Oracle leans on channel for cloud growth

Oracle has outlined new cloud products and reseller rebates as it looks to expand its channel activities to win more business outside of key enterprise accounts.

The tech giant's new Oracle Cloud offering is designed to make it easier for partners to resell software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions directly to their customers. The hope is that smaller customers will be attracted to the option of accessing enterprise-grade solutions without the onerous upfront costs normally associated with them.

Oracle has come up with an incentive program to motivate resellers to push Oracle products to customers outside of what it identifies as its 2,000 key accounts.

If a reseller shifts certain solutions from Oracle's "Strategic Products" list to end users outside of these accounts, the reseller qualifies for a rebate. If the reseller then upsells that end user to other Oracle products, the reseller is in line for a further rebate.

As part of this strategy to woo the channel, Oracle has expanded its accreditation program for Oracle Cloud as well as launching a resource-rich partner website, offering resources such aas marketing collateral to help channel partners sell its cloud solutions.

Patricia Nance, vice-president of alliances and channels at Oracle, told CRN that cloud was an increasingly important part of Oracle's business strategy.

"Look around – that's where everyone in the market is going. That's a clear indication of why we are doing this. Clients are asking for it."

"We still have our sales teams focused on key accounts but we also want a share of the broad market, who want to get hold of fantastic enterprise-level offerings on a quarterly payment. It's a lot more cost-effective," said Nance.

Oracle is increasingly reliant on the channel to reach this mainstream user base. It has a handful of core channel partners including UXC-owned software specialist Red Rock Consulting and NTT's Frontline Systems on the hardware side. Nance also cited Oakton, MPower, ASG Group and Fujitsu as important resellers.