Accelerate to Great

Continued

Jibe mainly serves customers on the West Coast, but in the last four years it has delivered services to its customers’ work locations throughout North America, Europe, Australia and China. Moncrieff says, “Our team members live in the same communities as our customers. We have the ability to build institutional knowledge of our customers into our teams. This knowledge reduces ramp-up time and often allows for shorter projects.”

Strong Partnerships with Oracle
A strong relationship with Oracle is a critical piece of these partners’ growth—whether through new offerings or deeper regional commitments. DAZ’s Arnold, whose company focuses entirely on implementing Oracle E-Business Suite and other Oracle products, believes her partnership has enabled DAZ to thrive in current economic conditions. “It’s not always a boom time. You have to be thinking, ‘How will I get through it if everything is not great,’” she says. “In the 2005-2008 years we grew more than 30% per year. We’re not nervous. Because we’re an Oracle-only partner, we make sure we’re in lock-step with Oracle.”

Lucidity also makes sure its offerings are in line with Oracle. Lucidity Managing Partner Bret Hatfield says Oracle’s acquisition of best-of-breed applications provides a great opportunity to expand Lucidity’s service offerings. The company has added products like Siebel CRM and Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) to our Accelerate Solutions, and in 2009 Lucidity expects to create solutions for industrial distribution and repair and consumer packaged goods. “In today’s economic times, consulting companies are not doing well, but Lucidity is. We can use our recurring revenue streams to weather economic ups and downs,” says Hatfield. “Accelerate also allows us to target customers who previously couldn’t afford Oracle solutions. We grew 25% in 2008, and we predict 33% growth in 2009.”

Jibe has been a Certified Partner with Oracle since its founding in 2004, and in it became a Certified Advantage Partner in 2008. This move has allowed Jibe to extend its practice from Oracle E-Business Suite to PeopleSoft, database technology and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). Moncrieff says, “Expanding our knowledge base across the list of Oracle product offerings allows us to provide a broader range of services and become a one-stop shop for customers.”

Zanett has also seen business expand by aligning its product strategy with Oracle. It recently acquired PS GoLive to improve its PeopleSoft offerings. “Oracle continues to acquire and expand its breadth and functionality. This gives it a level of nimbleness to react to the diversity of the midsize marketplace—yet provide the scalability these midsize companies will need to grow. Fast-growing midsize organizations are willing to make this investment,” says Vickers. “We mirror Oracle’s strategy. We’re not a multi-billion dollar consulting firm, but we can be very nimble and reactive in the midsize market. Yet, we are a good viable long-term partner as companies grow.”

Zanett was one of the first ten US-based consulting companies to take part in Oracle Accelerate. Vickers says, “We’ve had great success with the program and will continue to invest in Accelerate solutions.” By the end of 2009, the company expects to have approximately 12 Accelerate solutions available. Vickers adds, “We feel the applications and concepts of Accelerate are valuable beyond traditional ERP. For example we have extended our work with Accelerate into our PeopleSoft practice.”

Arnold adds, “The most important part of being a good partner is to realize that you have got to provide the best for customers and be someone they can count on. You have to be really solid and reliable. We pride ourselves on our people and our ability to support customers.”

And being a good Oracle partner is good for business because it’s good for customers. “The Accelerate program represents the continuing evolution of Oracle recognizing that partners are critical to our success in selling applications to midsize organizations,” says Oracle’s Johnson. “There’s more to do, but we are very pleased so far how partners have embraced Accelerate and ultimately have helped our customers become successful. Partners are the cornerstone of that.”