BBRAEARKRINIEGRS
WHEN YOU DON’T PLAN TO BE
MIDSIZE FOREVER, WHAT’S THE
RIGHT TECH STRATEGY?
BY ANN C. LOGUE
Keith Neely, Vice President of
Information Technology and
Customer Support at Mizuno
BILL ADLER
t’s a big world out there. Midsize companies might be agile
and creative, but they have to deal with big customers
and big suppliers that have high expectations for technical
capabilities—and employees with high expectations for the
technological sophistication of their employers. The companies
that are succeeding in this highly competitive market are the
ones that base their innovative ideas on a complete enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system, and become more nimble and
grow faster than you ever imagined.
That’s what midsize Oracle customers, selling items as
diverse as baseball cleats, snow shovels, and ultrawideband
wireless connectivity solutions, have discovered. Mizuno USA,
Garant, and WiQuest Communications have at least three
things in common: their customers and competitors are often
much larger, they are growing much faster than their industry
peers, and they use Oracle information systems to support fast
growth in crowded markets. These companies are managing
supply chains that span the globe—integrating acquisitions
painlessly and giving their customers the service and information they expect.
“Oracle Applications aren’t just for big companies; they are
for companies of all sizes,” says Jeff Abbott, vice president of
Global Accelerate Strategy and Programs division, Oracle. “We
are aligning Oracle’s proven applications and rapid implementation tools with our partners’ industry solutions and packaging
them up for midsize businesses.” Although the company is
best known for products that manage enormous government
and corporate IT systems, that same expertise is being used by
thousands of midsize companies with their own database and
applications needs.
