Corporación GPF optimizes performance with Oracle Cloud

Corporación GPF is one of the largest retailers in Ecuador. It’s been in business for more than 90 years and brings in approximately $500 million in annual revenue.

The company’s two largest brands are pharmacy chains Fybeca and Sana Sana. The two pharmacies have 4,200 employees and more than 600 sales points throughout the country. The retailer also has a smaller chain of convenience stores (OkiDoki), with locations in Quito and Guayaquil, in addition to other brands.

At one point, the company was growing much faster than expected, while also experiencing some economic constraints. The retailer recognized that its most important goal was to move to a cloud platform in order to be responsive to a quickly changing market.

The IT team also wanted to gain more agility to make a greater contribution to the business. “We want to be part of the business strategy, and not just support it,” says Fernando Jácome, the company’s director of technology and processes.

Corporación GPF had been working with Oracle since 2000. However, due to budgetary constraints and technology challenges it faced, the company decided to evaluate the best bids for a new cloud technology platform.

“We had to look for a more efficient licensing model,” said Jácome. “We had a very large tender process, in which the usual companies submitted their offers.” Corporación GPF selected Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) not only for its cost-effectiveness but for the specific capabilities that Oracle Cloud offers to the retail industry.

“That’s when we decided to settle with Oracle, so to speak, and from there, the decision to go with a PULA contract was made easier," says Jácome.

With a PULA (Perpetual Unlimited License Agreement) model, a customer has the right to deploy an unlimited number of defined Oracle products, without a specific time limit, for a fixed cost. This arrangement, given the company’s budget constraints, assured the retailer that it would be well covered by the platform's licensing.

The result is that Corporación GPF has a robust technology base that allows the company to continue to expand.

With the PULA option, the company has the peace of mind that the licensing cost guarantees 100% compliance. Plus, the model offers enterprisewide technological advantages, cost reduction, flexibility, and streamlined technologies. In the long run, this translates into cost savings for Corporación GPF.

“In our PULA emulation to assess ROI, we achieved 21% savings versus what we would have under ULA [the other licensing model offered by Oracle]," Jácome says. Ultimately, the company is confident that the investment in licensing for Oracle equipment and products is as optimal as possible.

“With PULA, we no longer have to invest in basic things just to keep the business running, so we can focus on thinking and investing in innovation,” he says. With unlimited Oracle solutions, basic issues like the need to install a new server, a process that used to take up to 45 days if the server had to be imported, now takes only hours.

“We know that Oracle is a large, solid company, and there is a trusting relationship," Jácome says. “We know that we are together [with Oracle] for the long run, so we know that, in the end, it will be the best for both of us.”