I’m on location in Las Vegas at Oracle CloudWorld. In this analyst take, I give my view on Safra Catz’ keynote, which featured conversations with customers along with some sage business advice.
Highlights
00:27 — In Safra’s conversations with five remarkable customers, what came to the forefront was the importance of the mindset for change, for excellence, to not just do what you’ve done in the past a little bit better, but to do entirely new sorts of things. The other thing was about the courage to act, along with the vision to lead.
01:30 — I think this is one of the keys behind the optimism that Safra has shown over the past week, despite Oracle’s fiscal first-quarter earnings leading to a powerful hit from the investor class. Throughout this, Safra has been extremely optimistic about the company’s future because it’s so focused on customer outcomes.
02:06 — We heard from these customers today. Among them were Loblaws, the largest retailer in Canada; First Solar; Uber; and Emerson. Emerson’s chief operating officer got up and said this whole bias for action is so important, but you can’t act if you don’t have the right systems and data behind that action. Loblaws discussed its purpose, to help Canadians live life better. Well, how does technology help with that?
03:50 — It was a very uplifting thing, quite powerful, to hear this through the voices of the customers, not just Oracle executives talking about what they’re doing, but customers saying here’s how, in fact, we have changed so much of what we do, how we do it, and, most importantly, what we’re going to be able to do in the future.
