Hitachi’s Path to Oracle Diamond Partnership: Diamonds are forever

Congratulation to a Game Changer

,

Dears,

It’s indeed a great pleasure for me to write about Hitachi’s Path to Oracle Diamond Partnership. At the start of this year, we set out to Change the Game, elevating the Oracle practice to unprecedented heights by opening up new opportunities for growth.  We have now met a big piece of that goal in September 2012 & we were officially notified by Oracle that we have been recognized as the newest Oracle Diamond Partner, only the 11^th firm to achieve this elite status in the Oracle Partner Network (OPN).

This is a major milestone for our Oracle practice and indeed for the firm overall.  Together, we are successfully changing the game. I take the privilege to reproduce most of the content which was shared by our Hitachi Oracle Alliance leadership team on this accomplishment.To say this was a team effort would barely do justice to what was accomplished.  Because not only did literally hundreds of people make a difference to this effort, none of the people involved had “achieve Diamond status” in their standard daily job description.  Most of what we achieved came through collaboration and hard work performed above and beyond the normal expectations of everyone’s job. Thank you to all who helped Hitachi to change the game: Our Certified Consultants, Specialization sponsors, GTM Offering owners, marketers, communicators, sellers, consultants, Coordinators and so on.  

How we changed the Game & What did we do to achieve this status

Diamond is the highest level Oracle Partners can achieve in the Oracle Partner Network (OPN) and is available by invitation only.  Of the 20,000+ Oracle Partners, Hitachi is just the 11^th firm to reach this status.  Hitachi was previously a Platinum Partner, the second highest level, which includes more than 200 firms and therefore does not offer nearly the same level of differentiation.

·         Consolidated the Hitachi-Oracle Alliance globally, with unprecedented participation from all relevant Hitachi entities, including Hitachi Ltd. (now the formal owner of the Alliance), Hitachi Consulting, Hitachi Consulting Japan, Hitachi Solutions, Hitachi Data Systems, Hitachi Communication Technologies of America, and other subsidiaries.

·         Achieved the over and above the target in co-sell and resell Oracle license revenue during Oracle FY12 (v. target of $40M).

·         Reached Specialization goals, with 200+ consultants newly Certified on Oracle solutions:

o   Reached Specialization status in 29 different Oracle solutions (v. target of 20), including several in which Hitachi stands alone among Diamond Partners.

o   Reached Advanced Specialization status in 6 Oracle solution areas (v. target of 5): EBS Financials, EBS Supply Chain, Siebel, Java, Database, and RAC.

·         Launched 15 new Oracle-sanctioned GTM offerings with client-facing decks, marketing datasheets, executive sponsors, and business plans.

·         Published four new customer success stories (videos and articles).

·         Scored high on Oracle’s client satisfaction survey (v. target of 6.5).

·         Staffed a dedicated Alliance & Sales Team.

·         Sponsored Oracle Open World (OOW, Sep 30-Oct 4) at the Grande level

Who are the other 10 Diamond partners?

·         The Big Three: Accenture, Deloitte, IBM.

·         Major offshore firms: Infosys, Tata, Wipro.

·         Other Global SIs: Cap Gemini, CSC, Fujitsu, Price Waterhouse Coopers

You would be surprised to see even some big players in Oracle in India and abroad are not in this elite list to name a few HCL, Cognizant, Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra etc.

What does this mean for our current and prospective clients?

·         Clients wanting to partner with a top-tier Oracle consultancy, now have Oracle’s official word that Hitachi belongs to that group.

·         The proven quality of Hitachi’s consulting services, as evidenced by Oracle’s client satisfaction survey results, Hitachi references, and the dramatically expanded pool of Certified Consultants at Hitachi means clients can confidently expect world-class implementations delivered by Hitachi.

·         Through Hitachi, clients will enjoy fast track access to broad and senior Oracle resources who may be helpful in their Oracle deployments.

·         Clients will benefit from enhanced intellectual property developed by Hitachi as part of the path to Diamond status.

·         Via this newly cast relationship, Hitachi will expand its already leading co-development role with Oracle, 

·         The Hitachi-Oracle Alliance now enjoys a dedicated team of GTM resources assigned on either side, further solidifying the current Alliance strength and ability to invest in new innovations that will address clients’ needs.

What does this mean to Oracle?

·         Oracle will enjoy expanded choice of top-tier partners as represented by the elite group of Diamond Partners (now 11).

·         The proven quality of Hitachi’s consulting services, as evidenced by Oracle’s client satisfaction survey results, Hitachi references, and the dramatically expanded pool of Certified Consultants at Hitachi means Oracle can safely recommend Hitachi to their customers and be confident in the expected implementation quality.

·         Among its Diamond Partners, Oracle now has in Hitachi the only firm officially Specialized in Value Chain Planning (Demantra) and Value Chain Execution (OTM), a 6th Advanced Specialized firm in each EBS SCM and Siebel (and just the 3rd to have both), and the 3rd firm Specialized in EBS HCM [note: “Specialized” means meeting minimum threshold on Certified Consultants, References, and Alliance Revenue; 

·     Oracle now has access to an expanded portfolio of robust GTM Offerings, via their “Oracle Initiative Management (OIM)” system: already, Our Offerings have been formally approved. These offerings are unique combinations of Oracle and Hitachi IP that differentiate each firm and provide clear value to our clients.

·         The improved integration between the various Hitachi operating companies participating in the Hitachi-Oracle Alliance will deliver more opportunities for unique and innovative solutions that leverage Hitachi IP (note: Hitachi is the 4th largest filer of new patents in the US every year).

·         The Oracle field can take advantage of incremental Market Development Funds being invested by Oracle corporate to support field-level GTM with Hitachi.

·         The allocation of a full-time Hitachi Alliance Team at Oracle delivers the resources needed to be responsive to Oracle field demand for more GTM programs with Hitachi.

I want to quote what Troy Lutes, our Global Oracle Practice leader said about this accomplishment  as an end note …“Think about this: there are 21,000 firms are registered with OPN…and only 11 have Diamond status. Each of you should walk a little taller around your clients today, and should be very proud of this monumental achievement.”

Thank you

DC*

Dinesh Chandrasekar