It would be an understatement to suggest that the current market conditions are dynamic. The past few years have seen almost generational change and disruption. As a result, all of us, businesses and individuals, have been navigating our way to a new normal. 

As a region, we’re still facing challenges. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and central banks worldwide continue to increase interest rates, which means many businesses have shifted from focusing on raw growth to efficiency.

We’re not out of the woods yet, it seems. But we’re finding our way.

The local business community has shown the typical ingenuity and resilience you’d expect from companies and leaders who are no strangers to facing down challenges with fresh thinking and new approaches. And we have been digging in with local companies to help them innovate their way beyond the challenges to strength and growth.

When I came on board earlier this year to lead Oracle in Australia and New Zealand, I was immediately amazed and humbled by the incredible knowledge and talent within the company. But most importantly, I’ve seen first-hand how this skill and experience is being used to solve business challenges across the board. 

I now also know first-hand the depths of Oracle’s industry expertise and commitment to the local business community. I’ve seen this in our work with unique organisations such as the iconic Sydney Opera House and major financial service institutions like UniSuper. 

Oracle’s commitment also shines through in the work we’re doing with brands like NRMA and Team Global Express to bring their vital business applications to the cloud, enabling them to ensure they can provide their customers with the utmost level of service and care.

These businesses, like many others, trust Oracle to help them leverage technology to achieve business success. But trust is a two-way street. This is why Oracle doesn’t take its commitment to the local market lightly. 

Oracle has a large pool of talented professionals across Australia and New Zealand with deep industry experience and a robust network of more than 300 partners that enable us to help businesses solve the problems that might otherwise hold them back from reaching their goals. We’ve had a local market presence for well over two decades, and our footprint in Australia and New Zealand continues to expand with 50% year-over-year growth in cloud consumption.

This long experience in the local market means we’ve had the opportunity to work closely with companies across multiple segments to gain a deep understanding of many key industries, such as financial services, retail and healthcare, among many others. 

Oracle’s industry expertise extends far beyond this. Today, we have more than 400,000 customers across nearly 20 industries that are working with us to solve some of the most important problems around the globe. 

These relationships and the expertise they afford us have been among the driving forces behind many of the horizontal applications Oracle has built that are focused on solving problems for the specific industries in which digital technology is critical for survival and success – including the performing arts industry.

According to Jon Blackburn, Chief Financial Officer at the Sydney Opera House, the Australian cultural icon has an enterprise technology strategy that aims to build cost-effective systems that create an intuitive, accessible technology experience for employees and customers alike, and Oracle is there to help make this goal a reality for Blackburn and his team.

“The implementation of the Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) helps us on budgeting and forecasting, which has reduced manual data entry by integrating with core business systems and improved the speed and quality of the business analysis in a rapidly changing environment,” says Blackburn.

In addition to helping local organisations like the Sydney Opera House navigate the broader economic challenges, we’re also focused on three key pillars to further support and advance the local market more generally: professional talent, cyber security and sustainability.

The shallow labour pool in Australia shows no signs of abating any time soon. Unemployment remained stuck at 3.5% in February, according to the ABS, barely moving from the historically low rate of 3.4% it hit at the end of 2022. As a result, it’s been hard to find and hang on to workers.

No matter how the market changes and shifts business strategy, we are working to help Australian human resources (HR) leaders and managers onboard new recruits, support their employees and manage talent.

We’re doing this by drawing upon the power of the Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) solution, which supports HR leaders to adapt to their changing workforce expectations and deliver better outcomes for employees. 

To further foster talent and extend our already strong commitment to upskilling Australians, we recently signed the Pathways Pledge with SoldierOn, a not-for-profit organisation that delivers a range of services helping veterans and their families thrive to unlock new career opportunities and employment support.

Meanwhile, with ransomware attacks on the rise and high-profile cyber attacks making headlines, cyber security has become an increasingly pressing issue for businesses and the Australian federal government alike. 

We’re doing our part to keep both government and private organisations secure by ensuring that Oracle’s products and services seek to meet a high level of compliance with relevant government regulatory standards. This is showcased in Oracle’s whole-of-government agreement with Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) and our Software Framework Agreement with the New Zealand Government.

Moreover, as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigates exaggerated claims of environmentally friendly investment and products, Oracle is getting on with the real business of making an actual difference when it comes to moving towards sustainability. 

Last year, we completed a large solar panel installation at our office in the Sydney suburb of North Ryde – just one part of Oracle’s commitment to the environment and sustainability. Since completion in June 2022, the panels have generated 190 MWh (190,000 KWh) and have fed 1,900 KWh back into the grid. Globally, Oracle aims to be using 100% renewable energy for all real estate and facilities operations by 2025. 

These are just some of the ways we’re doubling down on our commitment to the local market, and everything we do is aimed at helping our customers succeed. 

I couldn’t be more excited to see and meet with many of our customers at the upcoming Oracle Cloud Summit tomorrow and further continue collaboration in the coming years.  

Most importantly, I’m looking forward to the task of further understanding the industries within which our customers operate, their problems and their needs, and coming up with the best cloud services, applications and solutions to overcome the challenges ahead.