5 ms·

Lol I have never heard of a single happy customer of Oracle. How do they stay in business? Is it just about finding new people to scam every year?

automatic6131 3y ago
>How do they stay in business? Oracle's main line of competency is not providing good software services. They are in fact, specialists of acquiring government contracts.
doctor_eval 3y ago
I did a proposal for a very large city council in Australia some years ago. We were a little upstart company with an idea that fitted nicely with councils priorities. Long story short, they loved the proposal but they were quite clear that unless we “partnered” with a company like IBM, we had no chance. The reasoning I was given was that they needed a company that was big enough to be able to accept liability for failure. In other words, someone they could theoretically sue. It was one of the most depressing meetings I’ve ever attended.
- phonon 3y ago
  Did you show them your company's Errors & Omissions (E&O)/Professional Liability policy? If your limits are high enough, some customers would find that acceptable.
  - doctor_eval 3y ago
    Haha, no, they were quite explicit that we had to partner with a brand name. It was entirely political. Probably good that we didn’t get it, in hindsight.
Tabular-Iceberg 3y ago
It’s really only us tech nerds who actually see through the scam. When you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re spending other people’s money, the greater the cost and complexity the greater your accomplishment looks.
- arethuza 3y ago
  If I had to guess I doubt if this was actually Oracle's fault - sounds like implementation problems not problems with software itself?
  - mjburgess 3y ago
    When you hire a company like oracle to create you a business system, they already know that their job is primarily to characterise your existing processes, suggest new ones, document existing ones -- to very high levels of detail. Then the job is to provide an IT system. They know, very very well, that if they screw up the first part, the second part will be undeliverable. Of course, a local council would not know this. So the blame is entirely on them. That's the job they bid for. They may be cynically doing a bad job on the first part, convincing the local gov that it's their fault, then exploiting that for more time/money. This seems highly likely. A newer tech consultancy might not realise that this is the biz they are in; oracle do. You job is business process consultancy using IT.
    - arethuza 3y ago
      Oracle weren't doing the implementation in this case?
      - captaincaveman 3y ago
        Probably not, more often than not you get a KPMG/Accenture or some one equally useless.
    - mateo1 3y ago
      That's on point. I've witnessed a similar transition within a company, and every time they tell you "automate X" and you ask "Define X", you get a wrong answer. Even basic calculations are often done incorrectly or with hidden and inconsistent assumptions. I was always too focused on detail to do what others did in my position: somehow deliver a number they like and stop asking difficult questions.
- 3y ago

automatic6131 3y ago

>How do they stay in business? Oracle's main line of competency is not providing good software services. They are in fact, specialists of acquiring government contracts.

doctor_eval 3y ago

I did a proposal for a very large city council in Australia some years ago. We were a little upstart company with an idea that fitted nicely with councils priorities. Long story short, they loved the proposal but they were quite clear that unless we “partnered” with a company like IBM, we had no chance. The reasoning I was given was that they needed a company that was big enough to be able to accept liability for failure. In other words, someone they could theoretically sue. It was one of the most depressing meetings I’ve ever attended.

phonon 3y ago
Did you show them your company's Errors & Omissions (E&O)/Professional Liability policy? If your limits are high enough, some customers would find that acceptable.
- doctor_eval 3y ago
  Haha, no, they were quite explicit that we had to partner with a brand name. It was entirely political. Probably good that we didn’t get it, in hindsight.

Tabular-Iceberg 3y ago

It’s really only us tech nerds who actually see through the scam. When you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re spending other people’s money, the greater the cost and complexity the greater your accomplishment looks.

arethuza 3y ago
If I had to guess I doubt if this was actually Oracle's fault - sounds like implementation problems not problems with software itself?
- mjburgess 3y ago
  When you hire a company like oracle to create you a business system, they already know that their job is primarily to characterise your existing processes, suggest new ones, document existing ones -- to very high levels of detail. Then the job is to provide an IT system. They know, very very well, that if they screw up the first part, the second part will be undeliverable. Of course, a local council would not know this. So the blame is entirely on them. That's the job they bid for. They may be cynically doing a bad job on the first part, convincing the local gov that it's their fault, then exploiting that for more time/money. This seems highly likely. A newer tech consultancy might not realise that this is the biz they are in; oracle do. You job is business process consultancy using IT.
  - arethuza 3y ago
    Oracle weren't doing the implementation in this case?
    - captaincaveman 3y ago
      Probably not, more often than not you get a KPMG/Accenture or some one equally useless.
  - mateo1 3y ago
    That's on point. I've witnessed a similar transition within a company, and every time they tell you "automate X" and you ask "Define X", you get a wrong answer. Even basic calculations are often done incorrectly or with hidden and inconsistent assumptions. I was always too focused on detail to do what others did in my position: somehow deliver a number they like and stop asking difficult questions.
3y ago