Enhanced Profitability, Vertical Sector Focus, New SMB Initiatives Top the Agenda for Largest-Ever Reseller Meeting
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Oracle Middle East and Africa today hosted its largest-ever regional reseller gathering, the second annual Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Day, with more than 700 attendees from 50 countries registered to take part.
Chief on the agenda were strategies that enable Oracle partners throughout the region to increase their profitability in the next twelve months, whether by strengthening their vertical sector focus, responding to emerging demand in the mid-market, or scaling up with new technologies such as RFID (radio frequency identification).
"With more than 50 percent of our EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) revenue coming through channel partners, it's vital that Oracle's regional partners have the tools and incentives they need to identify new opportunities quickly and increase market share," said Stein Surlien, Vice President, Channels & Alliances, Oracle EMEA. "Not only does this OPN Day enable our global partners to engage with the regional channel community, it also provides clear strategic direction on the benefits that Oracle is delivering to its partners across the board."
In addition to keynotes by Surlien and Husam Dajani, Oracle Vice President for Middle East & Africa, the OPN event featured a panel discussion on the emergence of grid computing, with commentary from platinum sponsors AMD and Sun Microsystems. More than 24 individual update sessions across four focus tracks, in areas ranging from engagement for new partners to sales and implementation techniques by product and industry verticals, rounded out the agenda.
"While OPN provides a key training and networking opportunity for our channel, it also affords Oracle the opportunity to brief partners about business opportunities," said Dajani. "Because the Middle East and Africa region is so large and diverse, the channel acts as our eyes and ears across the market, and partners require a regular update about all of the resources that Oracle is offering to help them convert opportunities into sales."
To complement the solution tracks and one-to-one meetings with Oracle executives, attendees at OPN Day also attended a number of solution demonstrations from premier sponsors Acer, IBM and Intermec and had the opportunity to meet with representatives from Printronix and Tech Data, OPN Day's gold sponsors.
Oracle Boosts Mid-Range Offerings, Supply Chain Management Community
Among the new programmes unveiled for the Oracle channel community is OPN Access, an initiative aimed at organizations wishing to target small and medium-sized companies with Oracle's entry-level database and application server offerings.
For a special enrollment fee of US$300, these organizations can join the Oracle PartnerNetwork initiative through OPN Access and enjoy all the tools and resources needed to resell the Oracle Standard Edition One family of products, including Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition One and Oracle Application Server 10g Standard Edition One. Companies signing on will receive streamlined OPN enrollment, resources and benefits for maximum selling effectiveness, online product training and demand generation and marketing awareness.
"We're seeing an increasing number of smaller and mid-sized businesses in the Middle East and Africa that want the same level of performance and reliability as our largest enterprise customers," said Surlien. "OPN Access provides a straightforward way for regional partners to capitalize on this emerging segment.
OPN Access, a membership level dedicated to companies marketing their solutions "exclusively in the SME space", complements OPN Quickstart, an initiative for partners in Europe, Middle East and Africa who want to discover the full potential of working with Oracle.
Systems integrators (SIs) attending OPN Day also heard firsthand about the launch of Oracle's latest professional community aimed at SIs focusing on supply chain management (SCM) implementations. This initiative is an external forum where integrators can leverage shared intelligence, drive best practice and increase innovation. The new professional programme builds on the success of similar initiatives for the technology and healthcare communities, who have already enjoyed web seminars, bi-annual conferences, industry training session and regular newsletters.
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About Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork is a global business network of over 14, 000 companies that deliver innovative enterprise software solutions based on Oracle software. Through access to Oracle's premier products, education, technical services, marketing and sales support, the Oracle PartnerNetwork program provides partners with the resources they need to be successful in today's global economy. Oracle partners are able to offer customers leading-edge solutions backed by Oracle's position as the world's largest enterprise software company. Partners who are able to demonstrate superior product knowledge, technical expertise and a commitment to doing business with Oracle qualify for the Oracle Certified Partner levels. http://oraclepartnernetwork.oracle.com
For more information, please contact:
Ali Eltahtawi
Oracle Middle East
Tel: +9714 390 9000
E-mail: ali.eltahtawi@oracle.com
Website: http://www.oracle.com.
© Press Release 2005
