User group to Oracle: Spell out how you use your own technology

Computerworld UK - Customers want to hear more about how Oracle uses its own technology, according to Debra Lilley, president of the UK Oracle User Group (UKOUG).

In Oracle CIO Mark Sunday's opening keynote at the UKOUG Conference in Birmingham yesterday, he gave examples of how the IT giant had used its own technology to transform its business to become more efficient and agile.

"It was good that Oracle could tell their story based on what it did themselves. We want more of the same. Show us how you're using the technology and do more of it," Lilley said.

Lilley, who has been closely involved with the development of Fusion Applications, was particularly interested in Oracle's revelation that it had implemented the new software in full in one of its undisclosed subsidiaries.

"They are very good about eating their own dog food. People are interested in that. They can see how it's being used and it gives them a use case for their company," she said.

However, she would like Oracle to provide more detailed case studies: "It would be nice to drill down a bit more to practitioner level. It would be great to hear how they built [paid customer support portal] My Oracle Support, for example."

Lilley was keen to emphsasise the sense of community in the user group and to rebut suggestions that user group OakTable network - made up of Oracle expert users - was "elitist".

The UKOUG brought back the 'OakTable Challenge' to its conference this year, which is an opportunity for conference attendees to ask members of the OakTable network any technical, Oracle-related question they want answering.

"They're not elitist. They're just people who love what they do," she said.