Analysis of Operations and Enterprise Management of Oracle Company - Case Study Example

Running head: Operations and Enterprise Management Name Course name Professors’ name Date Introduction This report covers five distinct elements of operations management in Oracle Corporation. Oracle came into being in 1977 at 500 Oracle Parkway, California, USA. It is a multinational computer Technology Company that specializes in development and marketing software products especially DBMS. 2009 statistics indicates that Oracle employed more than 100,000 employees and has subsequently expanded overtime through organic growth and acquisitions. In terms of software revenue, the company falls in the same category with Microsoft and IBM. It is important to note that operations management affects directly all stakeholders in an organization. The subsequent paragraph proceeds with an analysis of Oracle Company in relation to performance objectives such as cost, dependability, speed, flexibility, and quality. Quality This is the most important objective when carrying out operations in any company. It simply means a product’s conformity to its specifications1. Good quality products motivate the customer into enjoying more of that product and in the long run minimize complaint. Repetitive consumption of a product or service generates more revenue to the company. High level of conformance quality means that few mistakes are made. Cumulatively, costs are minimized; dependability increases whilst the speed of response increases. Oracle has realized that operation which perpetually corrects mistakes may not be in a position to respond quickly to customer requests. Oracle Corporation has ability to execute e-business solutions both in front and back offices operation. Quality at the company is illustrated by Oracle software that runs on personal computers, workstations, mainframe computers, massively parallel computers, and personal assistants. With the current transformation into e-business, Oracle’s Internet-enabled solutions provide a cost effective way for businesses to expand market opportunities and further improve business process efficiency. As a measure of efficiency, replacement of client server computing with the effectiveness and reach of the internet serves the purpose of generating innovative applications that could be accessed with a browser2. In a nutshell, Oracle Computer Company prides itself in providing: an internet-ready stand for constructing and employing web-based applications, an all-inclusive suit for internet enabled business applications, and professional services that can be used in setting up e-business strategy. Improved quality therefore attracts more customers while at the same time retain existing ones. Speed Speed relates to how fast a customer gets a feedback after placing a request for a product or service3. If the speed is improved, revenue to the company will automatically increase since customers will keep generating more business opportunities. Another important factor to note about speed in Oracle is the possibility of increasing price charged due to high speed of operation or rather service delivery. Internally, if the speed is increased, costs coupled with inventories and risks would decline. The speed of innovation at Oracle Company facilitates introduction of new products and services. These curbs obsolesce while improving its competitiveness in the fast moving technology industry. As a measure to cultivate innovativeness, Oracle has diverted 13% of its incomes to investigations and development. In a technology-based business, speed is of great importance as businesses compete both in Silicon Valley and abroad. Improved nature of Oracle cards sped up access to facilities and reduced risks associate with security4. Development of a single card that can be used by employees to access any company’s office tends to increase the speed of operations. It aids productivity especially for a technology company like Oracle where getting products to the market at a high speed is valuable. E-business suit brings about cost savings due to integrated Customer Relationship Management. Research indicates that oracle managed to save $11 million after consolidating databases, servers, and other infrastructure. Movement of sales, marketing, and support to the web increased the speed of customer service experience. In terms of sales, relocating cost of sales from field sales to Web had the effect of cutting cost of transactions by more than 50% after enhancement of speed. The cost of training customers subsequently reduced substantially to $2 down from $250. Dependability The term simply means delivering the product to customers on a timely basis5. Customers are always irritated by late delivery of a product or service after concluding payment transactions. Dependability is a good approach of determining whether a contract for suppliers is renewed. If suppliers are dependable, they will deliver products and services to the customers on a timely basis thus increase probability for a repeat business. Dependability also affects directly costs. This happens through an aspect of saving time, money or giving organization stability that will then re-shape its efficiency. It is vital to note that highly dependable systems can help increase speed of performance and overall revenue to the business. Oracle Corporation utilizes a proficient distribution channel in the international market. Presence of inside sales team that makes calls to potential clients increases efficiency of distribution channels. Business Development Executives plays a vital role in building new business by reporting prospective clients to onsite sales team. The intricate process of conducting sales explains a characteristic of dependability since a customer must demonstrate satisfaction before making a decision to buy a product or service. Normally, a pre-sales team gives a technical presentation and demonstration to the client and if the customer is satisfied, a Request for Information is sent by the customer to pre-sales team. What follows is a Request for Proposal sent to the client and if satisfaction is registered, work order and rates are generated. After the agreement is signed, transition team takes over to implement what has been placed on papers. This is a simplified distribution channel used by Oracle Corporation. There is evidence of dependability since operational agreements are signed by the two parties Flexibility Flexibility demonstrates ability to alter operation in a specific way. Flexibility can assume different forms such as product flexibility, mix flexibility, volume and delivery flexibility. All these flexibility affects the operations of a company. First, flexibility allows company operation to fit products and service to customers. This is termed as product flexibility. Oracle Corporation has diverse mix of services and products that a customer can choose from. The products include: application servers, collaboration suites, database intelligence and security, and e-business suit. They are classified under; database products, middleware products, application products, and other products. These entire products enables oracle meet specialized needs of clients. Through research and innovation, Oracle Company has managed to exercise product/ service flexibility by providing new products and services. Variety of Oracle branches located in different countries allows the firm implements volume and delivery flexibility. Databases, tools and application products in addition to consulting, training and support services offered in more than 145 countries is a clear illustration of volume and delivery flexibility. This kind of flexibility has allowed Oracle to deliver its products and services to many clients regardless of the location or time constraints. If flexibility is altered, speed of response, time and dependability would be affected. A highly flexible system improves the response speed, saves time and maintains dependability. Costs If a company operates under high quality, high speed, high dependability and flexibility, the end result is a reduction in cost of operation. The costs are usually related to volume of output and variety of services and products an operation produces. Running an operation where variety of products and service are involved means that operation cost are high since high levels of flexibility and skills are required6. Low volume operation also means that few products and services are bearing the costs of operation. On the contrary, high volume operation produces same products and services thus output is high and the operation cost are shared among numerous number of products and services produced. In an attempt to manage costs, Oracle has built its own marketing systems that have led to reduction of costs from $350 per attendee to approximately $1.98 whilst increasing reach by five times. The company utilizes e-marketing and e-seminars over the Web thus expanding the market niche. The implication of this is that marketing is done strategically by minimizing face-to-face seminars but expanding virtual meetings. Even though Customer Relationship Management is cost intensive in nature, the approach brings about efficiency. CRM helps to sustain customers, make them happy, expand revenue and also achieve competitiveness. Oracle has moved a notch higher to connect internet business processes and practices where the business is supposed to move thus making it more efficient, cost –effective and easy way of doing business. Relocation of cost of sales from the field to Web reduced transaction costs from $350 to $20. The original cost of $350 contained cost of a sales person moving to the field, negotiating with clients, securing an order, going back and subsequently entering a transaction into a database. Training of customers online is a tendency away from Customer Knowledge Sharing to web training. In summary, utilization of Web in daily business operations has greatly enhanced delivery of services at Oracle Corporation and consequent cost reduction. Conclusion Oracle Technology Company is one of the leading institutions in the business world that has succeeded by employing efficient operation techniques. Ability to manipulate elements such as speed, costs, flexibility, quality and dependability can lead to efficient management of operations. This will subsequently enhance relationship with stakeholders. Read More