Supply Chain Matters continues with our observations from Oracle Open World being held in San Francisco this week. Readers can view previous commentaries by clicking on the below links;
This afternoon there was great anticipation to the keynote presentation from Larry Ellison, the Chairmen of Oracle and god of the Silicon Valley, and the hall was appropriately filled to capacity. Ellison’s keynote, his second of this Open World, was front-ended by an address from S.D. Shibulal, CEO and Managing Director for Infosys Limited. This was the fifth straight year that Infosys has held the keynote just before Ellison. Just prior to address, there was a lot social chatter on Twitter postulating what it may have cost to have such a coveted spot on the agenda. Our response is straightforward. Being a valuable partner to Oracle, coupled with being one of the first and largest partners for Oracle Fusion Applications provides some influence. Prioritizing corporate marketing expenditures toward high exposure events like an Ellison keynote is the also the name of the game in the management consulting and systems integration arena. And, before we go any further in this commentary, we also disclose up-front that Infosys has been one of other sponsors for the thought leadership efforts of Supply Chain Matters.
Infosys itself has completed an 18 month transition toward a more client-centric focus of delivery services, which has been termed Infosys 3.0. Â According to CEO Shibulal, Infosys is now focused on three broad client objectives:
Business and IT operations, which include cost optimized services for clients
Complex systems integration
Products and platforms
There is also a more aligned industry focus among the three broad service areas. In its Open World Keynote, Infosys elected the theme of Radical Progress. Mention was made of the three events that went on to change the world, namely:
The Wright Brothers first flight in 1903, which was not the very first, but one that had a focus on pilot control.
Alexander Fleming’s invention of the drug penicillin changed the way medicine can lead to prevention of more deadly disease.
The first web site in 1991 was the forerunner to the way all of us conduct our everyday lives today.
The analogy is that these events were examples of Radical Progress that brought forward far different products, new experiences and subsequent innovation. Infosys views its mission as helping clients move toward their versions of Radical Progress. Executives representing the Audi division of Volkswagen AG, and safety science provider UL , and image equipment provider Ricoh were invited to describe industry changing initiatives in their market segments. This was followed with highlights of Infosys recently announced Cloud Ecosystem Hub, an innovative capability that helps enterprises build and manage a unified hybrid cloud environment to support critical internal and externally focused business processes. This capability applied to key business processes has the capability to deploy breakthroughs in customer service, electronic commerce and other business processes.
Stay tuned for ongoing Oracle Open World commentaries.
Bob Ferrari
