M&A…oh, yeah, don’t forget about licensing.
There are increasing concerns about the complex support issues needed for Oracle’s acquisition activities over the past few years (not to mention the support strategy needed for Oracle’s upcoming acquisitions). As with any M&A activity at any company, there are a few hurdles to be jumped. In the last few years, the issue of Oracle support stemmed from the number of different groups and specialists needed to deal with each application.
As with anything, people want easy product support. No one cares if company A bought company B or if company C merged with company A when it comes to practical matters of keeping IT aligned with the needs of the business (you can even insert department, a group, a division or an entire global company in the place of “business”).
The fact of the matter is that more acquisitions are on the way for Oracle. The good news is that Oracle’s Fusion is designed help fold in the various software applications acquired by acquisition. The one thing folks tend to forget is the licensing regulations and changes that come with the acquisition….and, this is just a friendly reminder. Software licensing is complex. It is even more so when you throw an acquisition – whether it’s Oracle acquiring another software company or it’s your company going through the M&A.