Oracle is amazing. They reported their numbers last night and although they said future sales will be down around 10% their stock is up 6% as of this writing.

According to Dow Jones:

Revenue for the quarter was lower than Wall Street expected, reflecting both the currency impact and weaker information-technology expenditure, but cost control and a strong flow of maintenance support revenue helped Oracle hit its quarterly earnings per share guidance.

For the quarter ended Nov. 30, the Redwood City, Calif.-based business- software giant reported net income of $1.296 billion, or 25 cents a share, down from $1.303 billion, also 25 cents a share, a year earlier. The stronger dollar cut 4 cents a share from the latest quarter's per-share earnings.

Excluding stock-based compensation, restructuring and acquisition-related costs, earnings rose 9% to 34 cents a share. Assuming fixed exchange rates, the figure would have been 37 cents.

Revenue climbed 6% to $5.61 billion, reflecting a 12% increase at constant currency rates. Software revenue grew 8%, and services revenue fell 2%. At fixed exchange rates, the figures rose 14% and 5%, respectively.

After hundreds of failed acquisitions made by other companies over the years, Oracle is one of the rare companies that acquires correctly. Moreover the company's CRM on-demand strategy is paying off, showing customers really like hosted/SaaS solutions.

Analyst Ovum believes the company will continue to acquire and I agree. The strategy the company employs is working and there is no reason to change it.

Oracle buffeted by the market storms - execution is still the key

After market close on Thursday Oracle announced the results of its second quarter - the period ending 30 November 2008. New software licences declined by 3% to $1.6 billion compared to the same quarter last year - having been adversely affected by currency fluctuations. Likewise there was a 1% decline in quarterly net income to $1.296 billion. Two bright spots in an otherwise difficult quarter were the 13% quarterly growth in On Demand services, and a 14% quarterly growth in software licence updates and product support - both of which are recurring revenue items.

Markets are tough and uncertain

The 2Q08 results, and the guidance for 3Q08, emphasise the extreme volatility that surrounds the current technology markets. Although the third quarter ahead is important, it is not as important as the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is the traditional Oracle powerhouse quarter and any signs of "the green shoots" of market upturn will need to be observed before the summer season begins - otherwise there is unlikely to be a significant market upturn before the autumn of 2009. 3Q08 may see short-term cost control measures but 4Q08 is the real one to watch.

When Oracle gave 2Q08 guidance during its 1Q08 conference call its President, Safra Catz, forecast that new licence revenues would grow between 2% and 12%. This was already a wide prediction but was further extended by the uncertainty over the additional impact that currency volatility was certain to bring. In the run up to the second-quarter results some financial analysts had lowered their expectations, and Oracle stock has been drifting lower in the past weeks based on these revised expectations. The bounce-back of Oracle stock in after-market trading indicates that the results had already been priced in throughout the last quarter.

Portfolio diversity and scale matter

Oracle is traditionally judged by its new software licence sales. Therefore, this looks like a soft quarter, with a 3% decline in new licence revenues. These revenues are the key to unlocking the lucrative future revenues from product updates and support - which grew 14%. However, its stock price is rarely judged by these revenue streams, despite them being highly profitable. Equally, the contribution of fast-growing revenues, such as from the CRM On Demand offerings, is often underplayed - and this has been booming recently. If Oracle did not have the scale and diversity that its massive acquisition trail of the last four years has built, then it would be in a significantly worse position than it currently finds itself. On those grounds alone, the strategy has been a success.

In a recessionary market some companies will be more resistant to decline than others. In the software market companies with a diverse product portfolio will be more resilient, as different product categories have distinctly different cyclical or counter-cyclical effects. For example, business applications typically decline more quickly than infrastructure software in a broad market decline. However, even after its acquisitions Oracle is still smaller and less diverse than the likes of IBM and HP.

Future acquisition potential and current execution

The current market conditions put Oracle in a strategic quandary. On the one hand, the recession is challenging the cash position of many companies, reducing their stock prices and making them eminently affordable for an acquirer with a strong asset base such as Oracle. On the other hand, in order to protect its existing margin streams it could be argued that Oracle should curtail its M&A aspirations and preserve cash.

Ceasing its acquisition trail would represent a major course change for Oracle, even if it was simply put in abeyance until market conditions improved. However, we expect Oracle to continue its acquisitions, with a particular focus on the industry specific software acquisitions that have become increasingly important recently. Oracle still continues to generate strong positive cash flow, with 15% year-on-year growth in free cash flow to $7.6 billion. This is enough to sustain further acquisitions. However, Oracle may well look to tighten its belt and have a keen eye on cost control in the next three quarters - to sustain margins and further strengthen its M&A potential. Execution, execution and execution will be the mantra as Oracle continues to drive consistency and performance throughout the field operation.

Comcast has been known for poor customer service in the past but is now on the leading edge and should be commended. You can follow the happenings at the company on Twitter and immediately engage with a corporate exec.

Here is an excerpt from an article on the matter:

I spoke to Comcast Director of Digital Care Frank Eliason, who personally responds to each and every comment and complaint sent to @comcastcares on Twitter, at all hours of the day (there are currently over 20,000 posts). All you need to do to reach him is to get on Twitter and begin a post with @comcastcares. From what I can tell, Frank usually responds within a few minutes (even on weekends!). That's right--you can reach a Comcast exec with only 30 seconds of work.

Yes, the big tech companies are still purchasing but if they don't pick you up now, there are limited opportunities for future funding.

I get these calls and all I can think is "You're waiting until the middle of the recession to start thinking about how you get customers?" I could say more but the sheer lunacy of the whole situation doesn't allow me to articulate without peppering my writing with obscenities.

Moreover, now is the time I am hearing more than ever that PR alone isn't cutting it for companies (did it ever?). The complaint is there is too much noise and editors/reporters are being laid off around the world by the hundreds of thousand meaning few reporters to even pitch to.

So now, these unknown companies are cash-strapped and need to sell something in 30 days. "Can you help me with that," they ask? Worse, they come to TMC so we can help them generate leads with the expectation of selling product in a few weeks.

Message to CEOs and marketers everywhere... You really expect people who don't know your company to buy communications and tech products from you? Seriously? On what planet do people bet their careers and the future of their companies by partnering with a company that doesn't market to them? And in a recession no less?

Many of my fellow engineers seem to be lost when it comes to marketing. They just don't understand. I suggest that all engineers be required to take five marketing courses before graduating. Why? Because, simply -- the sheer quantity of companies who made great products and then vanished is shocking. If only these companies knew how to position themselves, many of them would b thriving entities today.

This may be the best way to explain it to them. With all the terrible news coming out of Detroit about American car companies, would you buy an American car? I have mentioned a few times in the last week that I think Cadillac has come a very long way. The response from friends and relatives - why would anyone buy a car from a company which could soon go out of business?

In the case of the unknown communications/tech company - the perception by customers is exactly the same.

So even if I am a viable customer in the market for a new car, GM could capture me as a lead and call me 50 times and I won't buy a thing from them.

Marketing can be summed up in many ways but the concept is to consistently instill your brand and message in the mind of the customer so when they are ready to purchase something, they call you; visit your site, etc. If they question your ability to survive you will not get the RFP or purchase consideration.

There are so many ways to use technology and solid media partners to help you get to your target audience - regardless of what this audience is.

I just hope this economic situation has taught all company heads that the first focus has to be on generating earnings and focusing on selling your company or technology can be secondary

Strategy Change: Make Money

For those of us in telecom and tech, there is obvious concern about where the economy is headed - just like any other industry. The difference for us is we have seen a recent bubble burst and don't have the excess in our markets which other markets do. In fact in 2000, the dotcom bubble burst in March and the telecom bubble in November.

Most CEOs I speak with in our industry tell me tech and communications are among the best industries to be in for 2009 and beyond.

This of course does not mean we will see runaway spending next year. Company execs tell me they are cautiously optimistic. A few companies are actually looking forward to next year and are positioning themselves to take share from competitors who are generally weak due to poor branding and/or excessive debt.

In order to help you figure out what is happening in the market and what the global outlook is in the telecom and tech space for 2009, TMCnet has conducted its annual survey of purchasing from its online audience of 2-3 million monthly visitors.

We recently issued a press release on the results but I pasted some of the most interesting parts below for your perusal:

• A majority of TMCnet.com visitors, 66 percent, approve purchases, recommend products and determine needs.
• 24 percent have budgets of more than $500,000 for communications and IT purchases in 2009.
• 15 percent have budgets exceeding $1 million.
• 8 percent will spend between $251,000 and $500,000 in 2009.
• 15 percent have budgets of $51,000 to $250,000.

• 19 percent will buy wireless/mobility Solutions.
• 19 percent plan to buy network management products and services.
• 13 percent will buy service provider solutions, such as softswitch, SBC, Gateway, 3G and 4G.
• 11 percent will buy UC solutions.
• 11 percent  will buy PBX and IP/PBX solutions.
• 19 percent plan to make network management buys.

The survey on TMCnet.com revealed that nearly one-third of the respondents work for firms employing more than 1,000 employees, with 24 percent employed by large companies with work forces of 5,000-plus. TMCnet visitors hold senior executive jobs, with 33 percent in top-tiers of corporate and IT management. Another 16 percent are technical management and staff.

TMCnet.com is an information source for communications and technology professionals from around the world. Most visitors - 61 percent - are located in the United States and Canada, 13 percent are located in Europe and the Middle East, 5 percent are in Latin America, and 21 percent are in Asia, Australia and Africa.

I am moderating a webinar on SaaS in the contact center and it starts in 20 minutes. You can listen live or get the archived version. I am looking forward to it.

SaaS in the Contact Center an Attractive Alternative During a Down Economy Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT Customer service is a hot topic in boardrooms everywhere. This reflects today's harsh economic realities, with fierce competition, demanding customers, and cost-cutting mandates, yet it also represents an unprecedented opportunity for the contact center industry. Companies are virtualizing their contact center operations in an effort to improve service delivery, operational efficiency, and business profitability. However, the challenges of managing a virtual contact center environment are many. How do you connect the right customer to the right agent - no matter where the agent is located? How do you measure service level adherence across distributed agents and organizations? More importantly, how can you optimize resources and technology for enhanced customer service? During this webinar we will discuss these challenges and the following topics: How you can benefit from the promise of SaaS and "Cloud Computing" How you can enhance your customer's experience while reducing cost of operations by 25 - 40% How you can eliminate costs including maintenance, support and software upgrades while you focus entirely on your business How you can route, monitor, record and manage customer interactions in a distributed environment with agents working in-house, at home, in branches or offshore How you can maintain visibility across organization and technology boundaries How you can extend existing contact center solutions and communication technologies This webinar will include a Question and Answer session, so be sure to have your questions ready. **REGISTER and attend this must-see event and you could win a iTouch!** Be sure to bring your questions!  After the presentation, the webcast will be open for a live Q&A. Register Now!

PRESENTERS:   Prem Uppaluru Chief Executive Officer (Co-Founder), Transera Prem has over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications and networking industry and is a proven serial entrepreneur. He was formally EVP at Genesys, where he drove the company's Voice Platform and Managed Service solutions. Prem joined Genesys when the company he co-founded, Telera, was acquired by Alcatel the parent company of Genesys. At Telera, Prem spearheaded the development of what is now the world's leading VoiceXML-based IVR platform. Telera's technology has revolutionized the contact center industry, and has earned various accolades and industry recognition. Prior to co-founding Telera, Prem co-founded VOIS Corporation where he served as CEO. Before launching into his entrepreneurial efforts, Prem held several executive management positions at Novell, Fluent, Samsung Software America, Bell Labs and Bellcore. Prem holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his masters and undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay.   Dan Miller Senior Analyst & Founder, Opus Research Dan Miller has over 25 years experience in marketing, business development and corporate strategy for telecom service providers, computer manufacturers and application software developers. Miller founded Opus Research in 1985 and helped define the Conversational Access Technologies marketplace by authoring scores of reports, advisories and newsletters addressing business opportunities that reside where automated speech leverages Web services, mobility and enterprise software infrastructure. More recently he oversaw the launch of research practices covering Voice Biometrics and Local Mobile Search. As Director of the New Electronic Media Program at LINK Resources from 1980-1983, he helped define one of the first continuous advisory services in for electronic content providers, including publishers, movie studios, television networks and cable TV system operators. Miller then held management positions at Atari, Warner Communications and Pacific Telesis Group. At The Kelsey Group from 1994-1999, Dan was Editor-in-Chief of The Kelsey Report and later served as Vice President with responsibility for launching and managing information services on Local Online Commerce, Voice and Wireless Commerce and Directory Driven Commerce. Miller received his BA from Hampshire College (1976) and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business (1980). He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences regarding speech processing, contact center automation, unified communications and mobile commerce. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Investor's Business Daily, Wired.com, CommWeb and provided commentary on CNN and TechTV.   Rich Tehrani - Moderator President, Group Editor-in-Chief, TMC Rich Tehrani is a VoIP industry expert, visionary, author and columnist. He founded the first magazine focused on VoIP in 1998 and, in his role as president of Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC), is the owner of the registered trademark for the term Internet Telephony. Rich, currently president and group editor-in-chief, has led TMC in many capacities since 1982. Rich plays a pivotal role in positioning TMC as the only publishing and trade show company focusing exclusively on the rapidly growing voice/data convergence and computer telephony integration. He continues to be a driving force in the creation and implementation of pioneering publications and events. Rich Tehrani is a computer engineer who graduated from the University Of Connecticut with a hardware/software Bachelor of Science degree.

While layoffs take place in the hundreds of thousands, at least one industry has some bright spots in terms of hiring. Thomas L. Cardella & Associates is adding 55 full-time jobs at its Keokuk call center to handle a new outsourcing contract.

In the recession of the early nineties, hundreds of thousands of new call center jobs helped the economy rebound more quickly. For better or for worse, about half the call center jobs were for outbound calling otherwise known as telemarketing.

While the Bush administration was responsible for effectively killing outbound telemarketing via FCC and FTC regulations, it seems it gets no credit for doing so.

In my estimation and after consulting with other industry experts I would say anywhere from 1-2.5 million outbound telemarketing jobs have vanished due to these regulations. Let's take the higher number for the sake of argument and assume half of them would now be performed outside this country.

This would mean there are potentially 1.25 million jobs which have been wiped out by do not call regulations. While many hate these calls it is worth mentioning that when you get a telephone offer from a timeshare company offering a virtually free 4-day vacation in Orlando in exchange for sitting through a 90-minute sales pitch, perspective tends to change.

Another way of looking at this is -- which is better -- letting the private sector employ people who make phone calls or spending your grandchildren's tax dollars to payoff the auto industry. You see, Detroit would naturally be a place where outbound contact center jobs would likely be mushrooming if this were 1992.

Dialogic has officially acquired the communications platforms division of NMS as of Friday evening and I had the opportunity to speak with Dialogic's Senior Vice President of Marketing Jim Machi about the acquisition and the future of the company. You may recall, I first reported on the news back on September 12^th.

Before I get into the conversation with Machi, it is worth pointing out that the major competition in the CTI space between Dialogic, NMS and Brooktrout has finally come to an end this past weekend.

These companies were at each other's throats in decades past but as they competed, the industry thrived. More importantly, this rivalry caused the communications market to open to the point where a high school kid can develop telephony apps in the cloud with no knowledge of underlying telephony networks. CTI was a huge step towards openness in telecom and as these building blocks which were used for computer telephony integration began to be applied to IP communications and more specifically, VoIP - the world changed.

The opportunity for companies like Dialogic is changing and while VoIP is a big part of the company's business, video is a strong part of the future. A major part of the reason for this deal in fact is to further the company's leadership in mobile value-added services which is of course includes video. The immense amount of focus the company is putting on this space should be evident from presentation made by Nick Jensen at the recent Dialogic One Conference in San Diego where he said video is the new voice.

While speaking with Jim Machi, perhaps the most exciting part of the conversation was that Brough Turner will be joining the company as Chief Strategy Officer. This is a big deal as Turner is a pure genius and understands technology as well as markets.

For Turner, this opportunity means he can work with a team that has tremendous momentum in communications markets worldwide. There will be more resources and probably an order of magnitude more complexity when you consider the absorption and integration of platforms taking place at Dialogic. I can't think of a more suitable person that Brough to be involved at this point.

Machi points out that there is a great deal of growth expected in the mobile value-added services market and I tend to agree. There is a large amount of cannibalization taking place by the Apple iTunes App Store and other similar initiatives by RIM, Nokia and Microsoft but there is still plenty of room for carriers to make lots of money via new mobile services.

I asked Machi how he sees the economy affecting this space and he says that he can't see people giving up their cell phones. I tend to agree and this comment and it reminded me of a friend who owned a good deal of low income apartment buildings. He often told me about eviction cases where tenants stopped paying rent but wouldn't stop paying their cable bills because they couldn't stand to live without TV.

Machi also mentioned customers are more likely to get rid of landlines than mobile devices and carriers will have to fight to keep subscribers - implying that services matter.

Another important part of our discussion centered around the enterprise and the fact that Dialogic is still very committed to this space and has not reduced development at all. In fact the Cantata acquisition brought considerable enterprise and fax assets via the Brooktrout product line of the company.

As to the future, Machi alluded to seeing a number of value added services next year centering around video and other technologies.

As the chapter entitled CTI competition comes to an end, I can't help but think we are on the precipice of new and exciting technologies which will transform mobile devices into communications gateways with access to anything and everything we wish - enabling us to see the world, broadcast whatever we like and take advantage of video, social networking and collaboration like never before.

While many of you were busy in the malls this past weekend or trying to find the best price on that new digital camera yesterday on Cyber Monday, the dedicated team of designers and programmers here at TMC worked day and night and night and day to bring you a new look and feel.

Over the past years, many of you have told me that you love to come to TMCnet on a daily basis and the hundreds of stories and blog entries we write on a daily basis contain everything you need to navigate the telecom and tech worlds. At the same time, many of you have told us the interface TMCnet has looks busy. Others have told me it is not clear that 50-100 writers contribute to TMCnet on a  daily/weekly basis.

Our new redesign is meant to adress all of these great requests and we hope you enjoy the new TMCnet.

One last point... Thanks to the 2-3 million communications and technology decision makers who visit TMCnet monthly and thanks to the TMC team for doing such a great job on this redesign. I should also mention this redesign is ongoing and is still being rolled out over our millions of pages. If you see something that you think can be improved, please drop us a line.

Recently, my wife ordered a few pairs of shoes from Zappos.com and they upgraded her shipping after the order was placed. She placed the order Monday evening and the shoes were received Tuesday afternoon. She was blown away and I think Zappos has a new loyal customer. In a slow economy, this is a smart thing you can do to ensure customer loyalty.

Another out of the box idea comes from BMW of Darien - the BMW dealer closest to TMC headquarters in Norwalk, CT. If you take your BMW to the Stamford Town Center (the local mall) on Black Friday, you get free valet parking. Normally of course you can spend an eternity looking for a parking spot on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Now - BMW of Darien is sponsoring a service which should not only make owners of these German cars happy - but it also brings BMW owners into the mall more quickly - which has got to be good for all the stores in the mall.

As things slow in the economy, it is the companies that think about how to over deliver for their customers that are most successful. I have to commend both companies for truly valuing customers and I hope these moves pay off for each.

When an entire generation uses their phones for nothing but social networking and sending text messages, smart contact center companies see an opportunity. Interactive Intelligence is one such company and recently added SMS as a channel as part of its multichannel contact center solutions.

Remember, kids today do not even check email. We could argue the reason for this... I personally think they don't mind paying for messaging when email is free -- because frankly, their parents are paying.

So if they use SMS only, then a bank needs a solution which allows checking account balances to be sent via SMS to customers. Obviously, other areas make sense for this technological addition. For example, flight alerts are a natural. Also what about sending an SMS when the call center has no wait?

Really, the potential for this addition is limitless and if you have customers under 18 and aren't exploring using SMS in your call center, you are missing the boat.