PAB Meeting 22nd September 2010
Minutes
AGENDA
•Welcome•New members introduction
•Business update A&C Global/ A&C EMEA
•Update on Sun
•Update on OPN Specialized
•Update on ISV
•Update on Communications
PAB going forward
Two year plans to be presented by selected countries
Thoughts around EMEA PAB going forward/discussions
•
ATTENDEES
Tracey Dunlop, Alexey Golosov, Lars Älvesand, Jack Van Ejik, Patrice Viemont, Baros Oztok, Peter Stenz, Stein Surlien, Mark Robinson, Penny Philpot, Judson Althoff, Sylvie Michou, Mona Paulsen Daae, Stuart Brinicombe, Susan Ferguson
Discussion / Welcome/ introducing new members
conclution/feedback / Mark highlighted how over the past 18 months the local and EMEA PABs had built up on the foundation created by Alexey and Stein.
In terms of mapping against the original stated objectives of the PAB the team has ‘acted as an influencer’ (e.g. through input to Specialized programme and more recently on ISVs) and would continue to do so and with the new process of discussing items consistently at local level and then taking consolidated feedback to EMEA level had given a ‘voice to provide local issue escalation’ at senior level. In terms of ‘improved partner experience’ it had provided input to the communications strategy and the ISV strategy and there had been great feedback on the impact of this work from other partners. Also, hoped to do the same around the SUN integration. Mark also noted that we certainly felt we are being listened to at a senior level in Oracle and once again thanked the support from Oracle team present. He also noted that it was important that we continue to see a ‘cause and effect’ link between the feedback we pass on from local PABs to through the EMEA PAB and Oracle’s reactions to this feedback. He thanked Penny and Stuart for the way in which they had embraced this and made tangible impact on the partner community.
As Oracle continues to acquire the PAB has evolved and it was good to see the composition of local PABs changing to reflect the new balance of partners and partner types as well as new local leaders (including Tracey, Patrice, Lars and Baris), with additional countries coming along including Italy who had provided input to this meeting too. Mark commented that the quality of input from the team this time was excellent and was grateful for the renewed vigor from all the team.
Action / Responsible / due by
Discussion / Business Update: take feedback to engineer what we do! Constantly looking at efficiency and looking to improve. (e.g. OPN Specialized) Good progress on all initiatives, especially ISV’s.
There is a need to bring challenges from Countries.
conclution/feedback / Rationale Message: momentum around OPN Specialized, challenging in beginning (system issues/data issues) but now getting there! Monitoring on a weekly basis. Adoption of Specialization (200 specialized 2000 in queue ready to specialize. Rationale for why we are doing this: investment to move partner base to an area of opportunity – Complimentary eco system. Align to where we are going in the business
Sun – Difficult changes, Sun was losing market share/customers. Adjustment to the business model, we are eliminating focus on products that are not profitable! Investing in areas where there are huge opportunities! (Oracle install base). We are eliminating support where partners do not bring value.
ISV (EMBEDDED) Uncovered areas of portfolio, educate sales teams on how to work with different entities. Create internal solution catalogue that show the partners that have embedded their business on Oracle
Action / Responsible / due by
Consultative how to talk to partners glass half full/half empty (in terms of some huge opportunities and takeaways) / PAB / Nov 1st
JAVA, 10 million java developers today, worried about future of java, monitoring media data (blue-ray). How to stimulate the content of JAVA? We want to invest in JAVA and to continue to stimulate to growth. PAB to feedback on what they are seeing in the market / PAB / Nov 1st
discussion / SUN
A period of great change for Sun – Re-engineering. Come a long way together. OPN Transition – moving hw partner program to Oracle: 15th Oct. Other changes – VAD/VAR process, ramping up HW/SW VAD’s. Organization – HW partner
A consolidated set of questions/ comments were discussed with Susan (see meeting slides for details). Concerns included those about Oracle/ HP relationship, evolution of Mysql, need to speed integration (particularly in Nordic and Turkey), 3rd party support agreements now going direct to Oracle, whether the changes to support contracts were legal in Russia and account management on largest accounts.
conclution/feedback / OMM will be implemented for HW business – replace referral fee.
Not possible to change proposed contract changes for 3rd party support for SUN, where partner clearly adding value then Oracle will let them lead account management.
Action / Responsible / Due by
Feedback on alignment in HW/SW channel being seen by partners / PAB / asap
Continue to feedback local view of integration of SUN to Susan
Feedback on thoughts on Java direction / PAB
PAB / Next PAB meeting
asap
Services have been aligned to Oracle standards, however want feedback on what Oracle can do – like:
Are we reacting quickly enough on the discount approval?
Are we meeting the discount levels?
HW Refresh – risk of missing business opportunities from install base if not visible to partners. Feedback required from VAD’s
PAB to give feedback on what is the risk of first line support change , especially on the field delivery side
Support starts from shipment day – This can be a legal problem (Russia)
Need to investigate the problem country by country on the start of support payment. (drop- ship capacity) address on an exception basis /
Susan F.
Discussion / Specialized: PAB appreciated way in which Penny had taken on board input from PAB. Feedback from all local PABs was that Specialized rollout had gone very well from a partner perspective especially give the scale of the changes. Majority of early issues now resolved. Feedback was that still needed greater awareness within Oracle sales force and with clients.
conclution/feedback / FY10 all about implementation - FY 11 All about value
Looking to develop the program! The program has taken the partners to a higher level! Main focus is to get all in, get SUN partners in, making sure platinum partners are correct in terms of level, 52% of platinum partners are from EMEA. Currently 50 specialization available, Partner business center 200 individuals: making sure partners are renewing/recruiting. Focus on specialization + support embedded business
ACTion / Responsible / Due by
OMM rejects because of not specialized in apps business (UK) / Penny/Colette / Asap
Continue to gather local feedback on Specialized rollout and feedback to Penny and team regularly. / All PAB / Next PAB
discussion / ISV – ISV slides attached
The EMEA PAB recognized the huge amount of work that Stuart had completed since Dubai. Many of the local PABs had reported that they had started specific initiatives in locally countries for ISVs to help them discuss issues with relevant Oracle leadership. The Italian PAB for instance was created with ISVs only as members and Stuart was working closely with them. All reported that big improvements being made with respect to ISVs. Oracleisvinsight.com was website where a lot of collateral was now placed.
Action / Responsible / Due by
Continue to feedback regularly on ISV issues locally to Stuart / All PAB / Next PAB
Discussion / Communication
conclution/feedback / OPN Specialized marketing, 4 initiatives launched. 1. In country breakfast meetings to deliver OPN Specialized value proposition 2.Montlhy certification promotion by solution area (3 certification vouchers to partners 3. Internal initiative to raise awareness and engagement in sales force (award) 4. Drive OPN S. messaging as part of field marketing initiatives
Internal initiative – consolidated list of key partners. Call out campaign to these, define key people to better be able to communicate to right persons with right content – (Transition from broad comms to targeted comms)
Action / Responsible / Due by
Communicate through interest groups/communities / Paul T/Stein
PBC – can do reports on questions asked , and then communicate out of this / Penny/PBC
Table of content of communication channels and where available / Sylvie
Identify partner traffic on OPN Portal / Sylvie
Do survey in the Partner community – pop-up’s and Oracle Global Survey / Sylvie
Discussion / PAB Going forward
Stein: Partners are a part of the GTM strategy. Oracle is a Product strategy oriented company. Excel on opportunities! Decided to go with Specialized partners. From PAB – we need to get open and honest feedback, to let us know if we are doing the right things. Your voice is Key!
Oracle can share with you on our “pains”. PAB must be a value for you as partner/individuals. PAB is a building block for the future strategy. PAB to be a Live community!(social media community)
Each country provided feedback based on ‘standard’ set of slide questions. In summary, common themes from each local PAB were:
- All local PABs had been recently reorganized to have a full complement of different partner types. However, can be not as interesting if certain topics only relevant to one or two types of partner and in addition may be difficult to discuss certain issues in depth if not enough of the specific type of partner the issue being discussed impacts.
- The level of seniority of attendees at local boards and the commitment of local Oracle senior management was excellent.
- Changes that had been made to local leadership at PABs had been seen as positive. Regular re-fresh of membership was seen as strengthening the local PAB and EMEA PAB.
- Need better linkage to local user groups to get better ‘feel’ for what are issues in the wider Oracle partner population.
- Need a survey to understand what issues are generally so can help raise at local and EMEA PABs and been see to be representative of all partners – how can we make this happen?
- Feel local voice is being heard by process of discussing same issues locally and then bringing to EMEA forum.
conclution/feedback / Mix of partners -> only one partner type represented at PAB - > difficult to go deep into discussion. Create focused Working groups?
Work on link with Oracle User Group /larger eco systems (UK already doing)
Survey competence in local PAB to share within PAB community
Bring in competence from Oracle/analyst etc in the meetings
Need to make sure a good balance of Oracle/Partner initiative to the agenda, (UK model: 3 topics on agenda: 1 EMEA 2. Partner, 3 Oracle)
Utilize Social media to be interactive in between meetings (Nordics started)
Time from members – PAB members to have the drive and engagement to prioritize the work
Action / responsible / due by
Italy/Swiss- PAB to be aligned / Johan/ Eric Fontaine
Agenda setting
More advisor not assessment in the PAB
Clearly identify what we want with the local board
Do a communication on what communication is available and where
Mechanism in form of survey
Issues of having a diverse group of people – consider having working groups in particular countries / Local PAB leader / next EMA PAB
Discussion / Summary/ closing remarks: Really encouraging that existing PAB leaders and new PAB leaders had put so much effort into preparing for meeting. Very positive for the future. We have a great base built by Alexey and Stein and with refreshed local team membership we can build on this base.
By everyone presenting about their local PAB issues and objectives to the rest of the PAB members it was apparent to all that we have a common set of issues regardless of which country/ region we are representing. The common feedback what appreciating this fact was useful to us all.
conclution/feedback / The objectives in place for the PAB still hold for the PAB going forward.
We need to be part of the process of shaping partner strategy. We now need to get Oracle to put a more formal process in place for consultation with the PAB as a step in developing new initiatives before they are made public. That way the PAB is clearly adding value to the process, influencing Oracle and can do so in a timely manner,
We will continue to provide input to Oracle on key issues affecting partners on a regular basis. At the moment these are ISVs, Communication, SUN integration and Specialized rollout. We will add new issues, but it is important that we continue to demonstrate to our local PABs and to the wider local partner base the ‘cause and effect’ link – i.e. an issue raised by a partner locally can be seen to be escalated at a senior level in Oracle using the PAB structure and then ensure that this partner(s) are given feedback on how that issue is being dealt with.
Profit is key for both Oracle and partners – but there is a balance to be made between partner who thinks that Oracle doesn’t reward them enough for their efforts and Oracle thinking that partner does not add enough value to be rewarded at a specific level. Over the next 24 months the PAB will try and discuss how this balance can be created to provide a win/win for both parties, to provide an equitable balance.
We can also discuss how the PAB can help to make ‘COMPLETE’ a reality.
We will look to bring together PABs into one model (including Italy, Spain and Switzerland). We will also assist other PABs which will be formed (e.g. Japan and US).
We appreciate that PAB members are not just representing their companies but the wide Oracle partner base as a whole. We should look at local links to user groups, other specialist partner groups and through surveys to find out more about the issues facing partners in our local region. This is the only way that we can be representing them effectively. It is important that over the next 24 months the PAB is seen with both partners and within Oracle to be ‘making a difference’.
Action / responsible / due by
We would like to see that the PAB is more formally adopted into the Alliance and Channel process – i.e. that when any new idea/ programme is discussed within Oracle that there is a formal process step in Oracle Alliance and Channels that ‘mandates’ a consultation with the PAB. / Stein
We need to look at ways of publicizing the work of the PAB and its members. We need to set up some more communication to the wider partner base to feedback the ‘cause and effect’. / PAB/ Sylvie