[jumbotron heading=”Analysis”]In this analysis for Technology Times, Martins O. Adegoke, Principal of ZARPHYRE, an independent, private IT consulting company registered at Dallas Municipal, Dallas, TX, analyses the prospects and possibilities of a merger of two global technology giants, Oracle and IBM. [/jumbotron]
Someday, hopefully, I would be able to connect the intrinsic wiring into my DNA and the pathological attachment I have for strong stock market performance by global firms. For years, my days would not complete if I don’t check the stock performance of a number of firms on the NYSE and NASDAQ.
Oracle, IBM, Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Facebook, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Accenture, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Wal-Mart, P&G, GE, Amazon among others, feature prominently among the firms I regularly check their stock performance.
By the way, these global firms have substantial leverage on the wealth of nations from the United States (US) to Europe to Asia to Africa and beyond!
[blockquote right=”pull-right”]As at Monday June 16, 2014, Oracle, at mid-day stock market caps is around $187.80 billion, while IBM IS $183.80 billion. Pretty close stock cap, yet a subtle victory for Oracle and a validation of Gartner.[/blockquote]
In effect, like average investment-inclined business professionals, you can imagine the mood to US investors and the global economy each time the Dow and the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 go down. In a way, a firm’s consistent quarter after quarter’s strong stock performance over a fairly long period on Wall Street represents one method to measure a firm’s corporate performance management generally and the ability to retain the trust of the firm’s stockholder and engender the interests of new ones, including the total ecosystem of a firm’s trading and supplier partners and the human capital assets, are also determined to a large extent by this singular capital market equity variable: the stock performance. In addition, the global economy depends to a very large extent on what happen daily on Wall Street.
However, when Gartner reports at the beginning of the year that Oracle Corporation is on the upside swing, and that it has actually outperformed IBM – the legendary US global IT vendor – becoming the second largest software vendor in the world in 2013 as measured by annual revenue, I shuddered a little!
However, the Gartner Report got me thinking about an incident at one of Oracle’s IT seminar in which I was privileged to attend about two or three years ago in Las Colinas, Irving, Texas.
One of Oracle Corporation IT consultants who had delivered a presentation in responding to a question from a participant in the seminar, had boldly proclaimed that it would be a matter of few months for Oracle to catch up with IBM and replace it as the second major enterprise software IT vendor.
Apparently, the gentleman probably knew his facts then in the light of the Gartner Report cited above and current Oracle and IBM performance at the Wall Street. But even when Oracle was number three, the firm has always maintained the position that it is indeed the number two software firm in the world. Sometimes, maybe our word and confidence level invariably define what we become.
However, Oracle’s confidence and bullishness even at a distant number three as a global IT vendor some months ago is simply not about brashness. It turns out now as Gartner Report early in the year validates, and by the current stock rating of Oracle and IBM. In the last few days in June 2014, Oracle has been consistent in outperforming IBM in its total stock market capitalisation on Wall Street.
As at Monday June 16, 2014, Oracle, at mid-day stock market caps is around $187.80 billion, while IBM IS $183.80 billion. Pretty close stock cap, yet a subtle victory for Oracle and a validation of Gartner.
As a global IT titan and a US premier IT firm, it is kind of counterintuitive seeing IBM lagging behind Oracle now. True, Oracle has been involved in a number of acquisitions over the years, including its arguably the best software asset acquisition, Sun Microsystems, the original custodian of the Java software that is the underpinning of great technology breakthrough including cloud computing; cellular phone handsets and mobile applications – already in possession by billions of users around the world, with promise to power Internet of Things (IOT) as digitalization – cloud computing, mobility, and data analytics would soon be able to connect and automate almost everything in your living room to your car driving habits as you drive to work. Of course you would always be able to connect on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and whatever you like in the Internet economy.
As a digital consumer in the new global economy, you will also be able to seamlessly connect with your children via their digital devices at school in real time when you need to a give five-minute inspiration during break hours or when doing your regular physical exercise in your gym and getting real-time feedback about your body reactions or when shopping in your favorite retail place with ability to get instant, real-time answers to your shopping question via your mobile phone with accurate data analytics enriching your total shopping experience or able to measure your heartbeats and get basic facts about your medical state of health, things you would ordinarily schedule appointments with your doctors for in your hospitals, including ability of farmers in rural Africa to get in touch with their supply chain merchants and sell off their produce as soon as harvested, preventing wastages and unnecessary costs. These are some of the promises of digitalization – cloud computing, mobility and data analytics around the world in the new data-driven global economy. All these are amply illustrated by Messrs. Eric Schmidt and Jason Cohen in their 2013 book: The Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business.
Home