UKOCN is the UK’s (and probably Europe’s) largest free to join on-line network community of Oracle business professionals. With over 30k subscribed members it gives Oracle Partners the opportunity to promote and advertise their unique expertise and value to the Oracle economy. For members it is the place to find the latest news, events, innovations and developments in the Oracle world.
Over the last year UKOCN’s site traffic has doubled and its appeal has widened with members joining from around the world. We also now have Oracle Partners from Europe and the US becoming UKOCN partners and we are able to promote their products and services to an ever growing global audience. We see the formation of USOCN as the next logical stage in the development of our service. In addition to signing up US Oracle partners, we are looking for UK and European Oracle Partners who wish to grow and develop their business in the US. Existing UKOCN partners wishing to promote themselves in the US will be given first opportunity as a priority to sign up to USOCN.
We recognise that the needs and ways of operating in the US are sometimes different to UK/Europe and this has to be addressed in the make-up of the content provided on the site. However, we feel that over time there may well be an opportunity for bringing the two communities closer together and benefit everyone. We are also keen to develop relationships and act as a hub to enable collaboration between Oracle Partners in different geographies. For example, a partner breaking into a new market/geography might need a delivery partner in a new region and we see ourselves very much as the facilitator with the knowledge and experience to advise and make that happen.
The key principles and successful features that have made UKOCN the place to be for the UK Oracle professional business community are to be replicated. These are:
- Free individual membership designed to rapidly grow the numbers
- Target audience are Oracle business professionals
- Through attractively priced sponsorship packages, Oracle Partners will be able to promote themselves extensively by publishing their news, articles, events, case studies, white papers, presentations, training and special offers
- Group Alerts and eNewsletters are ‘pushed’ out to the community regularly to help drive traffic to partners’ services, events, offers and their own website
In addition to this, the new ‘sales marketplace’ we have recently been promoting is also about to go live and again preference will be given to existing UKOCN and USOCN partners to be a part of this exciting new initiative.
Despite the generally negative economic news we keep hearing, we believe this is a genuine opportunity for Oracle Partners to proactively take the lead and demonstrate their undoubted quality and experience to the marketplace. It is to be hoped this might in turn encourage organisations into taking that leap of faith and push ahead with projects that might in turn add value to their own business. Thus growing the economy and benefiting all, simple!
Paul Kavanagh, Managing Director, UKOCN
If you are an Oracle Partner and are keen to take advantage of these opportunities, please contact me right away by emailing me at the following: paul.kavanagh@ukocn.com
