One could mistake Oracle`s head office in Midrand as the home of a quiet company. However, walking into Lenore Kerrigan`s office changes that impression instantly - this is a company that is extremely hard at work.
Kerrigan is Oracle SA`s new MD, having moved from Hewlett-Packard SA. Her quick tongue and flow of ideas juxtaposes her relaxed posture. Oracle has been without an MD for three months, so she is a busy woman and wastes no words.
Our channel is always a challenge, but it is maturing.
Lenore Kerrigan, MD, Oracle SA
She intends to push her ideals of e-business, social responsibility and high-level enterprise strategies both within the company and to her customers.
"We`ve turned our company from a business to an e-business," she says, "and now we are focusing on doing that with our customers."
Kerrigan believes that e-business is a high-level strategy that must be driven "boardroom-on-boardroom". This naturally involves direct contact with customers, but Kerrigan reassures the channel that this will not involve direct selling. As to whether her channel is ready for e-business, she says: "Our channel is always a challenge, but it is maturing."
She speaks of the man who took Oracle on the difficult but rewarding e-business path in reverent terms: "Larry [Ellison] is an incredible maverick - that`s why he is so successful in e-business. You need to have radical ideas to be successful in today`s world." She terms these mavericks "intrapreneurs", people in the organisation typically considered "hard to manage" in the past, but who should be tapped to drive the corporate world in the future.
Taking responsibility
One area that Kerrigan feels Oracle SA has ignored due to its lack of leadership is its social responsibility programme - a facet of business that she feels very strongly about. "There will be a consolidation of activities around black empowerment," says Kerrigan.
The result of the consolidation will be termed Alima, and includes an internal push, an external push, training through Oracle academy, targeting black business for outsourcing, and an incubator programme - similar to HP`s - which will favour black empowerment.
The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-up market also excites Oracle`s new MD: "We are taking South African SMEs into the world," she says. "These start-ups are coming out of nowhere and stealing market share."
Oracle is working on a plan to deal with SMEs - Oracle`s fastest-growing market segment - with the same care bestowed on enterprise.
Kerrigan plans to spend her first month listening to her staff, her customers and her partners. Looking at the year ahead, she comments: "We have to exceed targets. We are sitting on the brink of an explosion for Oracle." She says her goals for the company are the same as those of any other business: "Increase revenue, reduce cost and deliver shareholder value."
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