24 Oracle Deploys Financial Services Market Strategy

Oracle Corp., in the name of meeting Microsoft on every battlefield, reinforced their financial services applications this year by moving from a horizontal to a vertical product and service deployment strategy. Going after the enterprisewide systems market instead of the function specific, as in human resources or general ledger applications, the company is catering to its strengths in database operations.

Thus its acquisition of Treasury Services Corp. (TSC) this August. Says Steve Perkins, Oracle svp for worldwide financial services, "It's really part of what we've been doing. If you think about Oracle's approach to the market, it was chiefly database and tools a few years ago; to that we added horizontal applications about three years ago; and over the last 18 months, we've been adding vertical applications as well."

Buying TSC gives Oracle what public relations types call a jump start in a new area; they immediately get a credible market presence with established customers and cash flow-the sort of business move stock analysts love. And by giving Oracle a thriving business, TSC-a well- respected name in the risk management business-enables the database company to hit the ground running in what chairman Larry Ellison often suggests as almost a moral imperative-giving Microsoft a good run for its money. A.Reinbach

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