From the Top


 
From the Top
- Executive to Executive -

Oracle prowess in database management is well known. Managing customer relationships means managing and coordinating large amounts of customer data. Learn how John Wookey, Oracle's number one person in charge of CRM, plans to leverage that database experience into a growing array of business applications.

John Wookey, SVP of CRM Development for Oracle


 
RealMarket: You talk with CEOs from leading companies. What do they see as the top issues or opportunities facing CRM today?
 
Wookey: There are a couple of things happening. We have a very strong view that the effect of Internet architectures is just now getting traction in CRM. There is a real transformation on how corporations are using information and how this will change core business processes. CEOs are talking about increasing efficiencies during these economically challenging times but there is increased discussion about top line growth. There is focus around blending customer service applications with customer selling applications. This is a part of our eBusiness Suite strategy that we talk about. Information is not locked into just one application. The ability to leverage what has happened in service to more effectively sell more products and services is becoming more important.
 
Also, there is increased thinking about how organizations manage their network of relationships. Partners, customers and employees are all a part of an organization’s information strategies.
 
RealMarket: Tell me more about how you view partner management.
 
Wookey: Corporations are talking about how to work more effectively with partners and integrate third party distribution models. Partner management used to be thought of as something separate from the rest of CRM. We’ve been doing something different. Our real focus is ensuring that the partner is another dimension in everything the company does including marketing campaigns, lead and opportunity management, proposal generation, fulfillment, order management and service. It’s about architecting business flows that take into account the importance of all aspects of the business.
 
RealMarket: What industries have you seen successfully address that issue?
 
"In some ways Oracle is no more a newcomer to CRM than CRM is a newcomer to the application space in general."

 
 
Wookey: If you look at high tech manufacturing, more than 50% of the revenue might come through the channel so it is a make or break proposition. At Oracle, more than 30% of our database revenue comes through or is influenced by a third party partner. In health care, selling health plans is typically done through a third party broker. Organizations need to understand the relationship between the broker, the employer and the member. It’s about understanding a complex network of relationships and it’s critical to have the right architectures in place to model those relationships.
 
RealMarket: Oracle is a relative newcomer to CRM. What percent of today’s application business is CRM and how do you see that changing in the future?
 
Wookey: I don’t want to destroy the CRM acronym but it is an artificial barrier in our mind. Especially when you think about CRM versus ERP. For instance, how do you categorize the collections process? It is often thought of as an ERP application, but is, in many ways, a service relationship. Customer information includes the financial relationship, the selling relationship, the contractual relationship - all those things affect CRM. So is it CRM, ERP or does it really make sense to try and fit it into an artificial category? It’s business and that’s all people care about.
 
But to answer I don’t consider Oracle a newcomer to “CRM”. We are now seeing the effect of CRM on Oracle’s business. A greater percentage is coming from CRM. We don’t break it down for the reasons I mentioned above but we are seeing it increase - sales, marketing, service, contracts, e-commerce, etc. We’ve had service applications for four years and sales compensation for almost five years. In some ways Oracle is no more a newcomer to CRM than CRM is a newcomer to the application space in general.
 
RealMarket: Oracle has been a big advocate of a single database strategy for all customer information. Is that realistic?
 
Wookey: Organizations running lots of applications on lots of databases is actually good for Oracle financially because people buy more database licenses - assuming they buy their databases from Oracle. But from a business management perspective it is difficult to have data in many different databases and it decreases an organization’s ability to fully utilize their information sources. We think there is a huge advantage to moving to more of an integrated information model on a common set of tools and technologies.
 
Many times, people can’t migrate to a single instance of customer information or can’t do it in a short period of time due to commitments to legacy applications and technologies. But a completely integrated information model and business flow makes the applications and the companies more successful. We think about how collections links into financials into service into contracts, and so on. We’ve tried to build the whole model even if you only use a module. We’ve tried to push the idea that integrated information models are more efficient and cost effective but we’ve put that within a business model that recognizes the heterogeneous nature of most organizations.
 
RealMarket: In a crowded market, how does Oracle differentiate itself in the world of CRM?
 
Wookey: There a lot of companies focused on particular areas of CRM. We are focused on a much broader solution set including everything from HR to supply chain to manufacturing to sales, service, marketing and contracts, etc. - all sitting on a single technology architecture.
 
The other way we differentiate ourselves is the fact that we recognize that industries are going through some profound transitions and they will continue to do that over the next few years. Health care will see fundamental changes as will the financial services industry, life sciences, consumer, an many others. Our ability to allow organizations to transform themselves more readily is a primary focus for us. The combination of an integrated information model and a single, integrated technology stack will allow organizations to transform more readily and more quickly.
 
RealMarket: While Oracle has a broad range of applications, many analysts believe that no one vendor can provide an entire CRM solution set. Do you agree?
 
Wookey: I believe it depends on the industry. Every industry has a certain amount of unique requirements. In certain industries we are very complete. For instance, there are many unique requirements in telecommunications and we are making the right investments to tailor our solutions to those specific needs. Other areas like health care and banking will not have solution breadth totally from Oracle. Solution completeness will come in conjunction with our partners.
 
"We think there is a huge advantage to moving to more of an integrated information model on a common set of tools and technologies."

 
 
RealMarket: Tell us more about Oracle’s roadmap to providing better ROI and a more complete solution offering.
 
Wookey: At this point, we are pretty broad in terms of functionality. So there will be more investments in the multi-channel distribution and service models. This is something that is not well automated today but is really needed. We think wireless technology is important and must address applicable rollout spectrums from around the world. We have a whole division developing a unified application tool set that then can be applied to various wireless devices.
 
Aside from the obvious areas of functionality, we are very focused on working out complete business flows that are easy to use and implement. We offer a rapid deployment model with implementation templates like Fast Forward business flows that allow people to do CRM in 90 days with fixed pricing. Their ROI is much improved because they are using defined business flows.
 
RealMarket: Do you have examples of rapid CRM deployment that you can share?
 
Wookey: One that just went across my desk was a sales and marketing implementation with the public telecommunications provider in Greece. They completed a full CRM deployment in less than 90 days utilizing 330 man-days. Implementation included marketing, telesales, order capture, scripting, reporting, etc. It’s the most recent example of a broad range of CRM solutions implemented for quick ROI.
 
RealMarket: For people that want to deploy quickly but don’t have all the resources, what else do you suggest?
 
Wookey: We now offer online services as an alternative to the traditional deployed on-site model. Companies can run the applications on their site but use Oracle for the DBA type of activities. Besides speed of implementation this can lead to lower total cost of ownership.
 
RealMarket: There has been quite a bit of press in the last year about CRM failure rates. How do you balance delivery versus expectations?
 
Wookey: Technology enables success. One of the reasons that we have been so focused on business flows is because we realize technology is merely the enabler. Starting a few years ago, we first piloted a focus on implementation success with the financial industry. We found the focus on things like our iSpeed Setup that asks human language questions that then creates a script automating the set up. CRM failures happen because they are not started correctly. We allow people to get off on the right foot and quickly get into high value efforts.
 
RealMarket: Looking to the future, what is the biggest change you see on the CRM horizon?
 
Wookey: A lot of it is going to be around the business flows. I think more and more people are looking for the full flow rather than narrow applications. That’s why you see larger application providers like SAP and PeopleSoft more focused on CRM.
 
I think the other thing is the focus on speed of deployment and ROI. It’s about linking all aspects of the customer. Organizations need to bring more real customer information in an integrated fashion so that organizations can effectively integrate the entire business flow. I think that is the big change - integrated information around the customer.
 
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