Reflections

I've just returned from holiday and I find myself reviewing the Oracle Applications arena.  As many readers will know, I specialise in Fusion HCM and Taleo.  So, where do I think this market is going?

Fusion Applications is undoubtedly a game changer.  The product will predominantly be sold as a SaaS offering.  This means a whole new way of approaching the subject, for everyone including Oracle.  I've written many times about this before and won't repeat myself - just see previous blogs.

Taleo was always SaaS, and it's clear that the Oracle/Taleo side of the business is well accustomed to the SaaS world.  Taleo products are very focused - Recruitment and Learning. When a customer purchases a Taleo product it's up and available almost immediately.  Implementation still needs to be done, but it's quick.  Fusion Applications, on the other hand, cover a huge range of functionality, and whilst clearly in it for the long term, Oracle has been slower than anticipated to ramp up the customer base.  Is part of the reason for this that Oracle itself is adapting to the new world, or its salesforce is, or its partners are?  I suspect it's a bit of each of those.

Nevertheless, Oracle continues to bring out new functionality for the Fusion HCM product set.  Mobile, as an example.

As an implementer, and a great advocate of the way Oracle is developing mobile solutions, I'd like to see the product stabilise and simplify in terms of implementation tasks before too many of the 'filly' extras come on stream.  It's not much use having a shiny new mobile app when the underlying implementation tasks are still considerable and complex.

Just a thought....