New Oracle CEO uses customer caution to advantage

Tuesday, 11 January 2011 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Oracle’s new CEO for the Middle East region Alfonso Di Ianni is vowing to turn the current outlook for cautious customer spending to the software vendor’s advantage as he bids to maintain the firm’s leadership position in the region.

“I have been talking to many customers here in the region to get their feeling and investment is coming back, but in a different way,” said Di Ianni.

“Customers are much more cautious about their investment and are really focusing on their return; they really want to have a reliable partner in front of them. The time of easy money is gone, as the financial crash told us. This is good news actually because that means that vendors such as Oracle have good answers to their cost-consciousness.”

Di Ianni’s elevation to the regional hotseat is unlikely to herald a major shift in strategy, with the vendor vowing to maintain its current focus on key areas, such as the public sector.

“The public sector is still one of the industry segments where we see constant improvement and constant development,” he said. “Even where the financial crisis hit countries, the public sector continued to invest in certain areas, so we have not seen any real major dip in the public sector and we will continue to invest.”

Telecommunications and banking represent other areas of growth for Oracle, particularly in terms of business applications.

Di Ianni says telecoms are under pressure to streamline their customer relationship and billing systems, while finance companies are looking to alleviate their risks.

“There is a high demand for consolidation, for improved control of their risks, GRC global risk management is important for them. We have a great product in this area to improve the control they have on their investments,” he said.

Di Ianni added that the company has customers in multiple market sectors and recent wins include Etihad, Dubai Police and Safaricom.

(www.itp.net)