EMEA ISV Team Leaders Meeting: Oracle's ISV Focus for Fiscal 2005
By Bertram Mandel, Senior Director, Alliances & Channels, Oracle EMEA

From 14-16 March, Oracle's ISV Team Managers from across EMEA joined regional executives for the regular quarterly team meeting in Amsterdam. The objectives of the two and a half-day session were to review the success to date of our significantly increased investment in our ISV programme, and to refine our ISV-focused initiatives for fiscal 2005, which begins on 1st June 2004. The EMEA Business Leaders of the Industry, E-Business Suite and Technology Solutions groups joined us to synchronise the plans and ensure integration of ISVs into Oracle's go-to-market initiatives.

It is amazing to review how far we have come in the past year alone. Partnering with Independent Software Vendors is a key focus of the Oracle Partner Network Program. Since FY04, the ISV Initiatives represent one of just six Key Business Programmes (KBPs) within Oracle EMEA, and therefore has the firm attention and commitment of our most senior executives. The importance of the ISV community to Oracle is also reflected in the greatly expanded team. In the photograph you can see the ISV Team managers from each EMEA country who attended the meeting, but it is important for you to know that each of these managers is supported in country by his or her own team focused on ISV Marketing, Recruitment, Enablement, and Relationship Management. You can read more about how our in-country ISV teams operate in this interview with Dutch ISV manager Rob van Doorn.

Fundamentally, Oracle cannot succeed without the ISV community, and every effort is being made to create a mutually supportive environment in which Oracle and its ISV partners can draw on each other's resources and expertise to increase revenues for all parties.

If you are currently evaluating whether a partnership with Oracle could benefit your business, you should know about the important enhancements we are making to our ISV programme in fiscal 2005. Three programmes in particular will be the subject of major investment in the coming year: industry solutions, the midmarket and multinational partners.

Industry Solutions

In preparation of the FY05 industry priorities, we are undertaking a comprehensive solution-mapping programme that aims to include industry-specific ISV applications in our vertical go-to-market activities. Our partners' solutions are an integral part of our go-to-market strategy for each industry sector, and partners that choose to complement our industry solution footprint will be able to draw upon extensive resources at Oracle to assist with development, marketing and sales of their industry-specific solutions.

Midmarket

At the same time, we are making a multimillion dollar investment in marketing SME-ready solutions of our ISV partners. Every Oracle ISV partner that has a solution ready for the midmarket will have the opportunity to be deeply involved in the midmarket campaigns in FY05. A study conducted with Trend Consulting in October 2003 found that a third of European SMEs had already chosen to standardise on Oracle, and a third said that Oracle would be their database of choice if all databases were priced equally - thus putting the Oracle Database clearly on top of the SME's wishlist. In order even better to support ISVs that are selling in the SME space, Oracle has introduced new SME-oriented pricing for its database platform, and we look forward to working closely with ISVs in 2005 to capitalise on the significant opportunities in this sector.

Multinational ISVs

A third important programme that we will focus on in FY05 is in increasing our support for ISVs that operate in multiple countries. Multinational vendors can benefit from a single account manager who can help them build their business consistently and cost-effectively in all of the territories where they operate. These ISVs will also be able to call upon Oracle's pan-EMEA partnering resources, ranging from technical services to marketing support. The pan-EMEA ISV Team has already proved beneficial to ISVs seeking to move into new territories or expand their business in other countries. Through the network of ISV Teams across EMEA local ISV Channel Managers are able to promote their local ISVs to their colleagues from other countries, and engage their colleagues to help those partners expand into new markets. We will continue to broker relationships and facilitate introductions so that ISVs can take advantage of Oracle's international presence and reach.

I hope that this overview will have given you an idea of the Pan-EMEA ISV Team effort and investment that Oracle is putting into making its relationships with independent software vendors highly beneficial for all concerned. If you have any questions about Oracle's ISV strategy, or if you would like further information about the new initiatives we are putting in place for FY05, the first port of call for enquiries should be the OPN Interaction Center (formerly Oracle Partner Resource Network). This is a team of people who are dedicated to answering queries from partners and prospective partners about Oracle's partnering programme. To find your local country contact, visit http://partner.oracle.com/ and click on "Contact Us".

Meet the Team



Front row (l - r): Bernd Eisenblaetter (Germany), Mario Mandjukov (Bulgaria), Konstantin Novikov (CIS), Geir Olav Aas (Norway), Ahmed Zaky (Saudi Arabia), Jozef Nemcek (Slovakia)

Second row (r - l): Monika Vitaskova (Czech Republic), Catherine Harrington (EMEA ISV Team), Cristina Lopez (Spain), Silvie Inghels (Belgium & Luxembourg), Penny Philpot (EMEA ISV Team), Rodanthi Kartsonaki (Greece), Nilgun Guvensoy (Turkey), Ana Besoiu (Romania), Claudia Sampedro (Portugal)

Back row (l - r): Hannu Kukkonen (Finland), Deon Els (South Africa), Riccardo Casali (Italy), Seved Ribbing (BDM Director EMEA), Josef Svenda (EU Enlargement A&C), Rob van Doorn (Netherlands), Goran Tezak (Croatia), Bev Scott (South Africa), Bart de Jong (African Operations), Natalie Hausner (EMEA ISV Team), Oliver van Dijk (Oracle Technology Marketing), Zvone Arzensek (Slovenia), Anna Lapchuk (Ukraine), Richard Nigoghossian (France), James Jewiss (UK), Christian Geider (Switzerland), Steen Hamburger (EMEA Marketing Denmark), Olivier Cabot (EMEA Product Technology Services), Bertram Mandel (EMEA ISV Team)