 Live from San Francisco, extracting the signal from the noise, it's theCUBE, covering Oracle OpenWorld 2015, brought to you by Oracle. Now your hosts, John Furrier and Brian Grace Lee. Hey, welcome back everyone. You are watching exclusive coverage of Oracle OpenWorld here on Howard Street where they're closing down San Francisco for 60,000 Oracle OpenWorld attendees. This is SiliconANGLE's theCUBE, our flagship program where we go out to the events and extract the signal from the noise. I'm John Furrier, the founder of SiliconANGLE, John Mike Coase, Brian Grace Lee, our cloud and applications analyst at wikibond.com. Our next guest is Steve Moran, executive vice president of application development at Oracle on the product side. Great to have you in theCUBE. Thanks for spending the time to come by. Thanks for having me, my pleasure. You know, we love the range of leadership and technology at Oracle's pushing out there from under the hood, engineered systems, all the way up the stack to pass with cloud, and then ultimately the application market is exploding. So you've been very successful in the application business in the software, 30 years, Oracle has been. So, but now we are in a new era. Client servers kind of had its time, the chat is closed, it's the cloud time, it's modern infrastructure, standing stuff up, horizontally scalable, open source, vertically integrated solutions. Where is the app market today and how is it changing? Because this is a huge opportunity for the marketplace, not only for Oracle, to win with your apps. But there's an ecosystem out there, as ISV's slew of opportunity. Sure, sure, sure. Well, I think you're right. So first off, thanks for having me. Secondly, you mentioned 60,000 people here. One of the most exciting things for me is that being at Oracle about 20 years, is we've taken a number of the customers who are here throughout many of those phases, even before Client server, even all the way back, you know, started with 20 years ago, the internet. So now with the advent of cloud-based applications, as was said in the keynotes the last couple of days, we feel like we're just at the beginning, getting towards the middle. And I think what we have to offer is one is we now for the first time have a comprehensive suite of applications. So that customers, while you're right, that there's an ecosystem around it, you can get your core systems all provided and all integrated from one single platform that you can extend and add off of. And the second thing that we're very excited about is I think once you have application in the cloud, not only do you get the speed of innovation more quickly from ourselves or the vendors, from our ISV partners in the ecosystem you talked about, but also you have the opportunity to do things that you never could do before in applications. And when you couple data as a service, kind of all the data we have just on the internet to do your cloud applications, you're able to do things that you never could do in on-premise or client-server or any other applications that they're around. You know, during the client-server era, a lot of wealth was created, a lot of value was created, and but that, it looked like a siloed stack, okay? Here's a new company launched, it gets funding, they build an app, and it's ERPs, ERM, all these different points, and it's a company. Now you have a platform that's more of an enabling technology. So now Oracle has some really solid apps, but now you can have some startup out there build on the platform, or an ISV, do some integration, work with the cloud as changing the dynamic. Where is that wealth creation opportunity in your mind? Is there enough people out there? Is it more coming? What's your vision on that? Because this is what people are looking for, more value faster. Yeah, well I think in technology, there's always lots of waves like this, whether it's discussion on a boom or bust or bubbles and things like that. I tend to look at how we can generate value for our customers, and I think from our standpoint, it's the fact that we can deliver that platform and build the application on top of that platform, but at the same time allow customers or ISVs extend on the very same platform, not only that we use to build our application, but that our customers are using for years and years. So you see all the people here who've been building on the Oracle platform, us bringing that to the cloud allows us to deliver better value to our customers, to the extent they use ours, and also to the extent they use ISV or partner applications as well. So let's get to some news. What's the news for your group here at Oracle Open World? We've heard app builders, that part of the group, I mean the cloud is about standing stuff up fast, iteration, what are you guys launching, what's the tsunami of product announcements? Okay, so really in the application space, I think of the three different product pillars or three different product areas. So first off in ERP, so there's two major announcements. First and foremost, we're thrilled with the progress we've made in ERP cloud. We have over 1,300 customers in ERP cloud now. Many of those are speaking here on our behalf today, but in addition to that, that was financial procurement inventory. We've added a full supply chain manufacturing. So the first time you have a complete suite of ERP in the cloud, and a complete suite made us in those open standards and with over 1,000 customers from the largest companies in the world down to small and medium businesses. The second pillar is in our CRM space. So we've made tremendous investments in marketing, service, and Salesforce automation. And this year we've announced brand new verticals. So communication capabilities for telcos, you have CPG capabilities and partner relationship management for high tech manufacturers. And again, you saw some of the customers speak on our behalf there. And finally, HCM. So again, we've made tremendous progress not only in our talent management cloud, but in our HCM core clouds. And we've announced at this conference over 1,000 core HCM. So these are core HR payroll benefits customers over 1,000 in the cloud today. And we've announced a brand new learning management system which is the first to market in the cloud and quite exciting integrated with HR. So, you know, let's take ERP as an example, right? Customers have put a ton of resources into customizing and building it around their business, how do you move those processes into an ERP cloud? How do you know about what the customer's done to customize that? Well, so ironically enough, that was one of the challenges that our customers have on premise is that once you customize a product, it was very difficult to take care of the ongoing investment that we were making because you had to either undo that customization or redo the customization. What we've done in the cloud is we allow the customer to extend the application through our platform, just as John was talking about earlier, either through an ISV or themselves natively so that you can get the seamless upgrade that the cloud provides without having to redo or undo those customizations. And what we found is that the majority of our customers did that ERP deployment 15, 20, 25 years ago. I mean, pre-Y2K, kind of first ERP. So, what many customers are doing is they're using this movement to the cloud as an opportunity to modernize business processes. You hear a lot of talk about the digitalization of the economy. And they're using it as an opportunity to do away with a lot of those customizations that they had in the past and really make a modern platform move going forward. It's interesting, the consolidation message you kind of mentioned, I was just saying consolidation. IT has always been under the pressure of consolidating down but they're under a lot of pressure now to drive top-line revenue growth, right? So the cloud is very enticing. The economics are phenomenal. Time to value is phenomenal. So I got to ask you the hard question. Why should customers choose Oracle Cloud? And why should they trust Oracle? Okay, well, so in the cloud arena, customers should choose Oracle Cloud because it enables them for the first time to have a complete suite of applications that innovate very quickly at cloud speed. So you're not going to get stuck and you have the ability to extend and personalize the application one. Why should you trust Oracle? Look, we've got a long track record of taking customers to the next generation of technology. You said it yourself, we have customers here and I will go even farther back. I started with Oracle, we were green screen applications. The same customers went from green screen, the client server, the internet deployed. Before K-RAM, that was terrifying to the new memory. Now you have that more than that on your phone, right? So now we've had customers all the way to the cloud-based deployment and we've enabled them to not only run the core of their business in the cloud very successfully and very efficiently, but they can also innovate around the edges either with our platform, with our applications or with ISV applications. And so that flexibility to drive the core, how would you have all in one shop? And then goes without saying, I think we have the brand reputation of the most secure technology stack and secure service. And in today's environment with the cloud, that's top of mind all customers looking to move. Yeah, the secure thing is a gem that's not, to me, not being amplified enough. It's really one of the sweet things in the show that I'm seeing and encryption is phenomenal. I got to ask you a different question, which is from a customer standpoint, they look at Oracle, they say, okay, we recognize that digital transformation is obviously happening. It's a huge opportunity to drive more value, faster time to revenue. You've been through, you said 20 years, multiple ways of innovation. So two questions, what is your personal learnings that you've seen in those conversations with customers, those journeys? What would you share that's been magnified in this wave that's different and or the same? And two, what are the top conversations you're having with customers in this journey? Okay, I think you did it in three, you said two, but let me try to keep me honest on it. I sometimes do that. So, take your choice. So, you know, what's fascinating with all the changes is I think that in every wave that we've gone through, there's always this, and it's been a different concern on, well, we can't move off the green screen because the mouse is going to make things too slow. Well, we can't move off client server because the internet's not going to really scale. Well, we can't move off, you know, on-premise applications because there's security or other concerns. And every single time, the changes come much faster than any of us anticipated when we're kind of in the middle and the throes of the change. The second thing is, as you start that change, it starts off with niche competitors in every single spot because it's brand new. It's brand new technology, people come out with niches and you soon find out that actually, you need innovation in certain parts to drive value to the enterprise you said, but there's a whole host of applications that if you have a best in class but integrated set of applications, a suite of applications that's secure really comes to the fore. And that's where we think our strong suit is as you move forward to the front. So, in this wave, integration seems to be the big thing, integrated platforms, integrated stacks, integrated cloud, that seems to be the hot button. Sure, and I mean, I would invite everybody to take a look at our applications because we do think there are best in class in each area. We have over $5 billion investment in R&D, so we think we can bring best of both worlds. Best in class applications, but integrated applications. And in fact, a number of the folks you're talking to today over the next couple of days lead up the various elements. And I think you'll find that you have best in class HR, best in class CRM, best in class HCM, ERP, but in a collected suite as you choose to deploy it. During the first keynote, Sunday night, Larry talked about sort of this new vision you guys have around UI. What it looks like, what are you guys having to do? I mean, the devices are changing, the user experience, people are expecting simpler, not complicated, what are you doing in that space? Well, I think it's twofold. I think the word we try to use is contemporary because there's no such thing, the UI especially these days never stops. So, to stay contemporary, you have to be set up with an infrastructure that's going to allow you to change every year very, very quickly and stay up with what people expect. And so, we're an enterprise application vendor, but we still have to stay up to speed with the user interface paradigms and devices that people expect in their mobile devices or their tablet devices, whatever the device of the day is. We have to stay up with social. So, if people expect to interact with Twitter or with Facebook or with Instagram for things, you have to make sure that your user interface is what people expect. And so, we try to keep it contemporary. The way we do that is again through our technology stack which enables to operate in a very declarative mode and gives us the speed of innovation and you couple that with the cloud, we're able to take customers through upgrades through those innovations. So, they have a contemporary modern looking UI. This comes back down to the whole conversation we had yesterday, Brian, around tools. Tools are, it's a booming tool market. A lot of tools out there, features, if you will. And some people are making money on some startup self-funded lifestyle business, what is cash flow business, whatever you want to call it. So, there's a boom in the tool market. So, with that going on, you got to look at the 20 mile stairs as EVP. So, I got to ask you the product roadmap question. What's the white space that you guys are looking at and how are you guys growing both organically and inorganically? Certainly, the M&A track record has been phenomenal with Oracle. I mean, Oracle marketing cloud team's done a phenomenal job. We talked to them last night and I'll see you in other areas. You pick winners and you plug them into the machinery of Oracle. So, talk about that dynamic of the growth and the product white space opportunities for Oracle that you want to fill and also, you will your partner and then organic growth. Sure. Well, we announced, I went over earlier kind of the new announcements. So, when supply chain management manufacturing, we think there's a huge area in ERP untouched in the cloud. We think the global market in HR and in learning management is huge untouched. I think in CRM, there's a number of areas I can focus on. Since you called out marketing, I'll call out that. When you look at the assets we've built in the data as a service to take activity that happens online in the web and do true targeted marketing. We think that's a huge area of growth for us. I mean, I'm sure when you booked your tickets to come out to stay in San Francisco, you started to see advertisements on your Twitter stream or on your Facebook page or on any website you went to about rental cars in San Francisco, hotels in San Francisco. Everybody has that experience. It's very, very likely, depending on which sites you were using, that that was Oracle data cloud together with Oracle marketing that's driving that marketing experience. And that really one-to-one touch marketing is a whole new area that we think it's very exciting and room for growth. And M&A, you guys looking more and more M&A, what's your strategy there? Yeah, with general, let me give it this way, yeah. We have a history of buying best in class products and services where it fills the need for our customers and completes the suite. You got a very active corporate development department. Really love to see that. So I got to ask you about, since you brought up the data as a service, one of the things that we love, we're very data-driven here, it's still getting on the cube with the bond, is that's the center of the value proposition right now because you mentioned just the predictive analytics and some of the retargeting and stuff that's going on with marketing cloud, but that's not just that application. Data central to all application. This seems to be the theme here at Oracle OpenWorld, kind of a subtext to the cloud message. Expand on this whole data theme, is it a data layer? How are you looking at data? So you're a database business, right? I mean, pretty key. Well, again, I think that ultimately, we're at the beginnings of moving to the cloud computing and then I think that ultimately data, as I described in the marketing example, we have a chance to have the data underline all of the applications. I mean, internet of things generally gets taught of as like devices and how do you, do you turn the heater on at your home or do you turn the water up or down? You know, that's certainly one use. In enterprise applications, there's a world of data out there that's on the web for supply chain usage, for HR usage, for recruiting usage. That if you can take that data and now that we're available in the cloud, you can really couple masses of data, you know, quite easily with the applications and drive better decisions and better experiences, even in the enterprise apps with data. What are the top conversations you're having with customers right now that are looking to go to the cloud and what's your advice to them? Because they might say, hey, I'm buying into this, I love an Oracle, we've been through the journeys before, the new bridge needs to be crossed. What's the conversations like and then what advice do you give them? It's really about using the opportunity to rethink your business process and modernize your business processes with the Oracle cloud. And the advice is frankly, if they're not already started to get started and if they're already started to go faster, because we think it's a tremendous opportunity for business value and we think that, again, every time we've seen this change, you see this hesitancy for some reason and you get to pass it very quickly and the customers who come out the other end of the change first who tend to be early doctors tend to thrive and we feel very excited about our customers here going with us. So it's usually go or go faster. What are you excited about as you look down at the organization? You got a lot of product teams, a lot of engineering going on. The application market is booming right now. I think it's going to even be phenomenal. I think we keep on doing some sizing on it, but it's still untapped. I think it's going to be a tsunami of great opportunities. What technologies are you personally excited about? Is it machine learning? We see it in all this machine learning. It's a lot of great stuff. We've got a processor in memory. We got an encryption on the chip with John Fowler's team. What are you personally excited about? I'm not asking you to pick your favorite child, but pick one. So first I got to answer it. I'm extremely proud of our entire development organization, my entire team. I mean, it's so great to come to a meeting like this and you see customers everywhere who are using your products every day and excited about your products going forward. I think in general, I'll go back to the opportunity we have to drive real decisions across the board through data. And if you apply that to real world problems and you apply it to our industry applications, healthcare applications, our applications like that, I think it's phenomenal. I think the industry, the technology industry, not just Oracle, not just enterprise applications, we can make connections in ways we couldn't make before. And I think it'll serve Oracle and our customers very good. And I think it'll serve everybody really good by driving that data and coming up with interesting applications that you use. My final question for you. We heard from top management in Oracle all week, we're going to disrupt ourselves, we'll take the offense, that's my words, but Oracle's words, we're going to disrupt ourselves and take new territory. How would you summarize to customers and folks watching the key disruptive enabler for Oracle right now? What is that one disruptive enabler that's driving Oracle's thrusts into the future? Yeah, I don't really look at it as we disrupt ourselves. I think our customers have demands of us for increasing speed and then increasing capability to innovate. And I think that the cloud platform has allowed us to do that. So I think it's our customers in a positive way. You mentioned earlier the customizations and how they do it. Our customers deal with, bring us problems to how they keep up with their business and how they make the next business challenges. So I hate to use the word disruptive in customer because I use it in a positive sense. In an innovative way. Yeah, in an innovative way. Our customers push us to innovate and push us to drive the solutions that they really need to succeed in their business. And that's ultimately what we're here for. It's an exciting time of disruption and commoditization at some level, more coarse, cheaper, faster, smaller with growth and innovation at the same time. Well, that's what I said earlier. There's always this boom, bust cycle and you get this commoditization and everybody thinks, well, if that commoditizes, what happens next? But there's always that next level of innovation. So we're quite excited about continuing that trend. Well, thanks for sharing your insight here on theCUBE. We really appreciate it. Executive Vice President of the products teams here at Oracle, sharing the vision inside theCUBE and go to crowdpages.co slash O-W-15 for all the videos, all the trending conversations in the crowd, trending stories and of course all the videos and the social network based around Oracle OpenWorld. That's from theCUBE's team. We'll be right back with more here on Howard Street after this short break.