REDWOOD SHORES, CA—Building on the foundation that Micros established serving the hotel and F&B industries, Oracle has launched Oracle Hospitality Global Business Unit to accelerate development of cloud, mobile and guest-experience technology.
Mike Webster, SVP and general manager, Oracle Retail and Hospitality, told Hotel Business that the integration has been going quite well (Oracle acquired Micros in 2014), and that combining the companies into Oracle Hospitality will allow customers to get the best of both worlds: “We’re preserving the intimacy and domain expertise that Micros had built and combining that with the scale and global reach of Oracle.”
Oracle’s platform for the hospitality industry offers comprehensive and integrated software, cloud offerings and hardware solutions for hotels, casinos, table and quick-service restaurants, sports and entertainment venues, and cruise operations from small independents to large global chains.
Webster noted that the company has several short-term priorities. “First and foremost, make sure that the transition is as seamless as possible for customers,” he said, noting that, in large part, the same people are in place in service to individual customers pre- and post-acquisition, which has been beneficial.
“Our second short-term priority is to really get our teams organized around market segment,” he said. “Micros was organized around regions and we’re going to organize around business segments: hotel, F&B and retail. We’re reorganizing and restructuring teams so we can give global customers a consistent experience in terms of price and delivery.
“Our third short-term priority is integration of Micros with the treasure chest of Oracle technology,” he said, adding that, long term, Oracle Hospitality “will absolutely be laser focused on innovation” and getting involved in standards bodies to determine how the industry sets technology standards. According to the company, its goals are to help the hospitality industry exceed guest expectations, realize faster time to cloud, leverage mobile innovation and simplify IT architecture.
“This isn’t just like any acquisition,” said Webster. “We’ve created a new business unit, and there’s only seven of those business units at Oracle. The focus and commitment we have to the hospitality industry is only going to be strengthened.”