Putting more muscle at the point of revenue, Oracle is supplying
its largest customers with "client architects" to advise CIOs "on
how to shape their architectures in concert with Oracle's
investments," says company president Charles Phillips. He added
that these technical advisors "essentially serve as dedicated CTOs
for our large customers."
In a recent quarterly earnings call, while CEO Larry Ellison
focused intensely on Exadata's explosive growth, Phillips centered
on the human element and said the client architects are an example
of Oracle's broader effort to engage more deeply with major
customers.
"What I'm seeing in the field now is we have many more touchpoints
with our accounts, so our visibility into and understanding of
customer requirements has significantly improved," Phillips said.
"And now, almost any decision they make in the data center could
involve Oracle, so we have deployed a cadre of technical advisors
that we call 'client architects' that essentially act as dedicated
CTOs for our large customers who want to stay tightly aligned with
Oracle strategy.
"And these client architects have become more in demand as we've
become more important to our customers—they advise these CIOs
and advise them on how to shape their architectures in concert with
Oracle's investments."
One result of this CTO-in-a-box strategy has been an increase in
the volume of cross-sells Oracle is able to make, Phillips
said.
"We're improving the attach-rate on deals to drag along multiple
products up and down the stack and we should continue to get better
as the products get more integrated."