I’m not sure you’d consider Ray Wang a household name – but he is an
influential analyst, author, advisor, award winner, and change agent. Recently he talked to Steve Miranda about the state of Oracle Fusion Apps
in what Ray called “a no-holds barred honest conversation about what’s working,
what’s not, and what to look forward to in 2013.”
In Ray’s mind, Oracle was quiet about Fusion Apps in 2012, so he started the
interview by asking if Fusion was selling. It’s “selling well …,” answered
Steve, “… 400 customers … better than Salesforce. com … rich customer base.” But
Ray needed more. “To be honest with you, Steve, we aren’t seeing Oracle much in
head to head competitive new deals. We don’t see big press releases about new
wins. Where are the customers? Who’s buying what and why?"
Steve explained that “we’re not focused on publicity, but rather we want to ensure customer success.” (As in, earn credibility). He then walked through a list of customers so Ray could understand “the breadth and depth of what the Fusion Apps base looks like.” You can’t argue with facts.
On to the next topic: Why did it take so long to get Fusion Apps to market? Steve simply said because “we started the clock too early.” And “if I had to do it over again, we would have gone to market sooner with less depth. “ But you really have to read the interview so you don’t take Steve's answers out of context.
Ray: “Okay, let’s say I agree with you that earning credibility makes sense. Why is Oracle Fusion Applications winning? Let’s go head to head with some popular vendors like Salesforce.com, SAP, and Workday.” Steve gave a quick retort for all three companies and then addresses Ray's questions about multi-tenancy,” innovation in Fusion, Oracle’s cloud strategy, social, analytics, mobility, and vertical industries.
It’s a 2500+ word interview, but well worth the read time. You’ll come away with a better perspective of Fusion -- past, present, and future – and of Steve Miranda.