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  • What would your three most-telling interview questions be for a new hire?

    - by Phil.Wheeler
    I've been asked to interview my company's next junior developer candidate and I want to come up with a couple of questions that will challenge him / her. What are some of the best interview questions you asked a developer candidate that revealed the most about the person's character, ability or nature? These do not necessarily have to be technical questions, but I am after some insight into the person's ability to reason or think fast under pressure or when faced with an unusual problem.

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  • Finding Leaders Breakfasts - Adelaide and Perth

    - by rdatson-Oracle
    HR Executives Breakfast Roundtables: Find the best leaders using science and social media! Perth, 22nd July & Adelaide, 24th July What is leadership in the 21st century? What does the latest research tell us about leadership? How do you recognise leadership qualities in individuals? How do you find individuals with these leadership qualities, hire and develop them? Join the Neuroleadership Institute, the Hay Group, and Oracle to hear: 1. the latest neuroscience research about human bias, and how it applies to finding and building better leaders; 2. the latest techniques to recognise leadership qualities in people; 3. and how you can harness your people and social media to find the best people for your company. Reflect on your hiring practices at this thought provoking breakfast, where you will be challenged to consider whether you are using best practices aimed at getting the right people into your company. Speakers Abigail Scott, Hay Group Abigail is a UK registered psychologist with 10 years international experience in the design and delivery of talent frameworks and assessments. She has delivered innovative assessment programmes across a range of organisations to identify and develop leaders. She is experienced in advising and supporting clients through new initiatives using evidence-based approach and has published a number of research papers on fairness and predictive validity in assessment. Karin Hawkins, NeuroLeadership Institute Karin is the Regional Director of NeuroLeadership Institute’s Asia-Pacific region. She brings over 20 years experience in the financial services sector delivering cultural and commercial results across a variety of organisations and functions. As a leadership risk specialist Karin understands the challenge of building deep bench strength in teams and she is able to bring evidence, insight, and experience to support executives in meeting today’s challenges. Robert Datson, Oracle Robert is a Human Capital Management specialist at Oracle, with several years as a practicing manager at IBM, learning and implementing latest management techniques for hiring, deploying and developing staff. At Oracle he works with clients to enable best practices for HR departments, and drawing the linkages between HR initiatives and bottom-line improvements. Agenda 07:30 a.m. Breakfast and Registrations 08:00 a.m. Welcome and Introductions 08:05 a.m. Breaking Bias in leadership decisions - Karin Hawkins 08:30 a.m. Identifying and developing leaders - Abigail Scott 08:55 a.m. Finding leaders, the social way - Robert Datson 09:20 a.m. Q&A and Closing Remarks 09:30 a.m. Event concludes If you are an employee or official of a government organisation, please click here for important ethics information regarding this event. To register for Perth, Tuesday 22nd July, please click HERE To register for Adelaide, Thursday 24th July, please click HERE 1024x768 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 -"/ /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Contact: To register or have questions on the event? Contact Aaron Tait on +61 2 9491 1404

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  • Friday Fun: Games that Look Like Productivity Apps

    - by Mysticgeek
    We’ve been showing you fun flash games to play during company time on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully while playing them, you haven’t received a “talking to”. Today we show you some cool games to play that look like productivity apps, so the boss will be none the wiser. The website cantyouseeimbusy.com has developed some very neat little games that look like productivity apps like Word and Excel. These apps look exactly like some project you would be working on, but are really neat little games. Here we take a look at three cool ones on the site called Breakdown, Leadership, and Cost Cutter. Leadership Leadership is a cool game that looks like something you would be working in Excel and is a spin off of the classic game Moon Lander. You navigate your ship through a variety of challenging line graphs. Breakdown This one is a knock off of the classic game Break Out. Use your mouse to scroll the racket at the bottom and bounce the ball off of the text in the document. Press the space bar to pause the game and the elements will disappear…good for when the boss comes around. Cost Cutter This one is a puzzle game where it looks like your working on some bar charts in Excel. You need to click combinations of two or more blocks that are the same color. Again, hit the spacebar and the game elements will disappear. If you’re looking for a way to goof off with some simple games without the boss knowing, these will definitely do the trick. Another cool game along these lines is Excit! which we covered previously. Play Cost Cutter, Breakdown, and Leadership at cantyouseeimbusy.com Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Friday Fun: Get Your Mario OnFriday Fun: Bricks Breaking & Cube CrashFriday Fun: Fancy Pants AdventuresFriday Fun: GemCraft is a Totally Addictive Tower Defense GameFriday Fun: Five More Time Wasting Online Games TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Download Microsoft Office Help tab The Growth of Citibank Quickly Switch between Tabs in IE Windows Media Player 12: Tweak Video & Sound with Playback Enhancements Own a cell phone, or does a cell phone own you? Make your Joomla & Drupal Sites Mobile with OSMOBI

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  • Database Security Events in April

    - by Troy Kitch
    Wed, Apr 18, Executive Oracle Database Security Round Table - Tampa, FL Tue, Apr 24, ISC(2) Leadership Regional Event Series - San Diego, CA April 24 - May 17,  Independent Oracle Users Group Enterprise Data at Risk Seminar Series Tue, Apr 24 IOUG Enterprise Data at Risk Seminar Series - Toronto Wed, Apr 25 IOUG Enterprise Data at Risk Seminar Series - New York Thu, Apr 26 IOUG Enterprise Data at Risk Seminar Series - Boston Thu, Apr 26 ISC(2) Leadership Regional Event Series - San Jose, CA

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  • My Reference for Amy Lewis

    - by Denise McInerney
    The 2013 election campaign for the PASS Board of Directors is underway. There are seven qualified candidates running this year. They all offer a wealth of experience volunteering for PASS and the SQL Server community. One of these candidates, Amy Lewis, asked me to write a reference for her to include on her candidate application. I have a lot of experience working with Amy and was pleased to provide this reference: I enthusiastically support Amy Lewis as a candidate for the PASS Board of Directors. I have known and worked with Amy in various PASS' volunteer capacities for years, starting when we were both leaders of SIGs (the precursors to the Virtual Chapters.) In that time I have seen Amy grow as a leader, taking on increasing responsibility and developing her leadership skills in the process. From the Program Committee to the BI Virtual Chapter to her local user group's SQL Saturday Amy has demonstrated a capacity to organize and lead volunteers. A successful leader delivers results, and does so in a way that encourages and empowers the people she is working with; Amy embodies this leadership style. As Director for Virtual Chapters I have most recently worked with Amy in her capacity of DW/BI VC Leader. This VC is one of our largest and most active, and Amy's leadership is a key contribution to that success. I was pleased to see that Amy was also thinking about succession and prepared other volunteers to take over the chapter leadership. Amy has shown an understanding of PASS' strategic goals and has focused her volunteer efforts to help us reach those goals. For the past couple of years we have been trying to expand PASS reach and relevance to SQL communities around the world. The VCs are a key vehicle for this expansion. Amy embraced this idea and organized the VC to engage volunteers in Europe & Australia and provide content that could reach SQL professionals in those regions. A second key strategy for PASS is expanding into the data analytics space. Again Amy rose to the occasion helping to shape the program for our first Business Analytics Conference and leveraging the BI VC to promote the event. By all measures I think Amy is prepared to serve on the Board and contribute in a positive way.

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  • The Connected Company: WebCenter Portal - Feedback - Analytics and Polls

    - by Michael Snow
    Evernote Export body, td { }Guest Post by: Mitchell Palski, Staff Sales Consultant The importance of connecting peers has been widely recognized and socialized as a critical component of employee intranets. Organizations are striving to provide mediums for sharing knowledge and improving awareness across their enterprise. Indirectly, the socialization of your enterprise should lead to cost savings and improved product/service quality. However, many times the direct effects of connecting an organization’s leadership with its employees are overlooked. Oracle WebCenter Portal can help you bridge that gap by gathering implicit and explicit feedback. Implicit Feedback Through Usage Analytics Analytics allows administrators to track and analyze WebCenter Portal traffic and usage. Analytics provides the following basic functionality: Usage Tracking Metrics: Analytics collects and reports metrics of common WebCenter Portal functions, including community and portlet traffic. Behavior Tracking: Analytics can be used to analyze WebCenter Portal metrics to determine usage patterns, such as page visit duration and usage over time. User Profile Correlation: Analytics can be used to correlate metric information with user profile information. Usage tracking reports can be viewed and filtered by user profile data such as country, company or title. Usage analytics help measure how users interact with website content – allowing your IT staff and business analysts to make informed decisions when planning development for your next intranet enhancement. For example: If users are not accessing your Announcements page and missing critical information that they need to be aware of, you may elect to use graphical links on the home page to direct more users to that page. As a result, the number of employee help-requests to HR decreases. If users are not accessing your News page to read recent articles, you may elect to stop spending as much time updating the page with new stories and cut costs in your communications department. You notice that there is a high volume of users accessing the Employee Dashboard page so your organization decides to continue making personalization enhancements to the page and investing in the Portal tool that most users are accessing. Usage analytics aren’t necessarily a new concept in the IT industry. What sets WebCenter Portal Analytics apart is: Reports are tailored for WebCenter specific tools Report can be easily added to a page as simple as a drag-and-drop Explicit Feedback Through Polls WebCenter Portal users can create, edit, take, and analyze online polls. With polls, you can survey your audience (such as their opinions and their experience level), check whether they can recall important information, and gather feedback and metrics. How many times have you been involved in a requirements discussion and someone has asked a question similar to “Well how do you know that no one likes our home page?” and the response is “Everyone says they hate it! That’s all anyone complains about.” No one has any measurable, quantifiable metric to gauge user satisfaction. Analytics measure usage, but your organization also needs to measure the quality of your portal as defined by the actual people that use it. With that information, your leadership can make informed decisions that will not only match usage patterns but also relate to employees on a personal level. The end result is a connection between employees and leadership that gives everyone in the organization a sense of ownership of their Portal rather than the feeling of development decisions being segregated to leadership only. Polls can be created and edited through the Poll Manager: Polls and View Poll Results can easily be added to a page through drag-and-drop. What did we learn? Being a “connected” company doesn’t just mean helping employees connect with each other horizontally across your enterprise. It also means connecting those employees to the decisions that affect their everyday activities. Through WebCenter Portal Usage Analytics and Polls, any decision that is made to remove a Portal page, update a Portal page, or develop new Portal functionality, can be justified by quantifiable metrics. Instead of fielding complaints and hearing that your employees don’t have a voice, give those employees a voice and listen!

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  • complex regular expression task

    - by Don Don
    Hi, What regular expressions do I need to extract section title(s) in a text file? So, in the following sample text, I'd like to extract "Communication and Leadership" "1.Self-Knowledge" "2. Humility" "(3) Clear Thinking". Many thanks. Communication and Leadership True leaders understand that, rather than forcing their followers into a preconceived mold, their job is to motivate and organize followers to collectively accomplish goals that are in everyone's interests. The ability to communicate this to co-workers and followers is critical to the effectiveness of leadership. 1.Self-Knowledge Superior leaders are able to devote their skills and energies to leadership of a group because they have worked through personal issues to the point where they know themselves thoroughly. A high level of self-knowledge is a prerequisite to effective communication skills, because the things that you communicate as a leader are coming from within. 2. Humility This subversion of personal preference requires a certain level of humility. Although popular definitions of leaders do not always see them as humble, the most effective leaders actually are. This humility may not be expressed in self-effacement, but in a total commitment to the goals of the organization. Humility requires an understanding of one's own relative unimportance in comparison to larger systems. (3) Clear Thinking Clarity of thinking translates into clarity of communication. A leader whose goals or personal analysis is muddled will tend to deliver unclear or ambiguous directions to followers, leading to confusion and dissatisfaction. A leader with a clear mind who is not ambivalent about her purposes will communicate what needs to be done in a s traightforward and unmistakable manner.

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  • Tell the CDI 2 Expert Group What You Think!

    - by reza_rahman
    Since it's introduction in Java EE 6, CDI has become a key API for the platform. CDI 1.1 was a relatively minor release included in Java EE 7 as was CDI 1.2 (to be included in GlassFish 4.0.1). We have much higher expectations from CDI 2 (projected to be included in Java EE 8) under the new leadership of Antoine Sabot-Durand. Much like we conducted the Java EE 8 survey to solidify future direction for the platform, CDI 2 is now undergoing the same effort. Towards this goal the CDI 2 leadership is now soliciting feedback on some very specific items via an open survey. Topics include the likes of Java SE bootstrap, asynchronous processing, modularity, EJB-style @Startup and @Asynchronous in CDI, configuration and CDI Lite. You can of course also provide free-form input on anything that's not on the survey. Take the survey now on the CDI specification site and help shape the future of CDI 2 and Java EE 8!

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  • How to unit test synchronized code

    - by gillJ
    Hi, I am new to Java and junit. I have the following peice of code that I want to test. Would appreciate if you could send your ideas about what's the best way to go about testing it. Basically, the following code is about electing a leader form a Cluster. The leader holds a lock on the shared cache and services of the leader get resumed and disposed if it somehow looses the lock on the cache. How can i make sure that a leader/thread still holds the lock on the cache and that another thread cannot get its services resumed while the first is in execution? public interface ContinuousService { public void resume(); public void pause(); } public abstract class ClusterServiceManager { private volatile boolean leader = false; private volatile boolean electable = true; private List<ContinuousService> services; protected synchronized void onElected() { if (!leader) { for (ContinuousService service : services) { service.resume(); } leader = true; } } protected synchronized void onDeposed() { if (leader) { for (ContinuousService service : services) { service.pause(); } leader = false; } } public void setServices(List<ContinuousService> services) { this.services = services; } @ManagedAttribute public boolean isElectable() { return electable; } @ManagedAttribute public boolean isLeader() { return leader; } public class TangosolLeaderElector extends ClusterServiceManager implements Runnable { private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(TangosolLeaderElector.class); private String election; private long electionWaitTime= 5000L; private NamedCache cache; public void start() { log.info("Starting LeaderElector ({})",election); Thread t = new Thread(this, "LeaderElector ("+election+")"); t.setDaemon(true); t.start(); } public void run() { // Give the connection a chance to start itself up try { Thread.sleep(1000); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} boolean wasElectable = !isElectable(); while (true) { if (isElectable()) { if (!wasElectable) { log.info("Leadership requested on election: {}",election); wasElectable = isElectable(); } boolean elected = false; try { // Try and get the lock on the LeaderElectorCache for the current election if (!cache.lock(election, electionWaitTime)) { // We didn't get the lock. cycle round again. // This code to ensure we check the electable flag every now & then continue; } elected = true; log.info("Leadership taken on election: {}",election); onElected(); // Wait here until the services fail in some way. while (true) { try { Thread.sleep(electionWaitTime); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} if (!cache.lock(election, 0)) { log.warn("Cache lock no longer held for election: {}", election); break; } else if (!isElectable()) { log.warn("Node is no longer electable for election: {}", election); break; } // We're fine - loop round and go back to sleep. } } catch (Exception e) { if (log.isErrorEnabled()) { log.error("Leadership election " + election + " failed (try bfmq logs for details)", e); } } finally { if (elected) { cache.unlock(election); log.info("Leadership resigned on election: {}",election); onDeposed(); } // On deposition, do not try and get re-elected for at least the standard wait time. try { Thread.sleep(electionWaitTime); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} } } else { // Not electable - wait a bit and check again. if (wasElectable) { log.info("Leadership NOT requested on election ({}) - node not electable",election); wasElectable = isElectable(); } try { Thread.sleep(electionWaitTime); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} } } } public void setElection(String election) { this.election = election; } @ManagedAttribute public String getElection() { return election; } public void setNamedCache(NamedCache nc) { this.cache = nc; }

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  • Do you want to be an ALM Consultant?

    - by Martin Hinshelwood
    Northwest Cadence is looking for our next great consultant! At Northwest Cadence, we have created a work environment that emphasizes excellence, integrity, and out-of-the-box thinking.  Our customers have high expectations (rightfully so) and we wouldn’t have it any other way!   Northwest Cadence has some of the most exciting customers I have ever worked with and even though I have only been here just over a month I have already: Provided training/consulting for 3 government departments Created and taught courseware for delivering Scrum to teams within a high profile multinational company Started presenting Microsoft's ALM Engagement Program  So if you are interested in helping companies build better software more efficiently, then.. Enquire at [email protected] Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Consultant An ALM Consultant with a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience with Application Lifecycle Management, Visual Studio (including Visual Studio Team System) and software design is needed. Must provide thought leadership on best practices for enterprise architecture, understand the Microsoft technology solution stack, and have a thorough understanding of enterprise application integration. The ALM Practice Lead will play a central role in designing and implementing the overall ALM Practice strategy, including creating, updating, and delivering ALM courseware and consultancy engagements. This person will also provide project support, deliverables, and quality solutions on Visual Studio Team System that exceed client expectations. Engagements will vary and will involve providing expert training, consulting, mentoring, formulating technical strategies and policies and acting as a “trusted advisor” to customers and internal teams. Sound sense of business and technical strategy required. Strong interpersonal skills as well as solid strategic thinking are key. The ideal candidate will be capable of envisioning the solution based on the early client requirements, communicating the vision to both technical and business stakeholders, leading teams through implementation, as well as training, mentoring, and hands-on software development. The ideal candidate will demonstrate successful use of both agile and formal software development methods, enterprise application patterns, and effective leadership on prior projects. Job Requirements Minimum Education: Bachelor’s Degree (computer science, engineering, or math preferred). Locale / Travel: The Practice Lead position requires estimated 50% travel, most of which will be in the Continental US (a valid national Passport must be maintained).  This is a full time position and will be based in the Kirkland office. Preferred Education: Master’s Degree in Information Technology or Software Engineering; Premium Microsoft Certifications on .NET (MCSD) or MCPD or relevant experience; Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) or relevant experience. Minimum Experience and Skills: 7+ years experience with business information systems integration or custom business application design and development in a professional technology consulting, corporate MIS or software development environment. Essential Duties & Responsibilities: Provide training, consulting, and mentoring to organizations on topics that include Visual Studio Team System and ALM. Create content, including labs and demonstrations, to be delivered as training classes by Northwest Cadence employees. Lead development teams through the complete ALM and/or Visual Studio Team System solution. Be able to communicate in detail how a solution will integrate into the larger technical problem space for large, complex enterprises. Define technical solution requirements. Provide guidance to the customer and project team with respect to technical feasibility, complexity, and level of effort required to deliver a custom solution. Ensure that the solution is designed, developed and deployed in accordance with the agreed upon development work plan. Create and deliver weekly status reports of training and/or consulting progress. Engagement Responsibilities: · Provide a strong desire to provide thought leadership related to technology and to help grow the business. · Work effectively and professionally with employees at all levels of a customer’s organization. · Have strong verbal and written communication skills. · Have effective presentation, organizational and planning skills. · Have effective interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team environment. Enquire at [email protected]

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  • Android Scoreloop, OpenFeint etc al

    - by theblitz
    I am looking to use one of the social networks in my Android program. Most important for me is the ability to build a continuous leadership board in which players move up and down depending their wins/loses to others. The idea is for players to challenge others head-to-head. The winner gains points and the loser loses points. Equally important, I want this feature to include the possibility to "charge" the player game coins. Scoreloop includes the possibility of challenges but they are there in order to win coins off other players. In other words, they are the means to the end. In my case I need it to be the other way around. The "ends" is to be higher in the leadership board and the "means" are to play others with coins. Scoreloop do have a continuos leadership board but it is not accessible from the program. I tried looking at OpenFeint but their site is a real mess. It is impossible to understand from there exactly what is and isn't available. I signed up and tried to add my program. I ended up adding it four times and cannot delete it!

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  • Partnering with your Applications – The Oracle AppAdvantage Story

    - by JuergenKress
    So, what is Oracle AppAdvantage? A practical approach to adopting cloud, mobile, social and other trends A guided path to aligning IT more closely with business objectives Maximizing the value of existing investments in applications A layered approach to simplifying IT, building differentiation and bringing innovation All of the above? Enhance the value of your existing applications investment with #Oracle #AppAdvantage Aligning biz and IT expectations on Simplifying IT, building Differentiation and Innovation #AppAdvantage Adopt a pace layered approach to extracting biz value from your apps with #AppAdvantage Bringing #cloud, #social, #mobile to your apps with #Oracle #AppAdvantage Embracing Situational IT In the next IT Leaders Editorial, Rick Beers discusses the necessity of IT disruption and #AppAdvantage. Rick Beers sheds light on the Situational Leadership and the path to success #AppAdvantage. Rick Beers draws parallels with CIO’s strategic thinking and #Oracle #AppAdvantage approach. Do you have this paper in your summer reading list? Aligning biz and IT #AppAdvantage What does Situational leadership have to do with Oracle AppAdvantage? Catch the next piece in Rick Beers’ monthly series of IT Leaders Editorial and find out. #AppAdvantage Middleware Minutes with Howard Beader – August edition In the quarterly column, @hbeader discusses impact of #cloud, #mobile, #fastdata on #middleware Making #cloud, #mobile, #fastdata a part of your IT strategy with #middleware What keeps the #oracle #middleware team busy? Find out in the inaugural post in quarterly update on #middleware Recent #middleware news update along with a preview of things to come from #Oracle, in @hbeader ‘s quarterly column In his inaugural post, Howard Beader, senior director for Oracle Fusion Middleware, discusses the recent industry trends including mobile, cloud, fast data, integration and how these are shaping the IT and business requirements. SOA & BPM Partner Community For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Wiki Mix Forum Technorati Tags: AppAdvantage,SOA Community,Oracle SOA,Oracle BPM,Community,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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  • Mexico leading in Business Transformation Strategies:

    - by [email protected]
    By [email protected] on April 15, 2010 8:31 AM By John Burke Group Vice President Oracle Applications Business Unit I recently completed a business tour in Mexico, and was surprised by both the economic vibrancy of the country and the thought leadership expressed by many of the customers I met. An example of the economic vibrancy of the country: across the street from my hotel was the local Bentley dealership, Coach Store, Yves Saint Laurent and of course a Starbucks. I only made it to Starbucks. Both the Coach Store and YSL had a line of folks waiting to get in... As for thought leadership, there were several illustrations only on the first day. I had the opportunity to meet with a branch of the Mexican Federal Government. Their questions were not about clerical task automation, far from it! We discussed citizen on-line access to fees and services - for example looking up the duty on an international goods shipment, or tracking that my taxes have been received, or the status of my request for a certain service. Eligibility, policies and status. Having an integrated rules or policy automation system that would allow businesses and citizens to access accurate information and ensure the proper collection of fees and payment for 3rd party provided services. Then in the afternoon, I met with the owner of a roofing company (note: most roofs in Mexico are flat and made of cement). This CEO started discussing how he wanted to transform his business from a cement products company to a service company and market 5-10-15 year service contracts which would guarantee the structural integrity of the roof and of course that the roof would remain waterproof. Although his products were guaranteed, they required an annual inspection and most home owners never schedule that inspection until it is too late and water damage has occurred. These emergency calls reduce his margin and reduce customer satisfaction. This lead to a discussion of business models in general and why long term differentiation can only come from service, not just for the music or news industries, but also for roofing companies! I completely agreed with the transformational concepts described in both meetings and quickly understood why there is a Bentley dealership near my hotel.

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  • Partnering with your Applications – The Oracle AppAdvantage Story

    - by JuergenKress
    So, what is Oracle AppAdvantage? A practical approach to adopting cloud, mobile, social and other trends A guided path to aligning IT more closely with business objectives Maximizing the value of existing investments in applications A layered approach to simplifying IT, building differentiation and bringing innovation All of the above? Enhance the value of your existing applications investment with #Oracle #AppAdvantage Aligning biz and IT expectations on Simplifying IT, building Differentiation and Innovation #AppAdvantage Adopt a pace layered approach to extracting biz value from your apps with #AppAdvantage Bringing #cloud, #social, #mobile to your apps with #Oracle #AppAdvantage Embracing Situational IT In the next IT Leaders Editorial, Rick Beers discusses the necessity of IT disruption and #AppAdvantage. Rick Beers sheds light on the Situational Leadership and the path to success #AppAdvantage. Rick Beers draws parallels with CIO’s strategic thinking and #Oracle #AppAdvantage approach. Do you have this paper in your summer reading list? Aligning biz and IT #AppAdvantage What does Situational leadership have to do with Oracle AppAdvantage? Catch the next piece in Rick Beers’ monthly series of IT Leaders Editorial and find out. #AppAdvantage Middleware Minutes with Howard Beader – August edition In the quarterly column, @hbeader discusses impact of #cloud, #mobile, #fastdata on #middleware Making #cloud, #mobile, #fastdata a part of your IT strategy with #middleware What keeps the #oracle #middleware team busy? Find out in the inaugural post in quarterly update on #middleware Recent #middleware news update along with a preview of things to come from #Oracle, in @hbeader ‘s quarterly column In his inaugural post, Howard Beader, senior director for Oracle Fusion Middleware, discusses the recent industry trends including mobile, cloud, fast data, integration and how these are shaping the IT and business requirements. SOA & BPM Partner Community For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Wiki Mix Forum Technorati Tags: AppAdvantage,SOA Community,Oracle SOA,Oracle BPM,Community,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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  • CSO Summit @ Executive Edge

    - by Naresh Persaud
    If you are attending the Executive Edge at Open World be sure to check out the sessions at the Chief Security Officer Summit. Former Sr. Counsel for the National Security Agency, Joel Brenner ,  will be speaking about his new book "America the Vulnerable". In addition, PWC will present a panel discussion on "Crisis Management to Business Advantage: Security Leadership". See below for the complete agenda. TUESDAY, October 2, 2012 Chief Security Officer Summit Welcome Dave Profozich, Group Vice President, Oracle 10:00 a.m.–10:15 a.m. America the Vulnerable Joel Brenner, former Senior Counsel, National Security Agency 10:15 a.m.–11:00 a.m. The Threats are Outside, the Risks are Inside Sonny Singh, Senior Vice President, Oracle 11:00 a.m.–11:20 a.m. From Crisis Management to Business Advantage: Security Leadership Moderator: David Burg, Partner, Forensic Technology Solutions, PwC Panelists: Charles Beard, CIO and GM of Cyber Security, SAIC Jim Doggett, Chief Information Technology Risk Officer, Kaiser Permanente Chris Gavin, Vice President, Information Security, Oracle John Woods, Partner, Hunton & Williams 11:20 a.m.–12:20 p.m. Lunch Union Square Tent 12:20 p.m.–1:30 p.m. Securing the New Digital Experience Amit Jasuja, Senior Vice President, Identity Management and Security, Oracle 1:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m. Securing Data at the Source Vipin Samar, Vice President, Database Security, Oracle 2:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Security from the Chairman’s Perspective Jeff Henley, Chairman of the Board, Oracle Dave Profozich, Group Vice President, Oracle 2:30 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

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  • We Found 100 Manufacturing Heros That Focus on Innovation!

    - by Stephen Slade
    There’s a good piece written by Ann Grackin of ChainLink Research on the Manufacturing Leadership 100 Awards program held recently in Palm Beach Fl, Apr 30-May 3, 2012.  This article (link below) highlights the summary of the Summit with specific focus on manufacturing innovation.  There were several informative keynotes and sessions from industrial leaders who are leveraging the latest tools and technologies to make better decisions. Ann writes that she was a panelist with Cindy Reese, SVP, Worldwide Operations, Oracle; and Steven Tungate, VP/GM, Supply Chain & Innovation, Toshiba America Business Solutions about Factories and Supply Networks of the Future. Ann writes “So what are these manufacturers doing? Significant rationalization of the supply base (Toshiba, especially, has this issue since they have a long history of many acquisitions), streamlining production to increase productivity, and looking for lower-cost countries for manufacturing….  No doubt firms have global customer bases, so they need to be present in these markets. However, a low-cost-country manufacturing source does introduce more risk in the supply chain. And that was discussed. Quality, security, and intellectual property protection were the critical global manufacturing issues also discussed. “Cindy (Reese) told a fascinating story about Oracle’s acquisition of Sun and the supply chain that was subsequently created. Here was one of the key points: Although Oracle sells on a global basis, they now do their own factory-installed software. This keeps potential ‘factory-installed malware’ from getting into the servers at contract manufacturers, and prevents pirated software. In this way, Oracle ensures that they deliver the quality and security people expect”. Learn more about the Manufacturing Leadership 100 program from Manufacturing Executive at: http://www.mlsummit.com/ Full Article Link:  http://www.clresearch.com/research/detail.cfm?guid=52327213-3048-79ED-99D4-E433DA64D4F0

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  • Managed Cloud Services Wins Another Prestigious Industry Award

    - by Dori DiMassimo-Oracle
    Over the last 90 days, Oracle Managed Cloud Services has been the proud recipient of TWO prestigious industry awards for service excellence and customer value leadership.  The most recent award is last month's 2014 Frost & Sullivan Best Practice Award - North America Managed Cloud Customer Value Leadership Award, which rated Oracle Managed Cloud Services as the clear leader versus other providers; Managed Cloud received an "exceptional" rating in 9 of 10 evaluation categories.  The research report  is an excellent look at our industry and what is valued by cloud customers looking for a managed solution.   In April, Managed Cloud was a repeat winner of the Outsourcing Excellence Award - 2014 Outsourcing Excellence Award - Best ITO Infrastructure (Sony Computer Entertainment America).  Last year we won the award for Best Cloud: 2013 Outsourcing Excellence Award - Best Cloud (Take-Two Interactive)  These awards are a great testimony of the transformation of Managed Cloud Services to a true Cloud-based business and a strategic and relevant part of the Oracle Cloud Solutions portfolio.  Frost & Sullivan, in particular, recognizes our vision and our capability of successfully managing business transactions in the cloud.

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  • Highlights from the Oracle Customer Experience Summit @ OpenWorld

    - by Kathryn Perry
    A guest post by David Vap, Group Vice President, Oracle Applications Product Development The Oracle Customer Experience Summit was the first-ever event covering the full breadth of Oracle's CX portfolio -- Marketing, Sales, Commerce, and Service. The purpose of the Summit was to articulate the customer experience imperative and to showcase the suite of Oracle products that can help our customers create the best possible customer experience. This topic has always been a very important one, but now that there are so many alternative companies to do business with and because people have such public ways to voice their displeasure, it's necessary for vendors to have multiple listening posts in place to gauge consumer sentiment. They need to know what is going on in real time and be able to react quickly to turn negative situations into positive ones. Those can then be shared in a social manner to enhance the brand and turn the customer into a repeat customer. The Summit was focused on Oracle's portfolio of products and entirely dedicated to customers who are committed to building great customer experiences within their businesses. Rather than DBAs, the attendees were business people looking to collaborate with other like-minded experts and find out how Oracle can help in terms of technology, best practices, and expertise. The event was at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco as part of Oracle OpenWorld. We had eight hundred people attend, which was great for the first year. Next year, there's no doubt in my mind, we can raise that number to 5,000. Alignment and Logic Oracle's Customer Experience portfolio is made up of a combination of acquired and organic products owned by many people who are new to Oracle. We include homegrown Fusion CRM, as well as RightNow, Inquira, OPA, Vitrue, ATG, Endeca, and many others. The attendees knew of the acquisitions, so naturally they wanted to see how the products all fit together and hear the logic behind the portfolio. To tell them about our alignment, we needed to be aligned. To accomplish that, a cross functional team at Oracle agreed on the messaging so that every single Oracle presenter could cover the big picture before going deep into a product or topic. Talking about the full suite of products in one session produced overflow value for other products. And even though this internal coordination was a huge effort, everyone saw the value for our customers and for our long-term cooperation and success. Keynotes, Workshops, and Tents of Innovation We scored by having Seth Godin as our keynote speaker ? always provocative and popular. The opening keynote was a session orchestrated by Mark Hurd, Anthony Lye, and me. Mark set the stage by giving real-world examples of bad customer experiences, Anthony clearly articulated the business imperative for addressing these experiences, and I brought it all to life by taking the audience around the Customer Lifecycle and showing demos and videos, with partners included at each of the stops around the lifecycle. Brian Curran, a VP for RightNow Product Strategy, presented a session that was in high demand called The Economics of Customer Experience. People loved hearing how to build a business case and justify the cost of building a better customer experience. John Kembel, another VP for RightNow Product Strategy, held a workshop that customers raved about. It was based on the journey mapping methodology he created, which is a way to talk to customers about where they want to make improvements to their customers' experiences. He divided the audience into groups led by facilitators. Each person had the opportunity to engage with experts and peers and construct some real takeaways. From left to right: Brian Curran, John Kembel, Seth Godin, and George Kembel The conference hotel was across from Union Square so we used that space to set up Innovation Tents. During the day we served lunch in the tents and partners showed their different innovative ideas. It was very interesting to see all the technologies and advancements. It also gave people a place to mix and mingle and to think about the fringe of where we could all take these ideas. Product Portfolio Plus Thought Leadership Of course there is always room for improvement, but the feedback on the format of the conference was positive. Ninety percent of the sessions had either a partner or a customer teamed with an Oracle presenter. The presentations weren't dry, one-way information dumps, but more interactive. I just followed up with a CEO who attended the conference with his Head of Marketing. He told me that they are using John Kembel's journey mapping methodology across the organization to pull people together. This sort of thought leadership in these highly competitive areas gives Oracle permission to engage around the technology. We have to differentiate ourselves and it's harder to do on the product side because everyone looks the same on paper. But on thought leadership ? we can, and did, take some really big steps. David VapGroup Vice PresidentOracle Applications Product Development

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  • Highlights from the Oracle Customer Experience Summit @ OpenWorld

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    The Oracle Customer Experience Summit was the first-ever event covering the full breadth of Oracle's CX portfolio -- Marketing, Sales, Commerce, and Service. The purpose of the Summit was to articulate the customer experience imperative and to showcase the suite of Oracle products that can help our customers create the best possible customer experience. This topic has always been a very important one, but now that there are so many alternative companies to do business with and because people have such public ways to voice their displeasure, it's necessary for vendors to have multiple listening posts in place to gauge consumer sentiment. They need to know what is going on in real time and be able to react quickly to turn negative situations into positive ones. Those can then be shared in a social manner to enhance the brand and turn the customer into a repeat customer. The Summit was focused on Oracle's portfolio of products and entirely dedicated to customers who are committed to building great customer experiences within their businesses. Rather than DBAs, the attendees were business people looking to collaborate with other like-minded experts and find out how Oracle can help in terms of technology, best practices, and expertise. The event was at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco as part of Oracle OpenWorld. We had eight hundred people attend, which was great for the first year. Next year, there's no doubt in my mind, we can raise that number to 5,000. Alignment and Logic Oracle's Customer Experience portfolio is made up of a combination of acquired and organic products owned by many people who are new to Oracle. We include homegrown Fusion CRM, as well as RightNow, Inquira, OPA, Vitrue, ATG, Endeca, and many others. The attendees knew of the acquisitions, so naturally they wanted to see how the products all fit together and hear the logic behind the portfolio. To tell them about our alignment, we needed to be aligned. To accomplish that, a cross functional team at Oracle agreed on the messaging so that every single Oracle presenter could cover the big picture before going deep into a product or topic. Talking about the full suite of products in one session produced overflow value for other products. And even though this internal coordination was a huge effort, everyone saw the value for our customers and for our long-term cooperation and success. Keynotes, Workshops, and Tents of Innovation We scored by having Seth Godin as our keynote speaker ? always provocative and popular. The opening keynote was a session orchestrated by Mark Hurd, Anthony Lye, and me. Mark set the stage by giving real-world examples of bad customer experiences, Anthony clearly articulated the business imperative for addressing these experiences, and I brought it all to life by taking the audience around the Customer Lifecycle and showing demos and videos, with partners included at each of the stops around the lifecycle. Brian Curran, a VP for RightNow Product Strategy, presented a session that was in high demand called The Economics of Customer Experience. People loved hearing how to build a business case and justify the cost of building a better customer experience. John Kembel, another VP for RightNow Product Strategy, held a workshop that customers raved about. It was based on the journey mapping methodology he created, which is a way to talk to customers about where they want to make improvements to their customers' experiences. He divided the audience into groups led by facilitators. Each person had the opportunity to engage with experts and peers and construct some real takeaways. The conference hotel was across from Union Square so we used that space to set up Innovation Tents. During the day we served lunch in the tents and partners showed their different innovative ideas. It was very interesting to see all the technologies and advancements. It also gave people a place to mix and mingle and to think about the fringe of where we could all take these ideas. Product Portfolio Plus Thought Leadership Of course there is always room for improvement, but the feedback on the format of the conference was positive. Ninety percent of the sessions had either a partner or a customer teamed with an Oracle presenter. The presentations weren't dry, one-way information dumps, but more interactive. I just followed up with a CEO who attended the conference with his Head of Marketing. He told me that they are using John Kembel's journey mapping methodology across the organization to pull people together. This sort of thought leadership in these highly competitive areas gives Oracle permission to engage around the technology. We have to differentiate ourselves and it's harder to do on the product side because everyone looks the same on paper. But on thought leadership ? we can, and did, take some really big steps. David Vap Group Vice President Oracle Applications Product Development

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  • Is your team is a high-performing team?

    As a child I can remember looking out of the car window as my father drove along the Interstate in Florida while seeing prisoners wearing bright orange jump suits and prison guards keeping a watchful eye on them. The prisoners were taking part in a prison road gang. These road gangs were formed to help the state maintain the state highway infrastructure. The prisoner’s primary responsibilities are to pick up trash and debris from the roadway. This is a prime example of a work group or working group used by most prison systems in the United States. Work groups or working groups can be defined as a collection of individuals or entities working together to achieve a specific goal or accomplish a specific set of tasks. Typically these groups are only established for a short period of time and are dissolved once the desired outcome has been achieved. More often than not group members usually feel as though they are expendable to the group and some even dread that they are even in the group. "A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable." (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993) So how do you determine that a team is a high-performing team?  This can be determined by three base line criteria that include: consistently high quality output, the promotion of personal growth and well being of all team members, and most importantly the ability to learn and grow as a unit. Initially, a team can successfully create high-performing output without meeting all three criteria, however this will erode over time because team members will feel detached from the group or that they are not growing then the quality of the output will decline. High performing teams are similar to work groups because they both utilize a collection of individuals or entities to accomplish tasks. What distinguish a high-performing team from a work group are its characteristics. High-performing teams contain five core characteristics. These characteristics are what separate a group from a team. The five characteristics of a high-performing team include: Purpose, Performance Measures, People with Tasks and Relationship Skills, Process, and Preparation and Practice. A high-performing team is much more than a work group, and typically has a life cycle that can vary from team to team. The standard team lifecycle consists of five states and is comparable to a human life cycle. The five states of a high-performing team lifecycle include: Formulating, Storming, Normalizing, Performing, and Adjourning. The Formulating State of a team is first realized when the team members are first defined and roles are assigned to all members. This initial stage is very important because it can set the tone for the team and can ultimately determine its success or failure. In addition, this stage requires the team to have a strong leader because team members are normally unclear about specific roles, specific obstacles and goals that my lay ahead of them.  Finally, this stage is where most team members initially meet one another prior to working as a team unless the team members already know each other. The Storming State normally arrives directly after the formulation of a new team because there are still a lot of unknowns amongst the newly formed assembly. As a general rule most of the parties involved in the team are still getting used to the workload, pace of work, deadlines and the validity of various tasks that need to be performed by the group.  In this state everything is questioned because there are so many unknowns. Items commonly questioned include the credentials of others on the team, the actual validity of a project, and the leadership abilities of the team leader.  This can be exemplified by looking at the interactions between animals when they first meet.  If we look at a scenario where two people are walking directly toward each other with their dogs. The dogs will automatically enter the Storming State because they do not know the other dog. Typically in this situation, they attempt to define which is more dominating via play or fighting depending on how the dogs interact with each other. Once dominance has been defined and accepted by both dogs then they will either want to play or leave depending on how the dogs interacted and other environmental variables. Once the Storming State has been realized then the Normalizing State takes over. This state is entered by a team once all the questions of the Storming State have been answered and the team has been tested by a few tasks or projects.  Typically, participants in the team are filled with energy, and comradery, and a strong alliance with team goals and objectives.  A high school football team is a perfect example of the Normalizing State when they start their season.  The player positions have been assigned, the depth chart has been filled and everyone is focused on winning each game. All of the players encourage and expect each other to perform at the best of their abilities and are united by competition from other teams. The Performing State is achieved by a team when its history, working habits, and culture solidify the team as one working unit. In this state team members can anticipate specific behaviors, attitudes, reactions, and challenges are seen as opportunities and not problems. Additionally, each team member knows their role in the team’s success, and the roles of others. This is the most productive state of a group and is where all the time invested working together really pays off. If you look at an Olympic figure skating team skate you can easily see how the time spent working together benefits their performance. They skate as one unit even though it is comprised of two skaters. Each skater has their routine completely memorized as well as their partners. This allows them to anticipate each other’s moves on the ice makes their skating look effortless. The final state of a team is the Adjourning State. This state is where accomplishments by the team and each individual team member are recognized. Additionally, this state also allows for reflection of the interactions between team members, work accomplished and challenges that were faced. Finally, the team celebrates the challenges they have faced and overcome as a unit. Currently in the workplace teams are divided into two different types: Co-located and Distributed Teams. Co-located teams defined as the traditional group of people working together in an office, according to Andy Singleton of Assembla. This traditional type of a team has dominated business in the past due to inadequate technology, which forced workers to primarily interact with one another via face to face meetings.  Team meetings are primarily lead by the person with the highest status in the company. Having personally, participated in meetings of this type, usually a select few of the team members dominate the flow of communication which reduces the input of others in group discussions. Since discussions are dominated by a select few individuals the discussions and group discussion are skewed in favor of the individuals who communicate the most in meetings. In addition, Team members might not give their full opinions on a topic of discussion in part not to offend or create controversy amongst the team and can alter decision made in meetings towards those of the opinions of the dominating team members. Distributed teams are by definition spread across an area or subdivided into separate sections. That is exactly what distributed teams when compared to a more traditional team. It is common place for distributed teams to have team members across town, in the next state, across the country and even with the advances in technology over the last 20 year across the world. These teams allow for more diversity compared to the other type of teams because they allow for more flexibility regarding location. A team could consist of a 30 year old male Italian project manager from New York, a 50 year old female Hispanic from California and a collection of programmers from India because technology allows them to communicate as if they were standing next to one another.  In addition, distributed team members consult with more team members prior to making decisions compared to traditional teams, and take longer to come to decisions due to the changes in time zones and cultural events. However, team members feel more empowered to speak out when they do not agree with the team and to notify others of potential issues regarding the work that the team is doing. Virtual teams which are a subset of the distributed team type is changing organizational strategies due to the fact that a team can now in essence be working 24 hrs a day because of utilizing employees in various time zones and locations.  A primary example of this is with customer services departments, a company can have multiple call centers spread across multiple time zones allowing them to appear to be open 24 hours a day while all a employees work from 9AM to 5 PM every day. Virtual teams also allow human resources departments to go after the best talent for the company regardless of where the potential employee works because they will be a part of a virtual team all that is need is the proper technology to be setup to allow everyone to communicate. In addition to allowing employees to work from home, the company can save space and resources by not having to provide a desk for every team member. In fact, those team members that randomly come into the office can actually share one desk amongst multiple people. This is definitely a cost cutting plus given the current state of the economy. One thing that can turn a team into a high-performing team is leadership. High-performing team leaders need to focus on investing in ongoing personal development, provide team members with direction, structure, and resources needed to accomplish their work, make the right interventions at the right time, and help the team manage boundaries between the team and various external parties involved in the teams work. A team leader needs to invest in ongoing personal development in order to effectively manage their team. People have said that attitude is everything; this is very true about leaders and leadership. A team takes on the attitudes and behaviors of its leaders. This can potentially harm the team and the team’s output. Leaders must concentrate on self-awareness, and understanding their team’s group dynamics to fully understand how to lead them. In addition, always learning new leadership techniques from other effective leaders is also very beneficial. Providing team members with direction, structure, and resources that they need to accomplish their work collectively sounds easy, but it is not.  Leaders need to be able to effectively communicate with their team on how their work helps the company reach for its organizational vision. Conversely, the leader needs to allow his team to work autonomously within specific guidelines to turn the company’s vision into a reality.  This being said the team must be appropriately staffed according to the size of the team’s tasks and their complexity. These tasks should be clear, and be meaningful to the company’s objectives and allow for feedback to be exchanged with the leader and the team member and the leader and upper management. Now if the team is properly staffed, and has a clear and full understanding of what is to be done; the company also must supply the workers with the proper tools to achieve the tasks that they are asked to do. No one should be asked to dig a hole without being given a shovel.  Finally, leaders must reward their team members for accomplishments that they achieve. Awards could range from just a simple congratulatory email, a party to close the completion of a large project, or other monetary rewards. Managing boundaries is very important for team leaders because it can alter attitudes of team members and can add undue stress to the team which will force them to loose focus on the tasks at hand for the group. Team leaders should promote communication between team members so that burdens are shared amongst the team and solutions can be derived from hearing the opinions of multiple sources. This also reinforces team camaraderie and working as a unit. Team leaders must manage the type and timing of interventions as to not create an even bigger mess within the team. Poorly timed interventions can really deflate team members and make them question themselves. This could really increase further and undue interventions by the team leader. Typically, the best time for interventions is when the team is just starting to form so that all unproductive behaviors are removed from the team and that it can retain focus on its agenda. If an intervention is effectively executed the team will feel energized about the work that they are doing, promote communication and interaction amongst the group and improve moral overall. High-performing teams are very import to organizations because they consistently produce high quality output and develop a collective purpose for their work. This drive to succeed allows team members to utilize specific talents allowing for growth in these areas.  In addition, these team members usually take on a sense of ownership with their projects and feel that the other team members are irreplaceable. References: http://blog.assembla.com/assemblablog/tabid/12618/bid/3127/Three-ways-to-organize-your-team-co-located-outsourced-or-global.aspx Katzenbach, J.R. & Smith, D.K. (1993). The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-performance Organization. Boston: Harvard Business School.

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  • A Few Words from Oracle’s Channel Chief

    - by Meghan Fritz-Oracle
    As Oracle enters a new fiscal year, I want to take a moment and reflect on my time at Oracle thus far. The technology industry is currently at an inflection point trying to figure out where growth will come from. When you look at Oracle’s portfolio of products, it's a complete stack from applications to disc, offering differentiation in the marketplace. I was initially drawn to Oracle’s leadership, strategy, and world-class technology. Since joining the Oracle team in October 2013, I’ve had the privilege of traveling around the globe visiting our partners and customers, and wanted to share several common themes that came up during these meetings. Cloud: Many partners are trying to figure out how to build a business around the cloud. Oracle partners can currently resell or refer our cloud services. We saw over 300 percent growth from cloud resale last quarter. Engineered Systems: Hardware and software integrated together to simplify IT allows our joint customers to focus on the innovation they need to compete in a complex marketplace. We're seeing great success in a several areas, with more partners saying, “Let’s start with Oracle on Oracle.” The Internet of Things: This is the next big opportunity for device manufacturers and ISV‘s to capture market share in what is projected to be a mulit-trillion-dollar opportunity, according to Gartner.  Competition: We've got a tremendous middleware platform and a tremendous database install base. We’re not just a database company; we are a complete provider. So looking ahead, what are my priorities for fiscal 2015? Oracle PartnerNetwork has some very exciting plans on the horizon. There’s a lot more leadership and announcements to unfold, especially at this year’s Global Partner Kickoff taking place on June 25 + 26 depending on your region and time zone. I along with several other Oracle executives will be shedding light on Oracle’s strategy for the upcoming year, the latest opportunities within the OPN Specialized Program and sales strategies that will help you to continue to grow and profit with Oracle. Stay tuned for registration information next week.We also have Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne to look forward to. These conferences are taking place in San Francisco from September 28 – October 2. We’ll have a variety of partner-specific activities for you at OPN Central @ OpenWorld including the OPN keynote, the famed AfterDark networking reception, access to the OPN Lounge and more.In the meantime, I hope that everyone has a great end to fiscal 2014.Best regards,Rich Geraffo Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels

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  • Mexico leading in Business Transformation Strategies:

    - by [email protected]
    By John Burke Group Vice President Oracle Applications Business Unit     I recently completed a business tour in Mexico, and was surprised by both the economic vibrancy of the country and the thought leadership expressed by many of the customers I met.  An example of the economic vibrancy of the country: across the street from my hotel was the local Bentley dealership, Coach Store, Yves Saint Laurent and of course a Starbucks.  I only made it to Starbucks.  Both the Coach Store and YSL had a line of folks waiting to get in... As for thought leadership, there were several illustrations only on the first day. I had the opportunity to meet with a branch of the Mexican Federal Government. Their questions were not about clerical task automation, far from it! We discussed citizen on-line access to fees and services - for example looking up the duty on an international goods shipment, or tracking that my taxes have been received, or the status of my request for a certain service.  Eligibility, policies and status.  Having an integrated rules or policy automation system that would allow businesses and citizens to access accurate information and ensure the proper collection of fees and payment for 3rd party provided services.    Then in the afternoon, I met with the owner of a roofing company (note: most roofs in Mexico are flat and made of cement).  This CEO started discussing how he wanted to transform his business from a cement products company to a service company and market 5-10-15 year service contracts which would guarantee the structural integrity of the roof and of course that the roof would remain waterproof.  Although his products were guaranteed, they required an annual inspection and most home owners never schedule that inspection until it is too late and water damage has occurred.  These emergency calls reduce his margin and reduce customer satisfaction.  This lead to a discussion of business models in general and why long term differentiation can only come from service, not just for the music or news industries, but also for roofing companies!    I completely agreed with the transformational concepts described in both meetings and quickly understood why there is a Bentley dealership near my hotel.    

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