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OpenWorld Recap: Asia Pac, Japan Continue to be Growth Engines

Oracle's OpenWorld Asia Pacific, which concluded in August, brought more than 8,000 attendees to the Shanghai International Convention Center for technology demonstrations of Oracle's latest solutions and presentations on how partners and customers are using IT to address global business challenges. Companies today are finding that information on product, customer, and inventory can be the leading competitive differentiator for them.

The Pacific Rim continues to be a driving force in Oracle's growth, noted Derek Williams, chairman and executive vice president of Oracle Asia Pacific and Japan. Oracle counts 35,000 area customers, of which 5,500 are users of the company's applications. These customers are served by 28,000 Oracle employees and 2,700 ISVs, systems integrators, and value-added resellers.

Among the presentations available to conference attendees were tracks designed to provide the latest information for manufacturers participating in global supply networks. Tracks on industrial manufacturing, supply chain planning and logistics, and product lifecycle management addressed how new competition from low-cost markets are placing daily pressures on manufacturing firms as they extend their supply chains around the world in an effort to introduce products faster and cheaper.

Sessions on Lean 6 Sigma and Aftermarket support also attracted attendees searching for new and more competitive ways to conduct business in the global markets. With recent focus on product quality and recalls, there was also a keen interest in what manufacturers in the Pacific Rim can do to better control, report, and record product quality issues in the event of a recall, for example.

The presentations also showed how technology could help successful firms improve information flow in global supply chains, collect information more effectively, and collaborate more closely with international partners.