>> Narrator: From theCUBE Studios in Palo Alto and Boston, it's theCUBE. Covering empowering the autonomous enterprise. Brought to you by Oracle Consulting. >> Welcome back to theCUBE. I'm Dave Valante. We're covering the transformation of Oracle Consulting, specifically focused on really what is what I consider a rebirth from really staff augmentation to a much more strategic partner for customers. And with me to explore that a little bit is Sherry Lautenbach. She's the Senior Vice President of Cloud Key Accounts at Oracle. And we're also joined by Pat Mongovin who's a group VP for the North American Cloud Strategy, also at Oracle. Folks, welcome to theCUBE. Thanks for coming on. >> Thanks Dave. >> Yep, thanks for having us. >> You're welcome. So Sherry, you're out talking to customers a lot, and I'm curious as to what that conversation is like, specifically as it relates to consulting. Are you bringing Oracle Consulting now into the conversation? What's that conversation like? >> Absolutely, in fact every conversation we have relating to our Cloud strategy, Oracle Consulting is part and parcel to that. They are not staff augmentation, they are actually the digital transformation arm of what we do around Cloud. So it's been really interesting to see what they've been able to do in terms of changing the narrative of what we do at Oracle from just a software company to really transforming to a Cloud provider. >> Strategy, obviously a fundamental part of any customer interaction. But what are you seeing? What underscores customer strategies? What are the business drivers for them right now? What are the catalysts that are driving their technology spending decision? >> Yeah, it's a great question Dave. I think a lot of it depends upon, especially in the times that we're in now, depends upon the industry that they're in. But, most importantly what we're seeing is right now is durability. So we want to make sure that the customers have our Oracle customers and others have an opportunity to have disaster recovery, business continuity. In this stage right now it's less about expansion per say, unless they're in an industry that's uniquely in a position for that and more about durability of the overall strategy. So when we look at that durability we think about kind of two core missions. We think about sort of back office operations and continuity and then we think about transformational revenue generation, and so when we partner with those, yes we want to make sure that we have both of those concepts in mind. >> You know we have a lot of talk about in our community about Cloud first. I think Oracle has sort of put forth the gauntlet of look, we're leading now with Cloud. You both have Cloud in your title, but obviously being Cloud first is more than that. Sherry, I wonder if you could talk about your customer's and your Cloud journey and share with us and kind of convince us that you are Cloud first. >> Sure, no that's a great question and in fact I joined Oracle about eleven months ago. I was in the industry for about 25 years and I joined specifically because I believe in what Oracle is doing around this Cloud journey. We are in our second generation of Cloud capabilities, and that's purposeful. And we do that because we've realized that where Cloud started and where we are today are two totally different things. And so we have capabilities around security, viability, extensions with autonomous, that other Cloud providers just simply don't have. And we've built these from the ground up to ensure that we can run Oracle workloads, databases and applications far better than any other Cloud provider. So it's a super exciting time to be at Oracle and it's absolutely fascinating what our customers are doing to adopt our technology. >> I want to ask you a sort of similar question. How fundamental is Cloud to organization strategies. Obviously everybody has a Cloud strategy. But I'm specifically asking as it relates to mission-critical workloads because let's face it. That's been the hardest to move into the Cloud. So, when you're out talking to customers about their strategy, and obviously dovetailing into Oracle's strategy, how do you align you know those two views? >> Yeah, it's actually a really fascinating question. So first, I think I would respond in the following way. When I think about our portfolio, I don't necessarily say Cloud first, I say customer first. And I really want the customer to make a decision based upon a deployment model that makes sense for that particular customer. Whether it's a regulated industry or the public sector or any sort of compliance considerations. So Oracle is one of the very few enterprise class Cloud providers that has, obviously, on-premise capabilities as well. And so, 99% of the cases that we see, with the exception of some of the sort of startup S&B-type folks, that are bored in the Cloud, we're dealing with the hybrid Cloud model anyway. And so that's kind of the first order of priorities, what's right for the customer and let's make sure that we get the appropriate deployment model for that customer. In terms of enterprise, essentially the workloads that we have. Whether it's Cloud or on-prem, are enterprise workloads. And those are kind of separated into two brackets. One would be for mission, sort of the revenue generation side, and one would be mission critical, sort of the back office. So Oracle is historically tremendous at the back office side, running finance, running operations, running the supply chain. Doing those things that are mission-critical. On the core mission side that's really where we're starting to focus now which is getting out into the revenue generation, the mission of the entity, with things like high-performance compute, and making sure that we have an ability to support our customers on both sides of the spectrum. >> Sherry, why are customers wanting to put mission-critical workloads in the Cloud? Is it the same sort of Cloud agility and cost, etc. I mean why not just leave it on-prem and keep it protected and maybe spend a little bit more? What's the driver for moving mission-critical workloads into the Cloud? >> Well, I think it's dependent upon what the initiatives are in the company, right? Are they looking for cost reduction, are they looking for top-line growth, are they looking for different capabilities around security that the Cloud can provide? The great thing about what we do is, we have optimized all of our workloads, both our databases and our applications into our Cloud. So we're providing additional capabilities but we're also saving a lot of money. So, we say all the time that you know put us to the test. Let us quantify what we would look like in the Cloud with our workloads versus a competitor. And we will guarantee that we will save you a lot of money. So I think that a lot of it has to do with one, it starts with potentially cost reduction, but then they start seeing additional business value driven out of and back to Oracle Consulting. What Oracle Consulting provides in terms of the business value in the Cloud is transformative for our customers. >> Talk about how you lead in these customer conversations. >> Right, well normally our entry point of one understanding what the business drivers are, right? It has to be a business-led discussion. It really isn't a technology starter point, right? It really is around what business problems are you trying to solve, and how can we help you solve them. And because we know your environments, we know what databases are employed and where they're deployed. What Oracle applications you're leveraging to run your business. We can, I think, successfully position ourselves very competitively against other Cloud providers. And I think that is then something that has resonated incredibly well with our customers, and in fact our largest customers. >> Yeah, so it seems like Oracle could solve things of an important ingredient as part of that strategy 'cause again, if it was five years ago and was just staff augmentation, that's really not a compelling conversation to have with customers. But if you can come in with a mindset of strategic partner, you're bringing in Deloitte, we've been talking to some of their professionals about the elevate program with Oracle. That is a nice lever that you can take advantage of. >> Absolutely, and in fact we've seen that, that is a huge opportunity for us because one, the partnership with Deloitte is incredibly strategic. We also partner with other companies like Accenture and DXC and IBM candidly. And Oracle Consulting is incredibly flexible in terms of what kind of partnerships and alignment they have with our customers, and it's really based on what the customer's preference is. >> Not just about feature or function, speeds and feeds, maybe you can address that, and where does Oracle Consulting fit in that equation? >> We firmly believe that every customer is going to want to have a different option for what they'll do in the Cloud and based on the provider. So we, one, we've partnered with Microsoft and we actually can interconnect our Clouds together to provide that kind of flexibility to our customers and consulting is a key component of that. So we engage our customers and talk about our Microsoft integration, our partnership or the consulting is the arm that does that work for us. So we are seeing them come about in a much different way, in a way that's differentiated between other consulting you know staff augmentation firms. >> I want to end on growth, Pat. Maybe talk about I mean Cloud, Cloud is the growth business, you look at Oracle's business, everybody's business. As Cloud is growing, everything else is either hanging on or declining, so it's all about growth. How do you drive growth, what is Cloud's role in terms of the growth strategy, and maybe add some color to that narrative. >> From a product perspective, I think we're sort of a luxury of riches around the autonomous capability which we haven't talked about. So that's something that's incredibly unique to Oracle. The autonomous database and all the autonomous services that we're rolling out. And that autonomous gives back to what we talked about earlier around security, around performance, around scalability and all these things. So that ultimately we're positioning the capabilities of the future but we're positioning them today. So we're a market leader in this space. We're not only is the Oracle database as you pointed out the market leader. We're a market leader in ERP Cloud and a bunch of the SaaS areas. But this autonomous segment of the market is crucial for us and crucial to our growth. >> Yeah it really is an enabler. I've been saying that it's almost compulsory for Oracle to participate and compete in the Cloud because it gives you that automation and that scale but you're talking about also setting up some future advantages of being able to take advantage of data, the combination of data, AI, and Cloud is the new superpower within the industry. Sherry, I want to end on you. Eleven months in at Oracle, let's say things work out great. You're here two, three, four years down the road, you look back. What does success look like? >> Success looks like every one of our customers moving to the Oracle Cloud and seeing incredible business value from that, partnering with Oracle Consulting. That's what my success criteria is. >> Guys, well listen. Thanks so much for coming on theCUBE where we've been tracking this transformation of Oracle Consulting and one of the things that's very clear as Oracle's obviously serious about Cloud but also serious about bringing in new talent and new skillsets, you're really not only transform Oracle but help transform your customers, so thank you for your time, really appreciate it. >> Thanks so much. >> Yep, you bet, thank you. >> All right, and thank you everybody for watching. This is Dave Valante for theCUBE. We'll see you next time. (bumper music)

>> Narrator: From theCUBE Studios in Palo Alto and Boston, it's theCUBE. Covering empowering the autonomous enterprise. Brought to you by Oracle Consulting. >> Welcome back to theCUBE. I'm Dave Valante. We're covering the transformation of Oracle Consulting, specifically focused on really what is what I consider a rebirth from really staff augmentation to a much more strategic partner for customers. And with me to explore that a little bit is Sherry Lautenbach. She's the Senior Vice President of Cloud Key Accounts at Oracle. And we're also joined by Pat Mongovin who's a group VP for the North American Cloud Strategy, also at Oracle. Folks, welcome to theCUBE. Thanks for coming on. >> Thanks Dave. >> Yep, thanks for having us. >> You're welcome. So Sherry, you're out talking to customers a lot, and I'm curious as to what that conversation is like, specifically as it relates to consulting. Are you bringing Oracle Consulting now into the conversation? What's that conversation like? >> Absolutely, in fact every conversation we have relating to our Cloud strategy, Oracle Consulting is part and parcel to that. They are not staff augmentation, they are actually the digital transformation arm of what we do around Cloud. So it's been really interesting to see what they've been able to do in terms of changing the narrative of what we do at Oracle from just a software company to really transforming to a Cloud provider. >> Strategy, obviously a fundamental part of any customer interaction. But what are you seeing? What underscores customer strategies? What are the business drivers for them right now? What are the catalysts that are driving their technology spending decision? >> Yeah, it's a great question Dave. I think a lot of it depends upon, especially in the times that we're in now, depends upon the industry that they're in. But, most importantly what we're seeing is right now is durability. So we want to make sure that the customers have our Oracle customers and others have an opportunity to have disaster recovery, business continuity. In this stage right now it's less about expansion per say, unless they're in an industry that's uniquely in a position for that and more about durability of the overall strategy. So when we look at that durability we think about kind of two core missions. We think about sort of back office operations and continuity and then we think about transformational revenue generation, and so when we partner with those, yes we want to make sure that we have both of those concepts in mind. >> You know we have a lot of talk about in our community about Cloud first. I think Oracle has sort of put forth the gauntlet of look, we're leading now with Cloud. You both have Cloud in your title, but obviously being Cloud first is more than that. Sherry, I wonder if you could talk about your customer's and your Cloud journey and share with us and kind of convince us that you are Cloud first. >> Sure, no that's a great question and in fact I joined Oracle about eleven months ago. I was in the industry for about 25 years and I joined specifically because I believe in what Oracle is doing around this Cloud journey. We are in our second generation of Cloud capabilities, and that's purposeful. And we do that because we've realized that where Cloud started and where we are today are two totally different things. And so we have capabilities around security, viability, extensions with autonomous, that other Cloud providers just simply don't have. And we've built these from the ground up to ensure that we can run Oracle workloads, databases and applications far better than any other Cloud provider. So it's a super exciting time to be at Oracle and it's absolutely fascinating what our customers are doing to adopt our technology. >> I want to ask you a sort of similar question. How fundamental is Cloud to organization strategies. Obviously everybody has a Cloud strategy. But I'm specifically asking as it relates to mission-critical workloads because let's face it. That's been the hardest to move into the Cloud. So, when you're out talking to customers about their strategy, and obviously dovetailing into Oracle's strategy, how do you align you know those two views? >> Yeah, it's actually a really fascinating question. So first, I think I would respond in the following way. When I think about our portfolio, I don't necessarily say Cloud first, I say customer first. And I really want the customer to make a decision based upon a deployment model that makes sense for that particular customer. Whether it's a regulated industry or the public sector or any sort of compliance considerations. So Oracle is one of the very few enterprise class Cloud providers that has, obviously, on-premise capabilities as well. And so, 99% of the cases that we see, with the exception of some of the sort of startup S&B-type folks, that are bored in the Cloud, we're dealing with the hybrid Cloud model anyway. And so that's kind of the first order of priorities, what's right for the customer and let's make sure that we get the appropriate deployment model for that customer. In terms of enterprise, essentially the workloads that we have. Whether it's Cloud or on-prem, are enterprise workloads. And those are kind of separated into two brackets. One would be for mission, sort of the revenue generation side, and one would be mission critical, sort of the back office. So Oracle is historically tremendous at the back office side, running finance, running operations, running the supply chain. Doing those things that are mission-critical. On the core mission side that's really where we're starting to focus now which is getting out into the revenue generation, the mission of the entity, with things like high-performance compute, and making sure that we have an ability to support our customers on both sides of the spectrum. >> Sherry, why are customers wanting to put mission-critical workloads in the Cloud? Is it the same sort of Cloud agility and cost, etc. I mean why not just leave it on-prem and keep it protected and maybe spend a little bit more? What's the driver for moving mission-critical workloads into the Cloud? >> Well, I think it's dependent upon what the initiatives are in the company, right? Are they looking for cost reduction, are they looking for top-line growth, are they looking for different capabilities around security that the Cloud can provide? The great thing about what we do is, we have optimized all of our workloads, both our databases and our applications into our Cloud. So we're providing additional capabilities but we're also saving a lot of money. So, we say all the time that you know put us to the test. Let us quantify what we would look like in the Cloud with our workloads versus a competitor. And we will guarantee that we will save you a lot of money. So I think that a lot of it has to do with one, it starts with potentially cost reduction, but then they start seeing additional business value driven out of and back to Oracle Consulting. What Oracle Consulting provides in terms of the business value in the Cloud is transformative for our customers. >> Talk about how you lead in these customer conversations. >> Right, well normally our entry point of one understanding what the business drivers are, right? It has to be a business-led discussion. It really isn't a technology starter point, right? It really is around what business problems are you trying to solve, and how can we help you solve them. And because we know your environments, we know what databases are employed and where they're deployed. What Oracle applications you're leveraging to run your business. We can, I think, successfully position ourselves very competitively against other Cloud providers. And I think that is then something that has resonated incredibly well with our customers, and in fact our largest customers. >> Yeah, so it seems like Oracle could solve things of an important ingredient as part of that strategy 'cause again, if it was five years ago and was just staff augmentation, that's really not a compelling conversation to have with customers. But if you can come in with a mindset of strategic partner, you're bringing in Deloitte, we've been talking to some of their professionals about the elevate program with Oracle. That is a nice lever that you can take advantage of. >> Absolutely, and in fact we've seen that, that is a huge opportunity for us because one, the partnership with Deloitte is incredibly strategic. We also partner with other companies like Accenture and DXC and IBM candidly. And Oracle Consulting is incredibly flexible in terms of what kind of partnerships and alignment they have with our customers, and it's really based on what the customer's preference is. >> Not just about feature or function, speeds and feeds, maybe you can address that, and where does Oracle Consulting fit in that equation? >> We firmly believe that every customer is going to want to have a different option for what they'll do in the Cloud and based on the provider. So we, one, we've partnered with Microsoft and we actually can interconnect our Clouds together to provide that kind of flexibility to our customers and consulting is a key component of that. So we engage our customers and talk about our Microsoft integration, our partnership or the consulting is the arm that does that work for us. So we are seeing them come about in a much different way, in a way that's differentiated between other consulting you know staff augmentation firms. >> I want to end on growth, Pat. Maybe talk about I mean Cloud, Cloud is the growth business, you look at Oracle's business, everybody's business. As Cloud is growing, everything else is either hanging on or declining, so it's all about growth. How do you drive growth, what is Cloud's role in terms of the growth strategy, and maybe add some color to that narrative. >> From a product perspective, I think we're sort of a luxury of riches around the autonomous capability which we haven't talked about. So that's something that's incredibly unique to Oracle. The autonomous database and all the autonomous services that we're rolling out. And that autonomous gives back to what we talked about earlier around security, around performance, around scalability and all these things. So that ultimately we're positioning the capabilities of the future but we're positioning them today. So we're a market leader in this space. We're not only is the Oracle database as you pointed out the market leader. We're a market leader in ERP Cloud and a bunch of the SaaS areas. But this autonomous segment of the market is crucial for us and crucial to our growth. >> Yeah it really is an enabler. I've been saying that it's almost compulsory for Oracle to participate and compete in the Cloud because it gives you that automation and that scale but you're talking about also setting up some future advantages of being able to take advantage of data, the combination of data, AI, and Cloud is the new superpower within the industry. Sherry, I want to end on you. Eleven months in at Oracle, let's say things work out great. You're here two, three, four years down the road, you look back. What does success look like? >> Success looks like every one of our customers moving to the Oracle Cloud and seeing incredible business value from that, partnering with Oracle Consulting. That's what my success criteria is. >> Guys, well listen. Thanks so much for coming on theCUBE where we've been tracking this transformation of Oracle Consulting and one of the things that's very clear as Oracle's obviously serious about Cloud but also serious about bringing in new talent and new skillsets, you're really not only transform Oracle but help transform your customers, so thank you for your time, really appreciate it. >> Thanks so much. >> Yep, you bet, thank you. >> All right, and thank you everybody for watching. This is Dave Valante for theCUBE. We'll see you next time. (bumper music)