After years of work on Oracle’s digital transformation, I just got our report card

Over the past few years, I’ve seen Oracle make great strides to transform our business. We’ve moved to the cloud and embraced a service-based model for doing business.

In doing so, we have completely reimagined how a $40 billion-a-year company uses technology, people, and processes to power the organization and become more competitive. Has the journey been successful? I could cite achievements chapter and verse, but instead I’ll share the results of some independent research. It shows that across four key metrics, we are earning very good grades.

Technology research company Omdia assessed our transformation in a recently published study. Over time, Omdia plans to evaluate 10 major technology providers. Omdia’s analysts paid special attention to initiatives we launched to drive change. As you may know, we have a name for those initiatives: Oracle@Oracle, the grand experiment where we have become our own case study, moving our entire business to run on Oracle Cloud.

Omdia used four key criteria. Here’s how Oracle scored in each.

Innovation Track Record

In this category, we got high marks for putting people first and adding a human touch to our solutions.

The analysts pointed to our accelerated buying experience as an example. This process makes purchasing cloud services fast and simple by empowering the sales force with our Configure Price Quote (CPQ) Cloud, which automates the entire quoting and contracting process.

The report further said we are providing strong incentives to spark innovation in the years to come, while keeping our sights on short-term goals such as continually adding new capabilities through frequent software release updates.

Digital Strategy (Portfolio Evolution)

Omdia noted that a sound strategy for the evolution of products/services must reflect a new reality: the vendor-client relationship is one of continuous engagement. That means our internal business processes must take an outside-in view and focus on addressing customer needs and challenges.

“By collecting data at every step of the customer journey and mapping it back to the product/service's ability to improve user experience, Oracle improves its customer focus for the evolution of its portfolio,” the report said.

Omdia also recognized that we take a similar approach with Oracle employees using our systems, with a focus on improving ease of use, agility, and adaptability.

People

The study said our HR automation plays a “significant” role in the growth of the company and our people. Omdia described how we have deployed Oracle Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) to automate onboarding, employee development, and project staffing.

Three strategies caught the analysts’ eyes. First, how Oracle uses insights gleaned from data and analytics to inform decisions affecting employees. Second, how we innovate to attract, retain, and develop talent. And third, how we combine people, information, and experience to deliver on key priorities.

One example: the HCM suite tracks information like employee performance, skills, and career goals, and aligns those all with company objectives.

Organizational Culture

All of us at Oracle can take pride in this area. The study said that Oracle aims to create a culture where the workforce is empowered, innovative, and deeply customer-focused. “Working towards a common goal has enabled teams across different parts of Oracle to come together under the Oracle@Oracle program,” the report said.

It was encouraging to see repeated mention of our customer focus and innovation. Omdia pointed out that while these priorities start at the top of the company, they are woven into our fabric at every level and functional area.

Conclusion

There is a lot more work to do, but we are excited to get this external validation.

I’ll give the report’s authors the last word:

“Oracle has a clear vision of being an adaptable business powered by the full strength of its own solutions. … Oracle’s internal transformation shows that a well thought out, clearly articulated, and carefully executed strategy can drive large-scale transformation, delivering efficiencies, savings, and growth in the process.”

Access the report: Omdia Digital Transformation Evaluation Framework: Oracle Corporation.

For more information about Oracle’s business transformation, visit oracle.com/oracleatoracle.