The Oracle Solutions Fair took place on January 29. As we were headlong into what was projected to be a very long-term recession, the question in both the customer’s and vendor‘s mind was: Why should I spend money or resources on Oracle products?

Mark Stevens, Vice President of Industry Strategy & Insight from Oracle, gave an excellent opening presentation, Building the Business Case for the New Technology Stack, arguing on that very subject. Several well-documented studies have made compelling arguments about the importance of making the right investment decisions during a recession (e.g., cash investments vs. cash hoarding and IT budget cuts vs.other departmental cuts).

Stevens indicated that the longer a recession lasts, the greater the post-recession growth prospects – and companies that invest during the recession are far better positioned to take advantage of that growth…a ray of hope during these dark financial times. Stevens cited Wal-Mart, Abbott Laboratories, Walgreens and Arrow Electronics as companies that are continuing to invest and execute growth strategies as we move deeper into recession, which should serve them very well when we come out on the other side.

Synch-Solutions reps attending the event looked at the following Oracle solutions:
Identity Management – a security manager to control all application security
Business Intelligence – the collected information from a data warehouse that enables informed decision-making
SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) – Web-enabled connections creating a kind of 21st-century EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
Beehive – a collaborative software similar to the Facebook model

Any organization considering these products must answer to the question: How can these products help our business? In order to answer this question properly, the organization must first answer another question: How do we want to achieve our business goals?

In general, the application of technology as a speculative investment, rather than a strategic investment as part of a unified overall plan, produces the same results as a bad stock pick. Case in point: there are no mass-produced 5-wheeled cars out there, or GPS wedding rings!

But an investment in technology that improves a task, fulfills a goal or rolls up to a mission statement is a wise choice in any economic climate.

You just have to hear it to appreciate the intensity of his conviction regarding the need for change in how information technology is managed in higher education!  Here is the link to listen to Adrian’s presentation – 73 minutes of transformative and energizing thinking about what the future can hold for institutions that embrace change!  Adrian paints a clear vision of the path that can lead to enhanced learning and educational value through a restructuring of the technology environment – in keeping with a strategy that separates “the core” from “the context.” 

Much more cost effective strategies exist today for maintaining “the context,” – meaning the software applications that have become mere commodities that are essential but not differentiating – than are currently being utilized by the majority of universities.  When they are employed, budgets can be reallocated to take advantage of the host of “core” technologies that facilitate collaboration, informed decision-making for stakeholders, and learning…with the agility to embrace the new and upgraded technologies as they continue to emerge onto the scene.