Oracle users let down on Fusion and hardware best practice

Oracle users are in a conundrum, according to UK Oracle User Group (UKOUG) chairman Debra Lilley. Many customers need help navigating the firm’s growing portfolio but can no longer attend user group events for advice because businesses are clamping down on the time employees spend out of the office. 

Lilley, who became UKOUG chairman in March, spoke to V3.co.uk about how developers are often bewildered by the size of the technology stack now owned by the acquisition-hungry Oracle.

“Oracle keeps acquiring companies, and customers are keen to know how best to navigate Oracle and understand all its different offerings,” said Lilley.

Oracle has improved its support service to make it easier for customers to use, but product advice still needs to be more accessible, she said.

Customers have many questions relating to the launch of Oracle Fusion applications, she said, adding that they "mainly want to know whether they should upgrade or wait for the new set of applications".

Oracle planned to put Fusion on sale in March but delayed the launch, apart from an early adopter programme for selected customers. The company has not given customers a reason for the Fusion delay, but Lilley has faith that the launch will be imminent.

“I don’t think the delay signals a problem with the product. I think they just want early customers to be live when the product goes on sale to the wider market,” she said.

“It’s not that lots of businesses are waiting to buy Fusion, but there is a quite a bit of interest in it.”

The Fusion suite ties together the most important product portfolios Oracle has acquired in recent years, and makes them available via the cloud or on-premise. It contains a mix of replacement applications for current products and brand new applications that can be integrated with E-Business suite, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel.

Lilley suggested that some customers are using the delayed launch of Fusion as an excuse not to upgrade from software such as E-Business Suite 11.5 to E-Business Suite 12, but she warned customers to upgrade soon because the 11.5 version is far too old.

"Customers are unlikely to move everything to Fusion when the applications become available anyway," she noted.

Most Oracle customers will take advantage of Oracle’s 'co-existence' strategy and run certain modules of Fusion applications alongside existing Oracle investments, according to Lilley.