Notes From TFSOTW - Final Thoughts

Some final random thoughts on Oracle OpenWorld 2008...

• The absolutely coolest thing about OOW was the number of great compliments I received about ORCLville. I never ceased to be amazed by the number of people that read this blog on a regular basis and the positive response I get from those readers. Thanks to all of you who said the wonderful things you said during OOW08. That's what keeps me writing this stuff.
  

• My iPhone was absolutely irreplaceable this week: keeping in touch, managing my schedule, and providing directions around the city, all in one piece of hardware. The iPhone has exceeded all the hopes I had for it when I bought it.

• I did not act on my "halo effect" infection and buy a MacBook Pro at OOW, but only because I've decided to wait for the highly-anticipated new model release (rumored to be around Oct. 14).
  

• The most important news for Oracle customers from OOW08 was the announcement of My Oracle Support. It's the one tool each and every Oracle customer will use on a consistent basis, and it now offers the opportunity to really implement proactive support (addressing issues before they happen).

• The innovation through acquisition strategy seems to be working. It's just a gut feel on my part, but OOW08 left me with an impression that Oracle is about make some more acquisitions. Just a feeling or a hunch, nothing more. Time will tell if I'm right on this one.
  

• My participation in OAUG has provided a great professional and personal network, all full of very sharp minds. I'm glad they let me hang out with them, because I always learn so much when I do.

• Partnering with Amazon and leveraging the Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) service is an interesting way for Oracle to enter the cloud computing space. It'll be even more interesting to see if and how Oracle becomes a significant player in providing cloud computing services. Ditto for Oracle's first foray into selling hardware: the partnership with HP to sell the HP Oracle Exdata Storage Server and the HP Oracle Database Machine is a creative way for Oracle to enter the hardware marketplace...it should be interesting to see how this development plays out, especially of Oracle opts to expand its role in this space at some time in the future.
  

• The attendee demographics and behavior were a little different this year from years past. More sales people and managers, fewer people with technical or functional "chops"; might be a sign of the economic times. Also, more people with single-day registrations, exhibit hall only passes, and "GuestPlus" passes (exhibit hall, keynotes, and one session)...not nearly so many folks with registration for the full week. The crowd also thinned out a bit after Monday (which was very crowded)...attendance seemed thinner than years past on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (the last day's attendance is usually pretty thin, but this year it seemed pretty thin from Tuesday and on).

• My big, bright-orange, glow-in-the-dark, blogger badge holder was really cool. The free passes to the front of the lines and the reserved seating were also really nice. Thanks to Justin at the Oracle Technology Network for setting up special credentials for Oracle ACEs who blog.

• Kudos to Dan Norris, who came up with the custom badge-holder ribbons that drew great comments all week. I'll happily contribute to a repeat at the next conference.
  

• Lots of EBS users are planning to upgrade from 11i to R12 sometime in 2009. Some of the swell in momentum has to do with the useability engineering in R12 (one example: try doing an AP three-way match in 11i and then repeating the process in R12...you quickly see the difference).

• Actually got to say hello to Tim Dexter face-to-face, if only for a moment or so. Maybe we'll actually get to hang out for a bit sometime soon...
  

• My biggest disappointment was my inability to get in a session with the Oracle Useability team. I was really interested in getting with them for a comparison of my experience with the team at Collaborate 08. I have to do a much better job of managing my schedule, because not getting with this crew at OOW08 was my loss.
  

• I wrote earlier about seeing some "nervous water" regarding the EBS R12.1 release. I still see that nervous water, but I'm more convinced than ever that it's a poor wager to bet on a release anytime in 2008. That being said, the 12.1 previews this week have me believing that 12.1 is a substantially enhanced product in comparison to the 12.0x versions.

• As always, I was honored to be a judge for the Oracle Excellence Awards this year. However, next year I hope to be a winner rather than a judge.
  

• The guys at OracleAppsLab are having a substantial influence on the development of Oracle products. Read the stuff on their blog for a bit and then check out those admittedly poor pictures of Fusion Apps I posted earlier this week. There are AppsLab fingerprints all over Fusion Apps.
  

• I come away from OOW08 convinced that all EBS users, 11i and R12 alike, should plan on upgrading to the 11g database as soon as possible. I'll write more on this in a later post.

• Nobody...and I mean nobody...talked about the big elephant in the room. That big elephant is the current economic downturn (exacerbated by the recent tailspin in the financial markets), which leads to consideration of how to leverage the software already owned to keep your enterprise moving forward in tough times.
  

• Presentations heavy on PowerPoint put me to sleep. The more engaging presentations involved some creativity or some "live drive" stuff.
  

• Really dug the OTN-sponsored Unconference this year. It's the one place you can hang with people who really know their stuff without feeling any sales pressure whatsoever. I suspect I'll be focusing a good deal of my energy on the Unconference, both as an attendee and a presenter, during OOW09.
  

• When I hang out with Oracle ACEs, I really have to stretch my brain to keep up and contribute to the conversation. Most of what I learn and discover, especially on technical subjects, at OOW comes up when I'm hanging with the ACEs. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this group.
  

So now OOW08 is over. It's with more than a little sadness that I say goodbye to dear friends, sharp minds, and the energy of the conference to return to, in the words of Jimmy Buffett, the routine of "jobs and chores and questions, and plates I need to twirl". Already looking forward to OOW09...

Notes From TFSOTW - Thursday

So it's about noon on Thursday as I write this post. Things are winding down at OOW and many people have left to begin their journey home (including me in another three hours). Many friends have already said their farewells and we've all promised to meet up again at Collaborate 09 next May.

I did get in a good session this morning: the R12 Upgrade Panel. Learned a few things about the upgrade and got some validation of my feeling that the upgrade to EBS R12 is really beginning to build up some momentum. Also spent some time in the OTN Lounge, working through a few last-minute technical issues with some of the best minds in the Oracle domain.

So now it's time to hit the road for home. From my perspective, it's been a very different OOW from years past. Very good but also very different. More on that when I post my final thoughts in the next day or so.

Sorry no pics from today...I slacked off again.

Notes from TFSOTW - Wednesday

Saw this morning what has to be my favorite session from OOW08: "Build Composite Applications Your End Users Will Actually Use." The upshot of the session was about building composite apps in JDeveloper and presenting them in WebCenter. One of the cool elements in this session was the demonstration of the "Human Workflow" component in building a BPEL process...nice to see those nifty BEA things working their way into the Oracle mainstream so quickly. The other aspect that made this presentation absolutely rock...the presenters took the risk of "driving live", building the BPEL process and the apps itself on the fly even though they admitted they were still working with a "Frankenbuild". They hit a few hiccups along the way, but nothing that detracted from a great session. Wonderful to see this type of thing rather than a PowerPoint deck with screen shots; the session almost had an "Unconference" quality to it. I hope more presenters follow their lead. My hat is off to Oracle's George Maggessy and Maiko Rocha for what has to be my favorite session of OOW08. Sure hope they update their progress at Collaborate 09 or OOW09.

I did have a chance to hang out for a few minutes with new pal Karen Tillman in the real brain-center for OOW08. That's right, I was invited into the inner sanctum of the PR Operations Room. Karen's been a real godsend over the past few weeks, advising me as I navigate the treacherous waters of dealing with literary license and misquotes as folks interpret and spin the posts from this humble little blog (got no problem with being quoted, so long as the person quoting is accurate about it). While I was there, I also got to meet Twitter pal Joan Levy face-to-face...a real treat for me.

Also attended the double-session on "Oracle Fusion Applications: Applications For The Next Generation", conducted by Oracle's Steve Miranda and Chris Leone. It was sure nice for the public to finally get a good flavor of what I've been so excited about for so long. I took lots of really bad shots of the presentation and live demo that you can look at here. Yup, they're red-tinted, at an angle, and somewhat blurry (hey, what do you expect from an iPhone camera at 20 feet?), but I hope it's enough of a taste of the Fusion Apps UI that you'll see what all the fuss is about. You can see the bevy of shots (told you I'd make up for yesterday's photographic slacking) here (the pics look a little better blown up to full size).

Watched the Larry Ellison keynote from a very posh, exclusive and private location (sorry, I'll never tell). Larry's big announcement on "X" turned out to be the HP Oracle Database Machine: a data warehouse appliciance, based on the Exadata Storage Server, that's intended to shift the data-intensive part of query processing away from the database layer and put it on the storage layer.

I'm off to the OAUG Appreciation Event, but I'm bugging out on the Oracle Customer Appreciation shindig. I'm a little tired of the crowds and would like to roam downtown San Francisco without fighting through a stampede of OOW attendees. Dinner with a buddy and a little shopping (maybe at the Apple store) on tap for the evening. I'm looking forward to slowing down a bit...

Late Update: Karen and I actually worked through a brief, light-hearted video interview that she's posted on YouTube. You can watch for yourself here.

Notes From TFSOTW - Tuesday

A few random notes from OOW08 Tuesday...

• It's not nearly as crowded as it was Monday or even Sunday. Feels more like the last day of the show rather than the middle. I'm also noticing the increase of folks with one-day passes. Must be a sign of the economic times...or maybe the weather is so good that folks decided to play a little hookey.
  

• Most of the cool stuff involving Fusion Middleware is happening around the underground Salon area of the Marriott. I managed to hit the Fusion Middleware Lounge. Also sat in on a great presentation entitled "Identity Management for Oracle EBS". Oracle's Stephen Lee and Sid Choudhury did a great job of laying out the future direction and architecture for integrating Identity Management with EBS, especially in regards to moving from Single Sign-On to Oracle Access Manager. The second half of this session was conducted by Agilent Technologies' Mike Cohn, who shared his experiences in leading an implementation of Identity Management with EBS. This was probably the best session I attended all day.
  

• The sessions previewing EBS R12.1 are also pretty exciting. The enhancements in the business processing in 12.1 will provide some motivation for customers who have been holding off on upgrading from 11i. I'm also getting the feeling, just from talking to other people in the EBS sessions, that the uptake for R12 is beginning to ramp up. Seems to me as though the uptake will really take off with the release of 12.1 (which I'm guessing will be sometime in 2009). I suspect we'll an order-of-magnitude increase of customers in production on R12 by the close of 2009.
  

• I love my iPhone for many reasons. Today's reason has to do with avoiding long lines. I hit the Oracle bookstore and actually found several books worth having. When I tried to check out, I lost patience after waiting in non-moving lines for about 10 minutes. Set down the books, picked up my iPhone, and placed an order with Amazon for said books. They'll be waiting for me when I get home this weekend. No fuss, no muss. Like I said, I love my iPhone.
  

• I did get to spend a few minutes at the ACE dinner. This is always one of the most enjoyable events of any Oracle-related conference. It's always great to see old friends as well as meet the new members. Got a nice jacket out of the deal too.
  

• Also managed to swing by the reception for the presentation of the Oracle ACE Awards. Being a judge was a tough job this year. Picking winners was a difficult job.
  

• Did manage to get by the Apple store last night. Now I'm really infected by the halo effect. I suspect I'll be back there Thursday...I'm going home with a new Mac Book Pro.
  

• Also tested the power of Twitter last night. I sent out a tweet letting folks know that I would be hanging in the Marriott hotel lobby-lounge around 9 p.m. with my wife (who flew up for Tuesday and today). A couple of people wandered by at 9. A few more rolled in around 9:20. Folks kept trickling in until 10, when my wife and I broke away for dinner. Came back at 10:30 and the crew was till there (and even grew a bit more). We all finally called it quits around 11:30. Neat. Diggin' the Twitter thing.
  

I really slacked on the picture thing today...only took a pic in the Fusion Middleware Lounge and another in the Oracle Game Room, plus a few really bad shots of presentation screens from that great Identity Management session. You can see what little I got here. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Notes From TFSOTW - Monday

Several big announcements at OOW today from the Charles Phillips keynote. Let's briefly roll through the big ones:

• Customers can license Oracle database 11g, Enterprise Manager and Fusion Middleware to run in Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud environment.
  

• Oracle also announced Secure Backup Cloud Module, a cloud-based backup solution leveraging Amazon's S3 (Simple StorageService).
  

• Oracle Beehive (not sure how I feel about this product name) is a new, secure online workplace for collaborating through social networking tools such as email, calendars and wikis.
  

• Oracle also announced that OOW will include previews of E-Business Suite 12.1. 12.1 includes 9 new products and some functional enhancements as well. However, it seems that 12.1 will not actually be released during OOW.
  

• The 11.1.0.7 release of the database was announced. However, it now appears that the widely-anticipated 11g2 database release will not take occur before 2009.
  

• A new support portal, My Oracle Support, combines the functionality of MetaLink with the Oracle Software Configuration Manager to proved a highly personalized support system. IMHO, this may have been the biggest announcement of the day for apps customers. While My Oracle Support is definitely still a work in progress, the value proposition of a unique support system for each customer based on their specific configuration seems very compelling.
  

• Two new vertical plays, one in insurance and the other in health care.

The best session I attended was "Web 2.0 In The Enterprise". The guys from Oracle AppsLab shared their experiences with introducing social networking inside the Oracle corporate firewall. Very cool stuff. In addition, the competition for the ORCLville Best PowerPoint Slide of OOW08 is over - these guys win hands down. You can catch the winning slide here.

A couple of interesting observations I had throughout the day:

• Oracle's Nadia Bendjedou and IOUC's Debra Lilley gave a great reprisal of "10 Things You Can Do Today To Prepare For Fusion Applications". In this latest update, the list of 10 things has actually grown to 14 things. In addition, the IOUC rolled out the latest iteration of a tool to help customers determine their progress in getting ready for Fusion Applications. Watch the IOUC website for news about the tool.
  

• Nobody here is talking about how the recent rollercoaster ride in the financial markets impacts the Oracle space, especially the effect on customers. It's the elephant in the room that everyone is ignoring. This may be contributing to the low-key feeling here sofar, even with the announcements made in today's keynote.
  

• I felt pretty badly for NetApp's Tom Georgens, who hit the stage immediately as Charles Phillips finished his keynote. There was a mass exodus as Georgens began speaking that went on for at least half an hour. Those who headed for the exit missed a well-thought-out analysis on driving value (as in better, faster and cheaper) through recent advances in storage technology.
  

• Lots of posters around the conference about how "X Is Coming" on 9/24/08. No clue about what X is (maybe be something to do with the rumored database announcement?), but it'll be fun to hear what comes out on Wednesday.
  

• I've been peppered with people asking when and where I'm presenting the latest update on JPL's Roadmap to Fusion Applications. Unfortunately, the presentation did not "make the cut" for OOW this year. Given the feedback I've gotten today, I'll post some type of update here within the next few weeks.

• I've been infected with what Steven Chan calls "the halo effect." It's time to buy a new laptop and I've been so impressed with my iPhone that I'm thinking of switching from PC to Mac. There is an Apple store down the street that's been calling my name all week, so my OOW trip may turn out to be expensive indeed.
  

My day also included dinner with a couple of dear friends. The highlight of my day. To be honest, one of the best things about these conferences is seeing friends I wish I could see more often.

My schedule has been packed and the days have been long so far. I'm starting to feel a bit run down. Here's hoping some sleep will recharge the batteries.

Well, that's a summary of a very long, very active day. You can see today's pics here.

Notes From TFSOTW - Sunday

So it's been an interesting Oracle OpenWorld Sunday so far. Fought through the flight delays and the temporary lost bag at the airport (yes, TSA searched my bag again...I gotta remember to stick in some paper pop-up snakes), and finally managed to get here. I was upset about missing the morning ACE Director sessions, but it's all good now.

By the way, typing out "The Far Side Of The World" repeatedly on my iPhone throughout the week will only cramp up my fingers and generally frustrate me. So I'm going with the acronym TFSOTW.

I really like coming up Sunday and beating the Monday morning registration fiasco. You can see what the Sunday registration looks like during a real rush here. I'm registered as a blogger for this OOW. It's really pretty neat: big, orange, glow-in-the-dark badge holder with a huge "Blogger" written across the top. Ah, the power of the press is sweet indeed. I go to the front of the line for darn near everything (including the block-long lines that will form for the keynotes). I'd really like to see how this rig looks with an AppsLab sticker...

OAUG also loaned me a Flip camcorder for the week. I hope to leverage the thing to upload some stuff to the OTN video stream for OOW via Qik. Track me down if you're here and want your 15 minutes of fame.

On a more serious note, I did learn some interesting news while hosting the OAUG Fusion Council Panel this afternoon: all seeded reports in the upcoming 12.1 release of the E-Business Suite will be formatted in XML Publisher. During the same panel discussion, I also learned that the first version of Fusion Applications with ship with the WebLogic web server...not OC4J (time to brush up on those BEA components, 'cause here they come).

The rumor mill also is buzzing about a database-related announcement that will be made during Larry Ellison's Wednesday keynote address, but that's just rumor at this point...no confirmation, no details. We'll see what gives on Wednesday.

I'm sitting in the OTN lounge as I write this, and plan to do a bit of exploring before having dinner with a dear Oracle friend after the Sunday evening keynote. Then it's off to the Blogger Meetup. Not that I found much worthwhile to shoot today, but you can catch the day's pictures here.

Oracle OpenWorld 2008 - The Far Side Of The World

Ramadan is over
The new moon’s shown her face
I’m halfway round the planet
In a most unlikely place
Following my song line
Past bamboo shacks and shops
Behind a jitney packed like sardines
With bananas piled on top

Back at home, it’s afternoon
Six thousand miles away
I will still be there when I get through
Attending this soiree
There are jobs and chores and questions
And plates I need to twirl
But tonight I’ll take my chances
On the Far Side of the World
That’s the way it happens
On the Far Side of the World
- From Jimmy Buffett's "Far Side Of The World"


Well, Ramadan isn't quite over (at least as far as I can tell...as a non-Muslim, I'm no expert), but Oracle OpenWorld still arrives this year at an interesting time. Interesting for the U.S. and world economy, for the software marketplace, and for me personally. I'm actually glad for the timing, for a chance to break away from the routine for a few days at a time and experience the latest news from the Oracle universe.

I see an economy with some fundamental that may be changing. I see ERP software marketplace that's gone from an emphasis on growth to more of a "cash cow" model...maybe even in the early years of a developing "Long Tail" scenario. And I'm wondering about my own place in the market as it continues to change. Maybe OOW will help sort some of this out.

Now, please don't think I'm waxing maudlin on ya'all. Far from it! I plan to have an absolute blast at OOW. There is lots of hubub at OOW this year, even more than usual. Focused lounges, live video blogging, and so on...the sensory experience promises to be such that one person just can't take it all in. I plan to blog daily from OOW, but I also hope to rise above the hubub and blog about the meatier parts of the conference.

So I'm more interested in taking away and sharing ideas about the value-add from the conference than I am in writing about the glitz, considerable and entertaining though that glitz will certainly be. More to the point, I'll be even more stringent in applying my usual acid test: how all this admittedly very cool stuff will help drive value in my enterprise? It ain't just the technology, but what the technology does for us that counts...it's very easy to lose that perspective at an event like OOW. I suspect that I may be in the minority on this point, so much so my time at OOW may be like a trip to a culture on "The Far Side Of The World" (even though San Francisco is a mere puddle-jump for me in terms of physical travel). So my series of updates from OOW this year will be entitled "Notes From The Far Side Of The World"...hope ya'all get what I'm trying to say.

On to the big bash!

Off To Harness The Ch'i

There's been quite a bit of chatter on the Intertubes over the past day or so related to next week's Oracle OpenWorld. Lots of attempts at last-minute arrangement - kind of a frantic feeling in the air, much more so than in years past. In fact, the noise level is starting to get a little overwhelming. So my plan is to leave the office today, unplug from this evening until Sunday morning (when I arrive at San Francisco), and follow the advice of my oldest daughter to "harness the Ch'i". Before I do so, one last thought on getting the most value from your OpenWorld experience: dedicate some time focusing on the area that is mostly likely one of the largest IT costs for your enterprise and probably the most neglected...support. Think about it: most folks study the details of their warranty or maintenance agreement when they buy or lease a car. While it may not be the most exciting stuff (well, maybe it's exciting when your car breaks down on the highway outside of Ponca City or something like that), it's some of the most important stuff and a big consideration in the new car selection for many buyers. Why wouldn't you do the same with your Oracle support contract?

As recently pointed out by Frank Scavo at the Enterprise Spectator, the current cost of Oracle support compels customers to essentially pay again for the originally purchased software license in less than five years. Until the business model for software support changes, one of the best things customers can do is squeeze as much value as possible out of their support agreement with Oracle. That means understanding what tools and services are available (most at no additional cost) under your support agreement, how support works, and building a strategy to proactively address as many issues as possible before they arise.

I'm not going to plug specific sessions related to Oracle Support in this article, as I already did so here. Just wanted to put the idea on the table that Oracle Support is where you burn a big chunk of your IT budget, so you may want to invest some time in maximizing the benefits...just a thought.

I'm off off to harness the Ch'i now. Hope to see ya'all at the Big Dance. Next up: my first post from Oracle OpenWorld 2008.

Nervous Water

One of the sure signs of an upcoming Oracle-related conference: I've been getting peppered lately with queries about release dates for Oracle products, especially the 12.1 release of the E-Business Suite or the first version of the integrated Fusion Applications suite. So I'm hoping I can save everyone some time and trouble by sharing here and now what I know regarding planned or firm release dates for all Oracle products:

Not a doggone thing! I got nothin'... notta... bupkis... squat... diddly... zip... well, you get the idea.

First, Oracle executives don't share that kind of info with me. Nor is there any good reason for them to do so. It just doesn't make any sense. I can just imagine that telephone call: "Floyd, here. Listen, we now know exactly when we're releasing XYZ. We also decided, Oracle corporate and stakeholder concerns notwithstanding, we'd really like to put your blog on the map by having you break the news on ORCLville. Sure, we spend gazillions on PR to really emphasize these types of events, but that's not important. What is important is that we really like what you're doing with the blog and it'll be fun to change things up a bit. We think there are huge business benefits for Oracle by breaking this news exclusively through your blog. Sound good?" Yeah, that's gonna happen any day now...I'm holding my breath waiting for it.

Second, even if I did know something solid in this regard, I wouldn't share that information here. It's almost an ethical thing from my perspective. Frankly, it's not my news to share. The people who made the effort to build the product should be the ones sharing the release news and popping the champagne corks. That ain't me. I speculate before the fact and comment after the fact...that's the extent of it.

Now, with those things being said, how does an Oracle customer get a fix on product release dates for planning purposes? Well, to be honest, it's a lot like fishing from a boat on a lake (Yeah, I like fishing. Why do you ask? Know why I like fishing? Because a guy taking a nap next to a stream or in a boat is lazy, while a guy taking a nap next to a stream or in a boat with a fishing pole in his hand is a sportsman). When I fish in lakes, I keep in mind that fish traditionally or historically like to hang out in certain places: submerged tree limbs, big rocks, that sort of thing. In addition, I also look for signs of active fish: ripples, splashes, maybe a fish or two jumping out of the water to grab a snack. Lots of fishermen call that "nervous water". Casting my line into nervous water increases my odds of catching fish pretty quickly. However, it does not resolve the greatest frustration my wife has with my fishing...I can't say exactly when I'll be home with dinner. I can only answer "soon", "in a bit", or "it'll be awhile". Sometimes you just have to take what the fish decide to give you when they decide to give it to you. I'm pretty sure I'll catch something in the next little while, but I can't really give an exact time for hauling in a big one.

The fishing analogy applies very well to forecasting Oracle product release dates. First, keep in mind traditional or historical patterns: application updates 1.5 to 2 years after previous release, apps technology changes usually trail other technology changes, and so on. Second, watch for the Oracle equivalent of nervous water: do public comments reflect an imminent release of something? Is there any chatter on the Oracle forums? Is documentation in support of the new release beginning to show up on OTN or MetaLink? Third, take what they give you: for example, Oracle recently conducted a strategy briefing on the roadmap for the acquired BEA products. It's not hard to forecast product release dates within a quarter or two if you follow the roadmap. Another example of taking what they give you is the amazing amount of information you can get by engaging in Oracle's customer collaboration opportunities, either through user groups or directly with Oracle. With this info, you can be pretty sure when things are coming even though you can't provide an exact date. So spend a little time working through things, following these guidelines, and your guess is as at least as good as mine.

So you know my thoughts now on Oracle product release dates. What do you think? Comment away.

All Spruced Up

It's a sure sign that Oracle OpenWorld is at hand: the junk mail is pouring in, both email and snail mail. In the past, I really got some solid value out of the snail mail adds - I would save all that junk mail, wrap it up in really tight paper logs, and use them as firestarters in my fireplace over the winter. Now that I'm older and lazier, I just throw it all away...

I've put together my final schedule (well, final for the moment - things will certainly change as the conference progresses) and pretty much know where I'll be most of the time, although my Monday and Tuesday evening schedules are way overbooked. So now I'm pretty much all spruced up and ready for the Big Dance. I've got some sessions planned, some windows during each day for wandering around and talking to people (the best and most valuable part of any conference, IMHO), and some discussions to attend at the Unconference. In fact, the Unconference looks really strong this year; any time I find myself with a few open moments, I'll probably be at an Unconference session.

A few folks (like my boss) really like to know specifically which sessions I'll be attending at which particular time. Well, like I said, I have a plan. However, I'll very likely change it up quite a bit depending on how things go. If you really want to know where I'm at and what I'm doing, follow me on Twitter (my id is fteter). I'll be attempting to improve on my "Twitter slacker" challenge during OOW. I'll also be blogging from the conference at time permits, but my Twitter posts should be the closest thing to real time updates.

So, what you think we'll see and hear at OOW this year? I have four announcements/events/activities/presentations I speculate ("speculate", as in I don't know diddly and have aboslutely no reliable info - I'm just guessing) will take place during OOW:

1. An announced release or release date for E-Business 12.1
2. A basic message for apps customers about using Fusion Middleware to extend your current Oracle applications
3. An overview on how BEA and Hyperion components fit into and interact with the Oracle product family
4. An announced release or release date for some early Fusion Apps, probably in the CRM space but not part of an integrated suite.

I'd really like to hear your guesses as well, so hit me in the comments.

Six days left until I step off the plane in SFO on Sunday morning...looking forward to it! Hope to see you there.

It's The Leverage, Not The Technology

I've had an idea percolating in my mind for a few days that just won't go away. It finally came together today during my early morning walk. Two contrasting experiences as a customer with two different very different companies have shown me that the real heart of success and failure of e-commerce is not in how advanced your technology is as much as how you leverage the technology you have. Intellectually, most of us already know this. However, there is no better way to drive an idea home than seeing it in real life. In this case, even though the two experiences are separated by several months, comparing the two makes this idea crystal clear. Take the ride with me for a moment or two and you'll see what I mean.

Dish Network. I was a customer for a long time...had one of their satellite dishes hanging off the side of my house. Loved the service. Being deeply involved with NASA stuff, I also. got a kick out of getting my TV from a wireless satellite signal. Neat technology. All in all, I was happier than a pig in slop. Then one day, during an NFL playoff game at that, the signal just dropped off for about 30 seconds. Nothing but white noise and snow from my TV. It all came back after 30 seconds, so I just wrote it off as a one-time glitch...until it happened again a few weeks later. As time passed, the frequency gradually ramped up to several times a day. So I called customer service for Dish Network. First, they suggested I try several diagnostic steps. Performed those steps but learned nothing about the problem. We went back and forth for several days, as the frequency of the problem's occurrence continued to increase, without obtaining any resolution. Finally asked them to send a tech out to the house. The response to that request was a reminder that, as the owner of the equipment, I was ultimately responsible for whether or not the service worked in my home (Dish Network defined successful service as validation that the signal was transmitted by the satellite, not by whether or not the customer could actually received or utilize the signal - SOA enthusiasts, do you see the analogy and recognize that defining the service is critical?). The customer service rep proceeded to inform me that a Dish Network tech could come to my home to assist me with my problem, but that the visit would cost $150...plus another $100 per hour...plus parts, regardless of whether or not my problem was ever resolved. I pointed out that I could also resolve my problem at no cost, as the local cable TV company was advertising a special of free installation, with no service start-up fees, for Dish Network customers switching to cable. The technology is nowhere near as nifty, but the cost of resolving the issue at hand was much cheaper. The response from the Dish Network customer service rep: "would you like to be connected to our account termination department?" I decided at that moment to "vote with my wallet" (if you don't like the service or the product, take your money elsewhere) and announced that yes, I believe I would like to speak with the termination people. Made the switch to cable. Been happy every since. Had a minor service issue last month, but the cable company came out and fixed it...for free. Dish Network had really nifty technology, but did not do a great job of leveraging that technology to bring value to a customer (me).

Zappo's. Lately, I've been buying my shoes from Zappo's. My feet are as wide as a couple of gunboats. Local shoe merchants don't stock my sizes. Zappo's does. Earlier this week I ordered a new pair of walking shoes in preparation for Oracle OpenWorld 2008. Wasn't in a big hurry for the shoes, so I ordered the cheapest possible shipping service. An hour or so after I placed the order, I received an email from Zappo's entitled "Good News". I was informed that Zappo's upgraded my shipping to overnight (free of charge) and had already pulled the order to go out later in the day. My new shoes showed up on my doorstep the next day. Nothing in terms of ground-breaking technology making this happen: probably an order fulfillment app and a business rule based on geographic proximity to a Zappo's distribution center (I live within a few hundred miles on one) coupled with some type of event-driven alert. The technology that made this happen is nowhere nearly as cool as satellite signals. But Zappo's delivered that technology to really provide a customer (me) some additional value - got my new shoes much sooner than promised or expected with no increase in cost. Pegged my customer satisfaction meter, which leads to increased customer loyalty in the form of repeat business and customer referrals. Want to guess where I'll buy my next pair of shoes or which company I refer to my friends and neighbors?

It's not the technology as much as it is how you leverage the technology. The big win is to leverage technology for generate business value (a la Zappo's). The time you upgrade technology is when you can leverage the upgraded technology to drive new or increased business value. We'll hear a repeated message from Oracle at OpenWorld later this month (a message we've been hearing repeatedly at OOW for the past few years, especially regarding Fusion technology): do what makes sense for your enterprise. Well, this is the kind of thing they're talking about.

Steppin' Down

Sometimes things don't work out
But that's how life is, son
All them little miseries
Can keep you on the run
Just remember that old saying
'Bout the round hole and square peg
And put out the fire
Call in the dogs
Head it on back to Bowleg
- From "Bowleg" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

I'm stepping down as Chair of the OAUG Fusion Council. It's part of my effort to simplify life so I can focus on getting some health issues related to the diabetes thing under control. The Fusion Council won't be rid of me, because I plan to continue as a Council member. Nor do I plan to stop blogging about Oracle Fusion, the E-Business Suite, or things related (some just barely) to either subject. It's just that, in order to continue providing the highest level of value to OAUG members and the general Oracle user community, the Council needs a focused leader...and my focus for the next few months will be elsewhere.

Once I have things under control, I'll renew my engagement with OAUG leadership in the manner that makes the most sense. But for now, I have to step back from a few things and focus on personal matters. Time to head it on back to Bowleg.

We have a very capable person stepping in to take my place as Chair, but that's not my news to share. Watch OAUG's website for news on the change in leadership for the Fusion Council.

We now continue with your regularly scheduled programming...

Doing Things Right

Taking it all the right way
Keeping it in the back
Taking it all the right way
Never no turning back
-- From David Bowie's "Right"

You probably know by now that one of Oracle's thought leaders behind Fusion Applications, Jesper Andersen, recently left Oracle to take on a new challenge with Cisco. Nice guy. Also very astute. I'll miss him. But change is the the nature of this business. There's plenty of buzz about this on the newswires and other blogs...no need to rehash things here.

Given the news of the day, it seems like a good time for me to point out two very important things I think Oracle is doing right in developing Fusion Applications. Both of these points were really brought home to me during my visit to Oracle HQ last week.

First, it seems to me that Fusion Apps development is a quality-driven project. Those of you with a background in project management may recall the three constraints of the "Iron Triangle" that determine project scope: schedule, cost and quality. Most software projects are driven by schedule; in the applications software space, the market usually rewards the competitor who is first to release. With Fusion Apps, however, product quality seems to be the driving factor and the highest priority that I continually hear about from the people building the apps...even if achieving acceptable quality means some elements of the development effort take longer than originally planned. Those customers and users who have suffered through the pain of early software releases can appreciate this approach.

Second, the Fusion Applications team is very quietly collaborating with customer advisory groups, user groups and narrowly-focused design validation sessions. The development teams are sharing ideas and gathering feedback, then conducting "show and tell" sessions with those same groups to collect additional feedback. While this is not a new approach in the world of software development, it does seem like a pretty smart way to zero in on customer needs and requirements.

So, that's my experience with Fusion Applications development and how I see things today. Agree? Have a different opinion? Let me know via the comments.

Posted with LifeCast