Oracle CloudWorld London's message to partners: We didn't see you as 'as much of an asset as we should have' - we're learning

CRN spoke to global partner boss Doug Smith at the UK stop of the Oracle CloudWorld Tour about plans for the channel and what's changing

While at Oracle's CloudWorld Tour in London yesterday, CRN spoke to Doug Smith, the vendor's SVP and head of strategic partnerships and global partner ecosystem, about the cloud tech giant's renewed intentions to deepen relationships with partners to exploring co-creation of solutions and more collaboration on the go-to-market process.

Smith spoke about the untapped potentials the channel holds for Oracle.

"I think historically Oracle coexisted with a lot of our partners, but I don't think we really viewed them as much of an asset as we should have," he begun.

"And so, for example, historically, we've had a lot of partners who worked to deploy our technologies with customers. And that's incredibly important. And they play a really important role in making sure not only those technologies are deployed, but the customers are ultimately successful with those technologies.

"But I'd say there are two areas that Oracle has been learning in, and that we haven't taken advantage of previously."

Smith said the vendor could explore co-creating solutions with partners to try and deepen that relationship.

"Partners are sitting in different roles with customers, and they see what the customer needs are.

"So, I'll give you an example. Within our global system, we have integrator partners, and they've got a lot of expertise in many different industry verticals and use cases within those industry verticals.

"And so how do we work with them on, for example, an opportunity for an intelligent underwriting solution for insurance companies or commercial banks, while leveraging Oracle's database and infrastructure and application technologies?

"The partner then can bring in pre-built personas and pre-built application data connectors to connect to third party systems that of course, customers are going to want to use. And then they bring in their expertise from a professional services perspective, too.

"So, when you take what the partner does and what Oracle does, and bring it together, you're really delivering digital transformation. You're delivering an end-to-end solution that really delights customers."

Another way Oracle is looking to further collaboration with partners is on the go-to-market process itself.

Smith argued: "The reality is, it's not just that partners can help implement our technologies, they can also help us co-sell those technologies, or sometimes, from a channel perspective, take the lead in the delivery of those technologies."

Delivering for the channel

Smith's also spoke about a vendor favourite when it comes to partner support: more training.

"Getting more and more expert partners in the Oracle cloud infrastructure (OCI) ready for our customers with a focus on customer success is top of my mind," he said.

"In Q3, we grew 48 per cent for cloud revenues in constant currency and that is what we're showing partners: that we've got so much growth and that it will be a good investment if they spent their resources with Oracle on skilling up."

Smith claims it's something that Oracle partners are asking for.

"Our partners commented on wanting easy access to training where they know exactly what investment of time and resources are required on their side, because they do see the opportunity, and they want to do it.

"So they're definitely screaming out to Oracle to say, you know, give us give us simple programmes that we can go and execute. And that's exactly what we've been building."

Challenges ahead

As with much of our sector, Oracle's Smith identified a shortage in talent as one of the biggest challenges for vendor.

"We've got a fantastic asset, something called Oracle University, which is the way in which we deliver training materials into the market.

"When it comes to our OCI areas, specifically, we've made so many of those training courses free, right and available to folks."

He added: "There are areas where we've partnered with universities, to provide the content so students in addition to getting their university degree, can get involved in learning the Oracle technologies, which just helps them be more competitive in the market."

This, Smith said, will then provide partners and customers with a pipeline of Oracle-qualified entry-level potential hires.

However, when it comes to Oracle's own staff levels, the vendor was sanguine.

Oracle is one of many vendors who have made mass layoffs in recent month, which in Oracle's case sparked frustration amongst their staff last August.

When CRN asked what impact this was having on partners or delivery, a PR spokeperson for Oracle said the company is still in "a phase of growth and expansion", but refused to comment directly on how this situation might impact its channel.

Looking ahead, Smith said: "I think we are at that juncture where we are totally leaning into our partners now. And I think that's what is making it really exciting for us and for partners."