Delay in delivery upsets Oracle partners

CHENNAI, INDIA: The delay in delivery of Oracle products is troubling channel partners. Oracle partners have been complaining that it takes nearly four to six months in receiving Oracle products after placing an order. Also, the delay is apparently forcing them to close orders very late and at times lose few customers or end up paying a penalty for the delay in providing the software.

Prem Nair, CEO, Scott Agencies, Trivandrum pointed out that due to the delay in receiving the products, he had to close the tenders very late. “The last four orders from Oracle came in very late for me and all these were government orders, which I ended up closing very late. In fact I had to pay a penalty for a couple of the tenders because of the delay, as I had other software and was waiting for Oracle alone,” he said.

Pointing out that there are only two to three percent margins in dealing with software products, Nair said that he had to pay a penalty of five to 15 percent for the delay in closing the project.

“Earlier they had no direct sales person in Kerala. However, even after appointing two people in Cochin and Trivandrum, they haven’t been able to speed up the delivery process. We along with distributors, Tech Pacific and Sonata, have been trying to lobby with Oracle for speeding up the delivery process and are tired of that task,” he said.

Agreeing with Nair, TA Harish, CEO, Smart Soft, Trivandrum said that the partners are losing their customers due to the delay in receiving Oracle products. “As the products reach very late, the customers lose interest in dealing with us and we have to face the consequences,” Harish claimed.

A Chennai-based Oracle partner, on the condition of anonymity, said that it takes nearly four months for a product to reach the channels and they end up losing huge business opportunities due to this delay.

“Already the software business is facing huge issues due to different taxations and if vendors are going to take so much time in delivering their products, we would be going out of business within a short time,” the partner averred.

Hiren Shah, CEO, Dynamic Computer Services, Chennai attributed this delay to the serious error in logistics of Oracle. “We haven’t been able to sort this problem for a long time and this is definitely due to some serious error in the logistics operations of Oracle,” he opined.

Ironically, Alok Gupta, CEO, Softmart Solutions, Delhi said that the time period in receiving Oracle products has actually come down considerably. “Earlier it used to take nearly 16 to 18 weeks to receive an Oracle product. However, today it has come down to eight weeks, which is really good compared to the past. As far as we know, the reason for the delay has also been due to the customs clearance and other legal factors in importing software,” Gupta said.

S Pulla Reddy, CEO, SP Software, Hyderabad felt that the customers need to be informed well in advance while supplying Oracle products. “Even while making any purchase orders, it is clearly mentioned in Oracle’s website that the delivery time would be nearly six weeks. However, the customers need the product immediately after they place a purchase order and the partners are also in a position to arrange that as soon as possible. So it is advisable that the partners communicate to their customers beforehand about the delivery period,” Reddy fel

Agreeing that Infotech Software Dealers Association (ISODA) has got many complaints on the delivery of Oracle products, Rajesh Kothari, Chairman, ISODA said that the association has communicated the issues to Oracle’s top management. “We have discussed this issue with Oracle and they have promised us a better delivery time,” said Kothari.

When contacted, an Oracle representative said, “Oracle does not comment on speculations.”