Free Oracle biz apps for iPhone

REDWOOD SHORES, USA: Oracle has announced the first in a series of free Oracle business applications for the Apple iPhone, Oracle Business Indicators, will be available on the Apple App Store beginning today.

These new Oracle business applications address how busy executives and managers work today, requiring targeted, intelligent and task focused information to make informed decisions with ease and simplicity with today's increasingly mobile work style.

The applications leverage the power of Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus (OBIEE) and Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, Fusion Edition to provide access to key metrics and analytical data for mobile executives.

These native applications for the Apple iPhone also leverage the SOA capabilities of OBIEE and the powerful set of Oracle Business Intelligence Web Services. They also have support of SSL encryption protocol enabling superior and secure mobile flexibility and performance.

With Oracle Business Indicators, CFOs can view the latest company financial trends, sales managers can be alerted to sales performance and customer satisfaction issues, and commodity managers can quickly assess the viability of a supplier, all from the convenience of the iPhone.

Oracle Business Indicators deliver time critical intelligence to a broad group of business users across many disciplines. From the contact center to the order fulfillment department, managers require visibility at a moment's notice. For example, contact center managers can monitor call volume to determine proper staffing levels in order to provide superior service to their customers. Also, customer fulfillment managers concerned about a significant spike in customer demand for a product can monitor the available quantity to fulfill new orders.

Oracle Business Indicators offers a highly intuitive user interface designed specifically for the mobile business user to browse, search and locate business performance metrics and view metric details in an engaging display. OBIEE administrators can easily control access to a defined set of metrics based upon each user's roles and responsibilities.

It allows users to view and interact with Oracle Business Intelligence Applications that include financial, human resources, supply chain and customer relationship management analytics, as well as analytical alerts generated by Oracle Delivers, an integrated component of OBIEE. User configuration options allow users to select the relevant indicators to their role and preferences for browsing.

Oracle plans to follow this initial release with support for key ERP business approval processes with rich analytical context. For example, while en route to meetings, an executive or manager would be able to quickly review and respond to pending approvals for new employee hires or expense reports, with supporting analytics, making informed decisions without delay.

Oracle intends to release rich CRM solutions for the iPhone with applications that help users be productive when mobile; collaborate and share information with colleagues and customers, and manage leads, accounts, opportunities and forecasts, all through the iPhone.

The English language version of Oracle Business Indicators is available for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Austria and New Zealand for free from Apple's App Store on iPhone and iPod touch.