comment IN THE FIELD
BY IAN ABRAMSON
Integration: It’s Coming Together
Mergers, acquisitions, and growth present opportunities for user groups.
ergers and acquisitions are
very complicated proceedings, entailing the integration of organizations,
processes, data, and personnel. Even
organic corporate growth has integration pitfalls.
Some organizations acquire—or
even develop—multiple business units
or systems that do not communicate
with each other. These units may first
have been run as independent businesses, and they continue to operate as
if that were still true.
INTEGRATION IMPROVES BUSINESS
But not integrating more closely is
a serious mistake. In the integrated
world, business processes become more
efficient, complexity is reduced, and
activities are streamlined. Such process
enhancements have the direct benefits
of saving time and reducing costs.
Moreover, data integration—and the
comprehensive business intelligence
it offers—provides organizations with
a more complete vision of themselves
and allows those same organizations
to market to their customers by cross-selling products and services across
previously untapped avenues.
For example, using business integration and analysis allows some communications organizations to market
internet services to current magazine or
cell phone subscribers. Leveraging integrated data, these companies can then
determine the best offers to entice their
customers with additional products,
ultimately increasing revenues and providing more-complete services.
In today’s fiercely competitive business environment, getting the business
and technology integration done right is
more important than ever—whether new
business units are created or acquired.
Consider Oracle. By my count,
in the past 44 months, Oracle has
acquired more than 44 companies. In
2005, Oracle acquired 13 companies,
including PeopleSoft. In 2006, there
were 13 more acquisitions, of which
Siebel and Stellent probably got the
most press coverage. The 2007 acquisitions embraced another 11 companies,
including Hyperion.
So far, 2008 has seen at least 7
acquisition announcements already,
including BEA. The results of the acquisitions, and the integration of their
products and technologies, enhance the
overall Oracle product stack.
Because of these acquisitions, Oracle
user groups also need to integrate—
in this case, the user communities.
Integrating new and existing communities combines existing cultures as well
as technologies and can be challenging.
USER GROUPS THRIVE
Even so, the Oracle user communities
continue to thrive and grow—
Oracle’s new acquisitions mean that
more people need a place where
they can learn about Oracle within a
network of similarly minded professionals, and the user communities
provide that place.
For example, the Independent
Oracle Users Group (IOUG) was successful in integrating the Stellent
content management user group—
which is now IOUG’s Stellent special
interest group (SIG). This group had
previously existed only as part of a
Stellent-run event and infrastructure,
but as part of the IOUG, the Stellent
SIG has an environment that will
encourage its users to grow and will
provide them with a complete technical experience.
Just as Oracle has been integrating
Stellent products and making them an
important and valuable component of
Oracle Fusion Middleware, the Stellent
SIG is benefiting from its integration
with the IOUG.
The IOUG is now building on this
success to integrate the growing Oracle
Essbase (formerly Hyperion Essbase)
and BEA communities as well. The
IOUG has welcomed Oracle Essbase
users and established the Essbase SIG
and now welcomes BEA users to the
general membership. These communities can now be part of the larger
Oracle community but still retain their
own identity and focus.
Integration is a reality that we all
need to embrace to ensure that we continue to grow and maintain our leadership roles for tomorrow. Of course,
integration does not come without cost.
Organizations need to invest time and
money in any integration effort to enjoy
substantial returns.
The effort might be huge—but it’s
worth it. O
Ian Abramson ( ian_abramson@ioug.org) lives in
Toronto and is president of the IOUG.
nextSTEPS
JOIN the IOUG
ioug.org
DISCOVER
the IOUG Stellent SIG
www.ioug.org/networking/stellent.cfm
the IOUG Essbase SIG
www.ioug.org/networking/essbase.cfm
READ more about Oracle Content
Management
oracle.com/products/middleware/content-management
VISIT the Oracle Users Group Center
otn.oracle.com/community/user_groups
LEARN about Oracle acquisitions
oracle.com/corporate/acquisition.html
