Oracle, Having Bet Billions on Its Future, Sets Sights on Data Analysis

Oracle, Having Bet Billions on Its Future, Sets Sights on Data Analysis

Oracle Corporation may well be the single most important technology firm for businesses. Over 300,000 companies around the world use its database, and 100,000 customers have purchased its business applications. Even companies gunning for Oracle — like Amazon, Google and Salesforce — have used Oracle’s technology.

 Why does that matter, though, in the world of cloud computing, and what will Oracle’s approach look like? Perhaps like a Google search, only for every business decision.

In a story I wrote, Thomas Kurian, who is building Oracle’s cloud, talked about how the company is deploying its $9.3 billion purchase of NetSuite through its little-known global network of 21 cloud computing centers. That is only the start of what Mr. Kurian has in mind.

Besides selling applications more efficiently, he said, Oracle has pooled a large amount of information derived from over 1,500 data providers. “Marketers and brands find this very powerful,” he said in an email, as Oracle targets “over 45,000 different dimensions (demographic, geography, online and offline behavior).”

In other words, what Google and Facebook know based on your online life, as well as what companies learn from your shopping habits, credit and warranty behavior, among other things. Oracle will also have data on what customers do after an ad campaign, so advertisers can check the outcome of a Google ad blitz.

Read full article by Quentin Hardy at New York Times>>