Oracle Corp says it’s increasing its investment in its business applications business in a bid to challenge market leader SAP AG. It plans to double the size of its applications sales force, expand sales efforts and offerings aimed at the middle market, increase focus on vertical markets such as retail, health care, utilities and select other markets, expand coverage into the telecommunications market, and push international sales. Since it’s fourth quarter figures revealed flat applications revenues last month (CI No 3,434), Oracle has been putting major efforts into reorganizing its business to fix the problems, including the hiring of formed SAP executive Peter Dunning to head applications sales to its Industrials vertical and major accounts.
