Oracle attacks State's e-government policy

The State has been "ticking e-government boxes" rather than focusing on truly innovative online projects, according to an Oracle Ireland's managing director.

Mr Nicky Sheridan, vice-president and managing director, Oracle Ireland, said he wished Government policy was "not just about the e-government boxes ticked, but taking some time to show that Ireland really is a showcase for e-government".

Despite the State's top rankings for e-government achievements in European Union surveys, Mr Sheridan said Oracle was working on projects in Europe with the governments of Denmark, France and Britain that "far outweigh what we're currently doing in Ireland".

He added that he was sorry similar projects would not be in place here for the Republic's assumption of the EU presidency in January 2004, as it would have offered an opportunity to show off the State's e-government skills.

Mr Sheridan made the comments at the launch of a new suite of database applications aimed at small to medium-sized businesses, a market the company has increasingly been eyeing as a fresh source of revenue.

The software suite, called E-business Suite Special Edition, is a trimmed-down version of its large enterprise software that performs real-time analysis of business operations.

It can produce a variety of visuals and analysis of up-to-the-minute corporate data.

The software package was a response to research on issues facing SMEs by analyst Datamonitor on behalf of Oracle, he said. Concerns about the economy, margins, profitability and management all run high.

The research showed that the top issue for European SMEs is the external economic environment, with 72 per cent citing it as their key worry.

Next come increased competition (57 per cent); business partner/customer interaction (49 per cent); internal operations (45 per cent); business finance (39 per cent); and information technology issues (35 per cent).

The research study reveals that although SME problems "can seem similar at a top level, the underlying factors can vary dramatically".

Management in SMEs is often not equipped to handle these variations, and SMEs frequently have a high degree of disorganisation.

The European SME market comprises nearly 20 million companies, while Europe has only 20,000 of the large-scale enterprises Oracle has traditionally pursued, according to analyst International Data Corporation.

The Republic has around 24,000 SMEs, according to business directory Kompass.

In recent years, Oracle, which employs 1,000 people in Dublin handling $2 billion (€1.85 billion) in software and services revenue, has pushed up its mid-market customer base to total 40 per cent of its European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) clients.