Oracle Offering CTO In A Box

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 yesterday's 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."

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