Seemingly Harmless Inquiries Could Lead to an Aggressive Sales Cycle
UpperEdge, an independent third-party advisory company that empowers organizations to get the most value from their IT supplier relationships, has analyzed a recent tactic used by Oracle to ignite an aggressive sales cycle.
Oracle’s Java sales team is making inquiries geared toward ensuring security of a customer’s IT environment. This approach can be troublesome and challenging to handle, as the inquiry is typically sent to a CISO or head of IT security, who may not be accustomed to software negotiations and sales calls.
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Oracle discusses the importance of security and that running older versions of Java leaves your IT environment exposed to threats. They will then position that upgrading to a Java cloud subscription model will ensure your environment is always running the latest, most secure version of Java. They offer you a free quote, and since most people do not see the harm in getting a price quote, they agree.
“This is where things get tricky. For Oracle to prepare a Java quote, they will request a copy of your system architecture and a list of the different applications you are using that run Java,” said Jeff Lazarto, Commercial Advisory Practice Leader at UpperEdge.
“Based on this non-threatening set-up that starts with a discussion on security and evolves to soliciting a free price quote, some organizations make the mistake of sharing this information, which not only leads to a Java price quote, but also ignites an aggressive sales cycle,” Lazarto added.
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Three important considerations are:
- Sharing Your System Architecture Can Potentially Lead to a Technology Audit. If your system architecture uses virtualization technology that does not meet Oracle’s definition of hard partitioning, such as VMware, then per Oracle’s policy, ALL processors within the entire virtualized server farm must be licensed, not just the processors where Java or your Oracle database and related Oracle technology products are installed.
- Sharing Your Java Applications Can Potentially Require the Purchase of a Java Subscription. There are two scenarios at play here. First, if you are running third-party applications that come with Java, it is important to know whether they come with a Java license from the third-party application provider or whether you are required to obtain your own Java license. The second scenario is similar but applies if you are downloading no-charge Java versions to run homegrown applications in production. If it turns out that you are using these no-charge Java licenses, then you will be required to purchase them.
- Do Not Run Oracle Scripts. Scripts will disclose everything Oracle needs to not only provide you with a Java price quote, but also to identify any Java utilization that requires a Java subscription, as well as potential database technology compliance issues. Even if you are under a formal audit, Oracle’s agreements do not require you to run scripts, they only require you to reasonably cooperate with providing information relative to the audit – there’s a big difference.
Customers should exercise caution in sharing information with Oracle so as not to unnecessarily trigger an overly aggressive sales approach.
