Trends Report

Oracle Is Buffeted By Headwinds — Are You Prepared?

New Headwinds For Oracle May Present Negotiation Opportunity For Software Buyers

October 31st, 2013
Mark Bartrick, Principal Consultant
Mark Bartrick Principal Consultant
With contributors:
Christopher Andrews , Andrew Bartels , Duncan Jones , Ben Jennings

Summary

As Larry Ellison's Oracle sailing team just won the 2013 America's Cup, it seemed timely to revisit the positioning of Oracle — the company — as it faces sea changes in the software environment. For many years, Oracle enjoyed fair-weather sailing, growing quickly to become one of the largest software companies in the world. Oracle software now helps power many of the world's biggest businesses and Oracle enjoys annual revenues of some $37 billion. But the software market has changed in the last few years, and Oracle is starting to face some challenging new headwinds. Disappointing financial results, burgeoning third-party support offerings, the advent of SAP's HANA DB, and a long-delayed Fusion strategy could be the perfect storm that takes the wind out of Oracle's sails. This report examines these changes to see what they might mean for Oracle's customers. We also examine what actions savvy software buyers are taking to adapt to Oracle's changing market position.

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