How much is your Oracle certification worth?
It’s a question that’s been asked many times, but for now, we seem to have an answer: Not as much (numerically, at least) as it once was.
As pay for certified SAP skills is seeing significant increases, other IT certifications - - including the Oracle Forms Developer Certified Professional (OCP) - - are seeing large declines in market value. According to the compensation-focused research firm Foote Partners, those with OCP certifications have earned more than 18% less pay in the past 12 months.
Oracle Certified Professionals certainly aren’t alone - - IBM, Microsoft and Novell have seen even greater pay decreases - - but what does this mean for the future of Oracle certifications?
There is no easy answer. In fact, there seems to be a lot more questions than answers in the Oracle certification debate, many of which have been raised in Oracle’s new Oracle Certification Blog. In Paul Sorensen’s two-part post, To Certify or Not to Certify, he asserts that while certification is a great part of building a career, it’s just that - - only one part.
So, while Sorensen doesn’t seem to have strong feelings either for or against Oracle certification, it seems that one can make a case for either side. Here are some interesting points from Oracle DBAs and experts that I have come across regarding the value of an Oracle certification:
From a tip by SearchOracle expert Craig Mullins:
-”I do recommend that professional DBAs take the time to study and pass the certification exams. Not because certification will make you a better DBA, but because it will make you more employable.”
-”Some things you just have to learn by doing. Now, I am not saying that certification is useless. Indeed, taking the test and focusing on the questions you miss can help to point out areas of weakness upon which you can improve. But does anyone really believe that someone passing a formalized test will be as capable as someone with several years of experience as a DBA?”
From Oracle DBA Howard Fosdick:
-”Whether you decide to certify is a highly personal decision. Every DBA weighs the costs and benefits differently to come to his or her own conclusion. Don’t be swayed by what others decide or by propaganda from the booming ‘certification industry’ — do what’s right for you.”
From “The power of Oracle certification” by SearchOracle expert Michael Hillenbrand:
-”Those with certifications will usually argue that they are important; those without them will most likely turn up their noses at them.”
-”While the OCA seems to be a viable option for the average DBA, those who wish to pursue certification on their own, without company sponsorship, will find it financially next to impossible to earn an OCP (two courses) or OCM (five total courses).”
Do you agree or disagree? Do continued pay decreases change your opinion? If OCP certification is so expensive to begin with, is it still worth the time and effort if you won’t be compensated for it at your job?
Microsoft is certainly seen as one of the top 3 software companies (right up there with Adobe, Oracle and SAP). But, unlike most other software, they have a monopoly on the market with products that perform “good enough” for most users to get by. Now, I know that the department of justice said that Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly, but then how do you explain how Microsoft Office is deployed in nearly every PC and laptop sold in the U.S.?
The biggest customer complaint is about Microsoft’s software licensing practices, which are causing headaches all over the globe. The company has finally answered the call of many regarding virtualization and the 90-day rule, but certainly took its time!
Microsoft has created an environment where purchasing another product would cause so much chaos within your organization in terms of sharing files, converting formats and incompatibilities, that there is little choice but to put up with whatever they ask for - pricing, support and licensing. Challengers don’t stand a chance because they will eventually come out with a competing product, make it prettier, and cost a little less and of course, be compatible with other MS products.
I’m not complaining here, I think they are a brilliant company. We’ve dealt with many Microsoft audits and licensing issues and have watched organizations struggle with the policies. The good news is that there are third-party consultants - like Miro Consulting - that can help. I know this is a shameless plug here, but I couldn’t help myself this time. Microsoft just gave me a great excuse to do it.
Hope to see you there!
Lately, Oracle’s accusations against SAP - - everything from corporate theft to massive illegal downloading - - have been all the legal buzz in the world of the software giants.
That is, until now.
The tables seem to have turned, with Oracle finding itself on the opposite side of an accusation. Last week, a federal judge ruled that CEO Larry Ellison allegedly withheld or destroyed important evidence in a previously twice-dismissed shareholder lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit alleges that Ellison and Oracle knowingly made false statements and misled investors about the company’s 2001 second-quarter financial results and problems with a software product (the 11i Suite).
What is Ellison accused of destroying?
When the shareholders, Nursing Home Pension Fund, asked for 135 hours of recorded interviews from 2001 and 2002, Ellison failed to include any transcripts from 2001. (The interviews with Ellison were bound for the book Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle.) The recordings were later found to be destroyed. Ellison also apparently didn’t keep all of the emails he was instructed to preserve after the original suit was filed.
But the lack of evidence doesn’t mean America’s fourth-richest man is off the hook. In fact, US District Judge Susan Illston has decided just the opposite:
“It is appropriate to infer that the e-mails and software materials would demonstrate Ellison’s knowledge of, among other things, problems with Suite 11i, the effects of the economy on Oracle’s business and problems with defendants’ forecasting model,” she wrote in an order released last week.
As ZDNet’s Dennis Howlett points out, Ellison is no stranger to insider dealing troubles. Howlett highlights a case in 2005 in which Ellison agreed to pay $100 million to charity after being accused of engaging in insider trading.
Even so, could this latest blow hurt Oracle’s credibility going forward, especially as the company seeks over $1 billion in damages from SAP? And, if Ellison is found guilty, do you think there’s any chance his punishment will actually fit the crime?
In the last month the BSA has publicized 4 separate settlements resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars:
Just goes to show you - they don’t discriminate - from Fortune 100 companies to 50-year old women on eBay.
Sixty-nine percent of IT executives believe that they would fail a software audit, according to King Research, a California-based marketing research company.
Nearly 3 out of 4 surveyed believe they are not prepared for a software audit and 60% believe they have unlicensed software deployed. Over half (56%) track their licenses manually or not at all with less than 10% using a fully automated system. Not keeping track of licensing or poorly doing so is only asking for trouble, especially in larger enterprises where the fees add up quickly.
The lack of software license compliance can bring hundreds of thousands to millions of unexpected expenses. It’s not that anyone is deliberately breaking the law. The fact is they lack the expertise and resources - from people to systems - to keep up with enterprise software licensing and compliance.
7 Simple Steps to compliance nirvana. Software licensing and compliance are extremely complex. Having a good software asset management program has prevented millions of dollars during surprise audits and during licensing re-negotiations.
Here are some quick, basic tips to remember:
These are simple, but often overlooked measures.
What’s the outlook of the Software as a Service (SaaS) business within the next two years?
According to Lawson Software CEO Harry Debes, “the industry will collapse.”
Some may find this statement questionable, especially when many of the major software vendors - - even Larry Ellison, who has publicly denounced SaaS as a profitable business - - have made recent investments in on-demand software. Earlier this week, Oracle released a pre-built integration feature between Siebel and CRM On Demand (its SaaS application). Salesforce.com is on track to become a billion dollar company.
This on-premise and on-demand integration will “synchronize customer data between the two applications, giving sales and executive managers a better view into the sales pipeline,” according to Oracle.
But others don’t see much benefit to these CRM hybrid deployments. Gartner analyst Rob Desisto says, “It’s very difficult to keep SaaS and on-premise in sync.”
Hybrid deployments aside, the future of SaaS remains the overarching question. In this interview with ZDNet Asia, Debes says: “This ‘on demand,’ SaaS phenomenon is something I’ve lived through three times in my career now.” And he’s quick to point out that this time won’t be any different than the others - - SaaS will go nowhere.
Here are some other highlights from the interview:
What about SAP, who last year created Business ByDesign to support its SaaS efforts? The development has not met with success, but SAP hasn’t given up hope on its on-demand offering. The company just announced that later this year, they will release a new CRM suite of products as part of Busines ByDesign.
According to the article, “The new version of the suite will incorporate an innovative approach to CRM and incorporate business intelligence technology from Business Objects.”
What do you think? Do you agree with Debes? Or, do you think these vendors’ efforts will pay off in the long run?
We recently blogged about two UK companies - RedPC and Overclockers - getting in trouble with the BSA over alleged software piracy. CRN in the UK recently wrote a follow-up story to the original news report about the BSA’s aggressive procedures claiming they were taking these companies to court for simply not filling in a form.
As we have said before, being audited by a software vendor or an organization like the BSA is nothing to joke about - if you should happen to be unfortunate and get into this situation, we recommend that you cooperate fully because as they have proven here, they will take the necessary steps to drag you to court, which not only will cost big bucks, but it can also be damaging to any business’ reputation.
Software vendors like Oracle and Adobe have every right to protect their source of income and will certainly do so with hired guns if necessary. Best bet - avoid situations such as these, get your software licensing in check and keep it that way!
Are you an Oracle user working in K-12 education? Do you have a growing interest in archiving and purging data? Do you want to connect with other Oracle database and system administrators?
Then the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) has a place for you. The OAUG offers over 75 Special Interest Groups (SIGs), each of which allows members to connect with others who work in their industry or with a specific application; for example, discrete manufacturing, Hyperion or Internal Control and Security.
The OAUG unveiled another SIG yesterday, and will offer interested members a chance to learn about this new group at Oracle OpenWorld.
The group, CRM Connect, “was formed to accommodate users of all Oracle-owned customer relationship management (CRM) applications and to facilitate communication between the CRM users community and Oracle,” according to the OAUG press release.
The group will serve users of the entire Oracle CRM community, which includes PeopleSoft Enterprise, Siebel CRM and Oracle E-Business Suite. The CRM community was created almost one year ago exactly.
A couple of weeks ago, the news surfaced that PeopleSoft Enterprise and Oracle E-Business suite had been left off Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation. While sales of these applications may be on the decline, CRM Connect will give users — whether or not they’re considering a switch — a chance to stay in touch and voice their concerns. According to OAUG, not only do these groups allow you to talk with your peers, but they present “opportunities for dialogue with Oracle associates about issues such as product development, quality and support.”
As you’re planning your OpenWorld schedule, consider blocking off some time to learn more about this SIG. The CRM Connect meeting will be held in two parts: Sunday, Sept. 21, at 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in room 3001 at the Moscone Center.
Do you find groups like these useful? Have you ever (or do you currently) belong to any Oracle-related special interest groups? What have your experiences been?
Miro is excited to announce that we have been invited to speak at three conferences in the fall:
Canadian ITAM Users’ Group (CITAMUG)
September 30th
Toronto, ON
Topic: Smarter Oracle Licensing
Virginia Oracle Users Group (VOUG) Conference
October 9th
Richmond, Virginia
Topic: Managing Your Oracle and Other Software Assets to Lower the Total Cost of Ownership
October 17th
Marco Island, FL
Topic: Vendor Management - Best Practices for Software Asset Management - From Oracle to Microsoft
Check back for more updates to our schedule!
There are a lot of rumors circulating this week about Microsoft changing their licensing policy from one where virtual machine is tied to hardware only to a model that compliments the mobility of virtual machines. Glad to see that they are rethinking its business model to keep up with virtualization.
The currently policy required customers to reassign software licenses for Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005 and Exchange Server 2007 if they would like to move the code to a different physical server, they also do not allow a transfer between physical hosts more than once in 90 days.
A little late, but good to see that things are changing! More to come on this when Microsoft makes an official announcement…
Want to see why and how CiOs and CFOs should work together? I was invited to contribute my thoughts on that particular issue for popular newsletter IT Finance Connection. I was inspired by the outlets focus on the IT-Finance connection. When dealing with software licensing issues and software asset management, we’ve had to go up to bat with CFOs more often than not. CFOs often will not understand the process that goes along with purchasing enterprise software, and often are only concerned with what the cost will be to the organization.
My attempt at pulling together the why’s and wherefores in an article entitled, CFOs and CIOs Should Work Together on Licensing, talks about the importance of the CIO to have a seat at the table. How do you get the C-Suite’s attention? Talk numbers, how will maintenance costs grow, what software licensing costs will be - and let them know that if not done right from the get-go, it could eat away even the most carefully planned IT budget for the entire year if audited by a vendor.
The importance of careful planning and proper software asset management for any type of business will result in cost savings - make your CFO understand how they can be part of the process and make it happen.
You can view the article here.
Microsoft unveiled a new volume licensing plan for large organizations this month called Microsoft Select Plus. The program will allow companies to use a single ID to track their licensing contracts across the entire company.
The program will mean bigger discounts as there will be the opportunity to increase your overall “points” - which are used to determine volume qualifications (you must have 500 points to qualify for Select Plus).
You can still qualify for this new program if you are already participating in a volume licensing agreement from Microsoft of if you have an existing Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Subscription Agreement, Campus Agreement or School Agreement.
The complete announcement can be found here or more info from Microsoft here.
Oracle OpenWorld is less than five weeks away. You’ve already registered, made your travel plans and prepared your presentations. But what else can you do between now and the start of the world’s largest annual Oracle conference?
It may be a good idea to do what many of our fellow bloggers have done — start making up a schedule. With more than 1,500 sessions to choose from over the course of five days, you should probably have a plan of attack before you arrive.
Doug at oracledoug.com’s five-day plan (which he, like many others, made with Oracle’s Schedule Builder) includes sessions such as “SQL Tuning Roundtable with the Experts,” “Inside Oracle Database 11g Optimizer: Removing the Mystery” and “Time-Travel Through Your Data with Oracle Total Recall.”
He admits to purposely leaving off any Web 2.0 or ‘Futures’ presentations, but you can find these in Oracle ACE H.Tonguç Yilmaz’s schedule, which includes a visit to the session “Web 2.0 Development with Oracle Application Express.” Mark Rittman of Rittman Mead Consulting is especially looking forward to “Using Cube-Organized Materialized Views” and “New Technologies in Oracle BI Suite Enterprise Edition.” And all three of these Oracle gurus are planning to spend time in the OTN Lounge, where Oracle ACEs will be holding ‘office hours.’
This is only a tiny sampling of the vast array of OpenWorld presentations, sessions, keynotes and roundtables to choose from. Of course, your choices depend on your interests, industry, product area, etc. But here’s a list of a few sessions that I (and some of the aforementioned bloggers) found interesting — and that you may want to add to your list!
Which sessions are on your ‘must attend’ (or ‘must not attend’ ) list? What would you recommend to others? Seen any of the speakers before? Similar presentations? Are they worth it or not?
They aren’t joking around - Forbes.com reported today that the BSA spent $360,000 in the second quarter to lobby on patent reform, data security and other issues. They lobbied on new legislation that would create a “new coordinator for intellectual property issues” and improve federal efforts against piracy.
This is a sign of things to come - with Microsoft, McAfee and HP behind this agency, they plan on taking piracy issues to the top - and cracking down on offenders.
Would you stand up against an audit? Be sure, because you’d better believe they will find ya!
This is the last week to participate in a database usage survey. The survey will be closed on Aug 24. I'll download the responses, clean the data and then upload the raw results. Over the next couple of weeks, I will publish some personal analysis and thoughts of the data.
If you haven't already done so, please take a few minutes to answer 25 questions.
I may reopen the survey afterward an
The BSA has put out their 2007 Piracy Study, which has revealed Software piracy in just 8 states in the US (AZ, CA, FL, IL, NV, NY, OH, TX) cost vendors an estimated $4.2 billion, which is higher than the national figure for all other countries in the world except China. Lost revenues to software distributors and service providers were an additional $11.4 billion, for a total tech industry loss of more than $15 billion.
$15 Billion - that is nothing to be coy about - the BSA goes a little far as to saying what we could do with kind of money, but that’s a little extreme. Its lost revenue that would be spread among those who benefit from software vendors’ profits - it wouldn’t really “build 100 schools” as they claim.
It is however, a concern for software vendors so you’d better believe they will try to eliminate this loss in the years to come through audits and more strict control of software licensing.
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
Oracle does not guarantee that multiple triggers on a table will fire in any particular order. Well, they do guarantee some things. For example a BEFORE trigger will fire before an AFTER trigger and ROW triggers fire before STATEMENT triggers.
But for two triggers of the same type (say 2 BEFORE ROW triggers), Oracle does not guarantee which wil
We talk on this blog all the time about how you really need to keep your software licensing in check and how much it can save by just simply managing software assets - well here is proof! ComputerWeekly wrote up a case study about racing venue Silverstone and how they were able to cut their software licensing costs by 20% simply by implement a SAM system.
How much do you spend per year on licensing costs? Well, take 20% of that and think about what you can do with it. How many more laptops or Blackberry devices you could purchase for your business.
Have PeopleSoft and E-Business Suite lost their magic?
If you take a look at Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, then the answer is yes. This year, PeopleSoft CRM and E-Business Suite were nowhere to be seen on the research firm’s annual Sales Force Automation rankings - - a list on which they have placed high in the past.
So, what does this mean?
Oracle certainly isn’t putting a lot of effort into selling the applicaitons. For a tool to make Gartner’s Magic Quadrant - - a system that ranks vendors in the four categories of leaders, challengers, visionaries and niche players - - it must have 15 new customers actively deploying the application in the past year. Neither PeopleSoft nor Oracle E-Business Suite met these qualifications.
As described by Grant Buckler in this article from CIO Magazine, Oracle’s CRM offerings are “a mixed bag,” resulting from what Buckler calls “acquisition fever.”
Oracle’s Siebel CRM makes the software vendor a major CRM player. However, as Gartner’s Robert DeSisto says in the article, PeopleSoft Enterprise and E-Business Suite CRM are far from the forefront. “I don’t see quite frankly much activity there,” DeSisto says.
Where is the activity? Besides Siebel, Salesforce.com has been named the sole other leader in Sales Force Automation, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SAP and Sage’s SalesLogix as challengers.
This leaves Oracle’s E-Business Suite CRM and PeopleSoft CRM customers in a tough position. Should they wait to migrate to Fusion (scheduled to be released later this year), switch to a different vendor or just stick it out for the time being?
What do you see in the future for these CRM applications?
Here’s a look back at just a few of the many ups and downs of PeopleSoft and E-Business Suite in the CRM market:
Oracle unveils new version of PeopleSoft CRM
Siebel buy further complicates Fusion plans
SAP beats Oracle in Jefferson County
If you’re a customer, what do you plan to do?
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
Oracle does not guarantee that multiple triggers on a table will fire in any particular order. Well, they do guarantee some things. For example a BEFORE trigger will fire before an AFTER trigger and ROW triggers fire before STATEMENT triggers.
But for two triggers of the same type (say 2 BEFORE ROW triggers), Oracle does not guarantee which wi
Miro Consulting’s Scott Rosenberg was included in an article in this month’s Processor Magazine about software licensing compliance.
The article is a great piece on the basics of software licensing compliance and asset management for anyone looking for some beginner information on the whys and hows of compliance. Some other tips mentioned in the article are what to do when you are faced with an audit and also how virtualization impacts software licensing.
Check out the complete article here.
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
You might not think of remote desktop as a cloud tool but MS has added cloud storage to remote desktop and called it Live Mesh. I have been using it recently and it is pretty nice. I use VNC fairly extensively and, when I'm not using VNC, I tend to use <a hr
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