Oracle's earnings soar

December 20, 2007 from ComputerWorld – “Robust software sales pushed Oracle Corp.'s second-quarter net income up 35% compared with the same period last year, to $1.3 billion (U.S.), or 25 cents per share, the company said Wednesday. Total revenue grew by 28% to $5.3 billion, Oracle said…

CEO Larry Ellison added that Oracle is finding new business by targeting vertical industries that may not be using packaged software like the kind Oracle sells. "Some of these verticals are almost green fields in terms of modern software," he said. The company's president, Charles Phillips, echoed Ellison. "We think we're very early on in this strategy," he said. "We're still selling in the verticals who are building applications. We're trying to convince them to buy packaged applications."

180 View – Good move by Oracle in targeting the verticals. But how do you take an already complex software system, add more functionality and create something that will not be too onerous to implement? As well, verticals require more than just software; the implementation team also requires industry expertise.