Lasting Success

Continued

Connection and Innovation

"This type of customer relationship is business as usual for Oracle employees—from the salespeople to the development team to the executive board," says Block. "It's a great thing. Companies want to know that if they deploy our software and solutions, they're betting on the right horse. They want more than just a technology provider. The level of interaction and support makes them realize that they have found what they're looking for," he says. "Customers know that there is somebody who is there when they go live and that it's not just about when the contract is signed. They need to know that they have a real partner. And they do."

John Wookey, Oracle's senior vice president of applications development, says that his connection with West Point, Pennsylvania-based Colorcon—a global manufacturing company that develops and supplies products for the pharmaceutical, food, and nontoxic printing industries—has helped both companies propel their businesses years ahead of the rest of the industry. Several years ago, when Oracle had just committed to supporting the open source operating system Linux, Perry Cozzone, Colorcon's chief information officer, came to Wookey with a proposal. His company would be one of the first to implement Oracle's technology on the Linux platform.

"Perry signed up for Linux very early and said he saw the same thing that we did from a cost- and price-performing standpoint," explains Wookey. "He knew that involved moving the database, the applications, and everything over."

Colorcon was taking a chance on Linux and Oracle's dedication to it, but it was a bet that Colorcon acknowledges has paid off, says Wookey. The partnership resulted in an implementation of Oracle Database, Oracle Application Server, and Oracle E-Business Suite. The deployment has cut Colorcon's production lead times in half, helped it achieve 99-plus percent inventory accuracy rate, and elevated its customer service and satisfaction.

"This success is a direct result of a strong partnership," says Wookey. "The relationship between Oracle and Colorcon was advantageous for both companies: Colorcon helped us validate our Linux model, and we provided them direct and immediate access to the people who developed the products to ensure that they had a successful implementation," he says. "We've done the same validation process with Colorcon around process manufacturing."