuring 5,367 square metres unveiled at the Michael Okpara Square in Enugu State broke the record for the existing largest poster measuring 4,793.65 square metres, which was displayed in India on June 27, 2015. The size of the poster was attested to by a chartered quantity surveyor Nath Agu, while a lawyer, Onyekwuluje Ogochukwu, legally affirmed the measurement and size.

    Oracle had won several awards in the past, including Nigeria Brand Awards 2015 as Best Experiential agency of the year Award – Gold category, MarketingEdge’s 2014 Outstanding Experiential Agency, Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria’s Brand Activation influencer with its Nescafe Hot Air Balloon campaign, 2013 Best Effort in Innovation, 2013 Polaris Excellence Awards, and 2011 Institute of Direct Marketing of Nigeria’s West Africa World Class Experiential Marketing Service Consultant.

    The latest accolades come on the heels of Oracle’s world record breaking Christmas bottle tree with 8,000 bottles of Star beer bottle covering a 2.7 kilometre stretch. Prior to this, the world record was 1,000 bottles achieved in China.

    Another feat was the Gulder crate tunnel using over 3,200 crates of Gulder beer to build the ultimate corridor that led to the place the new Gulder bottle was launched.

    Other achievements by Oracle include Amstel Show Time, a musical presentation, which was first of its kind in Nigeria, Heineken Green light party with extraordinary video mapping and using the Heineken bottles to create a selfie wall.

    They also include the star triple X experience centre, the hot air balloon activation for Nescafe, Gulder club ultimate hosted in a 70-metre ultimate liner just like Titanic, and the sensational strongbow golden hour sensory experience.

    The CEO, Oracle Experience, Felix King Eiremiokhae, said: “We have come a long way and the journey to success is not bread and butter, but that which is filled with great burden that involves sweat and blood.  I will tell you this, there is no short cut to success, and there is never an end to the road of success. It is continuous journey, a journey filled with thorns and roses,” he said.

  • Oracle sees future in Nigeria

    Oracle sees future in Nigeria

    •Pledges more investment in human capital  

    A tech firm, Oracle, has said with the level of uptake in technology in Nigeria, the future is  bright.

    Its Senior Vice President, Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Middle East and Africa, Alfonso Di Ianni, who spoke during the official opening of the firm’s new office on Victoria Island, Lagos at the weekend, said the demand for Oracle’s products in the country has outpaced that of South Africa, adding that the firm will keep on investing in the country; building local capacities and competences.

    Ianni said the demand for the firm’s services have moved from the telecoms sector to oil and gas, adding that it now runs a versatile cloud service for customers.

    According to him, Oracle has built partnership with states such as Lagos and Edo, adding that the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) is not left out. He said in all these partnerships, it has been a win-win situation as the firm’s solutions have improved service delivery at minimal costs.

    “Demand for our products and services in Nigeria have been the best in Africa. It is higher than that of South Africa. Our cloud services enable customers to maximise productivity. Our hybrid infrastructure allows customers to focus on where they have core competence while we provide the platform for them,” he said, adding that Oracle has over 100 business partners in the country.

    He said the opening of new office in Nigeria underscores the fact that the firm has huge customers base in the country, adding that with the new structure commissioned, it will begin to run its local and West African businesses from Nigeria.

    The new office, according to him, is however, a starting point for the firm in its future operations in the country and the sub-region, adding that funding was needed to meet the growing demand of the market.

    “We need more resources to meet the huge demand from the customers. The profile of Oracle is changing from only sales to having professionals such as accountants, experts and other professionals on ground in a fully functional office. This will help our customers to move their businesses from one premise to the cloud,” Ianni said.

    Oracle’s revenue in the region has grown over the years, along with its partner ecosystem that has increased in size by 30 per cent over the past three years.

    Its Country Leader, Adebayo Sanni said Oracle customers are rapidly adopting mobile, social and cloud technologies to transform their businesses.

    He said: “They are delivering services that weren’t possible before and they are finding very smart ways to bring their products to market; throughout Africa we have seen remarkable innovation and transformation.

    “With cloud adoption rates accelerating, this ability becomes even more prevalent. Software as a Service (SaaS) is becoming ingrained in the sector’s consciousness and Platform as a Service (PaaS) is also gaining traction. IT systems have to be fast and simple to be able to be agile.

    “We’re very excited by the opening of Oracle’s latest state-of-the-art facility here in Nigeria and look forward to continuing to provide world-class solutions to help our customers and partners innovate and grow in the region.”

     

  • Creativity, innovation earn Oracle IMC laurels

    Creativity, innovation earn Oracle IMC laurels

    Groundbreaking brand campaign activation – Star larger beer Christmas trees built with 8000 Star bottles covering 2.7km – has earned Oracle Experience, the experiential marketing agency of the year recognition.

    The recognition came on the heels of the campaign for Nigeria Breweries’ Star larger beer brand, which broke the world record of 1,000 bottles achieved in China.

    The agency was recognised by the Nigerian Brand Award, which rewards execellence in the industry. The awards was held last penultimate week at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Ikieja, Lagos. It was for the creativity and innovation it brought into the brand activation and experiential marketing industry in the country and, by extension, Central West Africa (CWA).

    For the feat, the agency carted away a gold plaque. It also won the Most Innovation Driven Brand Activation Agency of the Year in the Platinum Category in the fifth edition of the Brand Awards.

    Earlier, the agency won some awards. They included the Marketing Edge’s Outstanding Experiential Agency, Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria’s (BJAN) Brand Activation influencer with its Nescafe Hot Air Balloon campaign, BJAN 2013 Best Effort in Innovation, 2013 Polaris Excellence Awards, and 2011 Institute of Direct Marketing of Nigeria’s West Africa World Class Experiential Marketing Service Consultant of the year.

    Another feat was the Guilder crate tunnel using over 3200 crates of Guilder beer to build the ultimate corridor that led to the place the new Guilder bottle was launched.

    The agency is known for some memorable activations, such as that of the Amstel show time, a musical presentation, which was the first of its kind in Nigeria; Heineken Green light party with extraordinary video mapping experience and using the Heineken bottles to create a Selfie wall; the Star Triple X experience centre; the hot air balloon activation for Nescafe; P&G Open Market activation, Guilder Club Ultimate, which hosted inside a 70-metre liner like the Titanic and the beer and health symposium, among others.

    According to the organisers, Oracle Experience got the awards because of its zeal and promotion of excellence, creativity and innovation in the integrated marketing communication industry not only in Nigeria but across Africa.

    Reiterating the credibility of the exercise, one of the panelists, Chief Executive Officer, BrandClock, a  brand specialist agency based in Atlanta, Mr. John Alexander, said: “The award has maintained the highest level of professionalism since inception. The calibre of individuals on the panel cannot afford to compromise standard for cheap financial gains.

    “Oracle Experience as well as other winners and, in fact, previous winners duly deserved the prize. These are organisations that have adhered strictly to the tenet of this award that is promoting excellence, creativity and innovation in IMC.”

    Receiving the awards, Oracle Experience Logistics Director Andrew Eiremiokhae thanked the organisers, pledging to improve and add value to their clients’ businesses.

    “Oracle has become a well-respected face in Central West Africa countries as we keep on greasing the wheel of our innovation. This passion to create experiences that engage and inspire people to act has stood us out,” he said.

    He continued: “We are a Central West Africa experiential marketing agency that gives clients strategic brand insight, creative experience design, unmatched execution and demonstrable ROI. We engage key stake holders – including employees, partners, customers and influences – to drive insight, action and advocacy. We create brand experiences – and by doing that, we help our clients create experience brands.”

    Organisations that won in previous editions of the awards include Goldlink Insurance Plc, CMC Connect, X3M, Wetherheads Advertising Group, Millward Brown, Verdant Zeal Advertising and Caritas Communications.

  • Fashola, Oracle consolidate partnership in Dubai

    Fashola, Oracle consolidate partnership in Dubai

    Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola and Oracle Corporation have consolidated their relationship that will see the state deploy the technolgy firm’s products in delivering services to the people of the state.

    The governor and his team visited the United Arab Emirate (UAE) to consolidate on their already collaboration between the tech giants and the state government in delivering better e-government services.

    According to a statement, the visit provided Oracle the opportunity to showcase its e-business suite to the governments of Abu-Dhabi and Dubai and to introduce the Governor Fashola and his team to other heads of state in UAE for better cooperation and articulation of the state’s requirements on Oracle’s e-Business Suite (eBS).

    The governor recalled that the relationship between the state and Oracle dated back to 2001 when the state first deployed Oracle eBS, adding that presently, the tech firm is being used to run all the state financial, human resource, purchasing, inventory management, fixed assets and others. He added that the state is looking at deepening its use of eBS as part of the new initiative to deliver e-services to the citizens

    According to the governor, through the Ministry of Science and Technology, the state will collaborate with the Dubai Free Trade Zone in the use of Oracle eBS for enterprise resource planning, and a robust mobile solution.

    In Abu Dhabi, the governor was received by the Head of Government, Dr. Mohammad Ahmed, who showcased the government’s deployment of Oracle eBS in  their shared services platform. He explained that it is a single platform that serves all facets of the government, increasing effectiveness, efficiency and lowering cost of  IT from about AED 636m to AED36m.  The governor also visited the  Abu-Dhabi Polytechnic where a programme exists to build nuclear reactors for electricity generation where the authorities agreed to work with the governor   in knowledge transfer through sending a delegation to understudy the state.

    The President/ Head Application Business Unit for Oracle, Middle East and Africa, Mr. Arun Khehar, assured the governor of its willingness to help the government achieve what Abu Dhabi achieved by sending one of the experts that worked extensively on the Abu-Dhabi project to assist the state.

    While taking the team through presentations on the deployment of a smart-city, he said urban performance depends not only on the city’s endowment of hard infrastructure but increasingly so, on the availability and quality of knowledge communication and social infrastructure.

    With this, the state government will be working with Oracle on the deployment of its smart city.

  • Family consults oracle over woman’s death

    Family consults oracle over woman’s death

    Nearly two weeks after the death of their daughter, Ms Chikodi Nwanwoala, the family of Nwanwoala, leaders, elders and youths of Obite 3 community in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, are yet to find the answer to the pressing question of who killed her.

    Chikodi, 43, was ostensibly strangulated, just four days into the New Year on January 5. She had retired to bed after preparing dinner on the fateful day when unknown assailants killed her.

    Her remains were found at about 3:00am under a tree in the compound where she went to sleep on that mysterious night.

    An elder in the Nwanwoala family, said: “She was dragged out of her house to the bush near the family house and after killing her they dragged her corpse back to the compound and dumped her under the tree. The only people that can do this are not strangers but members of this community.”

    Since then, the search for the perpetrators of the wicked act had been on.

    But in a new twist to the drama and an apparent no-confidence vote on security operatives, particularly the police, in unravelling the masterminds of the dastard act, the family recently took the ancient means to solve the puzzle. They have decided to consult the oracle.

    To show their determination, the leaders of Obite 3, during an emergency meeting raised N500, 000 to consult oracles, deities and perform rituals to assist them find the killers of their daughter.

    It was gathered that the decision to use the ancient means to unravel her killers became necessary because no motives could be found for anybody to want to kill the young.

    “We cannot remember her having any quarrel or disagreement with anyone,” one of her siblings told Niger Delta Report.

    Chief Ndubuisi Nwankwoala, the oldest man in the family and the brother to the deceased, alleged that his sister was strangulated to death. He noted that the bruises at her body and the police confirmation attest to how she was killed, adding that nothing will stop him to find the perpetrator of the evil act and bring them to justice.

    Chief Ndubuisi said his younger sister did not complain of any sickness nor did she had any altercation with any member of the family or the community.

    “According to my younger brother she was not sick; she didn’t have any confrontation with anybody before she went to the bed. But it happened that by 3am on January 5, 2014 when one of her brothers came outside to urinate, he saw her lifeless body under the tree in front of her room.

    “I was in Port Harcourt when it happened then I asked by brother who informed me about the incident to go and called the elders and ensure that they followed him to the scene where her corpse was dumped. I also instructed him to call the ambulance and take her lifeless body to the mortuary after the elders might have seen the corpse,” he said.

    Chief Ndubuisi said while the elders would be using the traditional way to search for the killer he will also be giving his support to the police who have come to the family to get all necessary information and materials for their investigation. He said he is happy that the chief and elders including the youths at the community are not sleeping over the issue of his sister’s murder.

    “Everybody in this community is not sleeping over the murder of my sister; they want to know those behind her death. Strangers cannot enter this community and strangulate my sister to death those who did this are not living far from this community.,” he added.

    Comrade Anaele Cyracus, the youth leader of Obite 3 community said youths will do everything possible to unmasked the killers of Chikodi.

    “We are not happy on what happened; we are presently graved at the moment over the death of Chikodi. The youths have agreed to give our support to the family members and the community by ensuring that whoever that killed our sister must be exposed and face wrath of the law,” Anaele vowed.

    Still the security forces, including JTF, police and State Security Service (SSS), continued an intensive manhunt for the renegade. Sources in the area said Kelvin was confined to a section of the forest in the area, where usually moved in the dead of the night. A newspaper report, which speculated that the wanted criminal had sneaked out of the country to the Republic of Benin, later turned out to be untrue.

    The Nation reliably gathered that when security dragnet closed in on him, Kelvin made desperate effort to top official of the state government. “He offered to surrender if the government would be granted him amnesty,” our source said.

    It was gathered that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was approached about the offer turned it down, insisting that Kelvin had committed too many atrocities and killed too many innocent persons to get a soft landing.

    It was in the midst of his desperate effort for immunity from his crimes that he allegedly resurfaced in Kokori on Thursday, September 19 to declare his preparedness to fight for the emancipation of the Urhobo people.

    He gave the Federal Government 60-day ultimatum to meet his demands in order to avert disaster. The story was that he stormed the community with masked youths armed with dangerous weapons. He was reportedly welcome by hundreds of dancing women and children, who described him as their saviour and a freedom fighter.

     

     

  • Oracle to buy Responsys in $1.5 billion cloud software push

    Oracle to buy Responsys in $1.5 billion cloud software push

    Oracle Corp, the world’s No. 2 business software maker, said it would buy cloud-based marketing software maker Responsys Inc in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.

    The offer of $27 per share represents a premium of about 38 percent to Responsys’ Thursday closing. Responsys shares were trading at $26.94 on the Nasdaq on Friday.

    Responsys makes cloud-based software that businesses use to manage their marketing campaigns across e-mail, mobile and the Internet.

    Oracle, led by Larry Ellison, is boosting its cloud software business to fend off competition from nimbler rivals such as Salesforce.com, who offer Internet-based software products at prices that often undercut Oracle.

    The four-decade-old company has been rolling out its cloud-based products and has created sales teams targeting specific cloud competitors.

    The deal with Responsys, which has been approved by the board of directors of Responsys, is expected to close in the first half of 2014.

    Culled from www.reuters.com

     

  • Oracle to invest more in manpower training

    ORACLE Corporation plans to invest more in manpower training by increasing the number of the beneficiaries of its programmes in tertiary institutions in the country.

    Senior Vice President, Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Middle East & Africa, Alfonso Di Ianni, said the firm is doing this because of the resources and population of the country.

    “We have a lot of programmes for the development of Nigeria in the future.We believe in developing the people (youths) because the people (youth segement) make the country. We will encourage the creation of more Nigerian solutions, more Nigerian innovations. To achieve this, we have several programmes with some universities in the country. We have programmes with eight universities, which allow us to equip them and ensure they are given instruction using the appropriate technology. We believe that if we can equip the universities with the right technologies, that will open a lot of employment opportunities and with the knowledge acquired, they can contribute to value creation in the country,” he told The Nation in Lagos.

    Shedding more light on the programme, the firm’s Country Manager, Layo Ajayi, said it has opened what she called the Oracle Academy where it offers the training that will make them ICT compliant after graduation.

    “What we are doing is that we opened Oracle Academy. We ensure that modern technologies are used by these students and they actually add it to their curriculum so that by tiime, they are graduating from the university, they are not looking for jobs, they are not inundated with the pains of asking what they are going to do to earn a living.

    “We make sure that skills required by SMBs are taught in schools. We are not only encouraging them to obtain the certificate, but equipping them with hand on about how to deploy the skill acquired to work in any organisation whether it is in Oracle or not,” he added.