Unbelievably encouraging. A year and a half ago, it felt OK.  this is what Szygenda said when asked  - if you had to sum up Oracle's acquisition strategy in a word or two, what would you say?

General Motors spends billions of dollars annually on IT and considers Oracle one of its top vendors. Information Week has on interview with GM CIO Ralph Szygenda on Oracle and its acquisitions, below are some excerpts.

InformationWeek: What's your impression of Oracle's acquisition strategy?

Szygenda: Acquisitions are not always successful for the end customer. I like to see competition; I don't want a monopoly situation. Given that, I like companies doing acquisitions [if it means better integration of software]. If they don't do integration in the GM model, I pay systems integrators to do the work, and it costs money.

In the earlier days of Oracle buying PeopleSoft, there was a lot of consternation [among] CIOs. Some in this town [Detroit] were writing letters not supporting Oracle. I refused to do this. I believe I was right in this result. I have been unbelievably impressed by Oracle's acquisition strategy. I've been thrilled by the benefits I've received because of it.

InformationWeek: What do you think of Oracle's decision to continue to support multiple versions of acquired ERP software?

Szygenda: I sat down with [Phillips] early on and told him, "Don't immediately tell me I have to move to a new platform and change the world." They didn't mesh all these [acquired] companies overnight to get cost reductions; who came up with the idea not to do that, I'm not sure, but someone made some really good decisions. That says if I'm using PeopleSoft, Siebel ,or Hyperion, that No. 1, I will not be disadvantaged by an acquisition; and No. 2, they would extend [the acquired software] and make it better. I don't have a history of saying how wonderful IT companies are all the time, but I say every one of those products has gotten better for General Motors. You would think they would lose focus, but they didn't.

InformationWeek: What's your biggest concern about Oracle's acquisition strategy?

Szygenda: Whether there is continuity to this vision. All of a sudden, a few quarters Oracle doesn't meet numbers, which puts high pressure on cost containment, and then someone says, "This strategy isn't working and needs to change." So, is there continuity to this strategy? That's my question. It feels good, but will it feel good two years from now? I'm watching, and I will be all over Larry, [CFO and co-president] Safra [Catz], and Charles on continuity. I meet with them several times a year, and one day a year visit the headquarters. In those reviews I will be watching continuity. Are they sticking to their strategy, is it delivering what they want?

I have the same [requirements] for SAP and Microsoft. I look for continuity. If I'm trying to put in a two, three, or five year plan at GM, [I need a] commitment of products to do that.

Source: 1

Tags: cio - oracle - general+motors

Prashanth Rai