Of all the three software vendors in the DQTop20 club, none could offer a more diversified portfolio than Oracle. While Microsoft was still primarily an OS and office application vendor, SAPs business applications were restricted to ERP, CRM, SCM and now BI.

Oracle too was strong on the business apps front, but with a slight difference. Tacitly acknowledging SAPs leadership position (ERP: $97.7 mn vs $28 mn, SCM: $43 mn vs $ 13.3 mn, as per IDC India), Oracle looked beyond conventional ERP and pushed harder niche applications like CRM, logistics management and HCM. The plethora of acquisitions the company had made for these smaller apps started paying off in India too.

In fact, Oracle overtook SAP in the CRM stakes ($20.3 mn vs $13.7 mn) and was at #3 behind Avaya and ASPECT software. The numbers alone dont illustrate Oracles game plan of tapping existing SAP ERP customers to push other applications. For example, in FY 08 Oracle managed to sell its CRM applications to Hero Honda and Tata Motors, two SAP ERP clients.

Vertical focus was another strategy that paid off for Oracle India. The formation of multiple Global Business Units for financial services, retail (Retek), telecom, and utilities helped the company win several new clientsAirtel, Sun TV (communications), Shoppers Stop, HomeCare, Arvind Mills (retail), among others.

Rank-12
l Start-up Year: 1993 l Products & Services: Database, middleware, application software l Address: DLF Building No 8, Tower C, Ground & 7th Floor, DLF Cyber City, DLF Phase II, Gurgaon- 122002 l Branches: 12 l Tel: 0124-4328000 l Fax: 0124-4328101 l Website: www.oracle.com/in
Highlights n  Employed over 24,000 professionals in India, including i-flex n Housed seven development centers including an Asia R&D center, a partner solution center, an e-gov center, a retail CoE and three GDCs at Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Noida n Remained the database king with 63% market share (Microsoft at #2 with 23%) Strengths p Most diversified portfolio among all software vendors p Excellent traction in telecom and retail with vertical-specific applications Weaknesses q Top management attrition, to competitors like IBM, Microsoft, and SAP q In pure business apps like ERP, CRM, etc, SAP has a pronounced edge over Oracle		Krishan Dhawan, MD, Oracle India Surya Bhardwaj, sr director, Oracle Applications (Communications, Media & Utilities) Subhomoy Sengupta, sr director & GM, Oracle Applications (Manufacturing, Retail & Distribution) Sheshagiri A M, director & GM, Oracle Applications (Gov, Education, and Health) Rajesh Hukku, sr VP & GM, Oracle Financial Services (Global Business Unit)

Government was another lucrative vertical for Oracle in India, with significant wins in CBDT, Central Board of Customs and Excise as well as several SEBs and municipalities. However, according to industry grapevine, it was less than committed revenues from a transaction with a government department that led to some internal turnmoil within the company.

Speaking of turmoil, the exit of senior executives like SPS Grover and Prabodh Tiwary too created some controversies.

Postscript: i-flex, arguably Indias biggest software product success story till date (81% stake by Oracle), changed its name to Oracle Financial Services.

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