Oracle software quality improving

Nearly two years ago, I wrote about Oracle's dismal software quality in its 11i release. At the time only 16% of its user group members were live on 11i. But those who did endure the upgrade found, on average, that it cost 43% more than planned and took 39% longer than expected. Frequent bug fixes were a way of life.

Recent discussions with Oracle customers indicate that Oracle has overcome many of those problems. One CIO client of mine, who until late last year refused to upgrade to Oracle 11i, found few problems during the upgrade and is preparing to roll out the system to several new acquisitions.

Bill Swanton from AMR also sees improvements in Oracle's quality. In a follow up to AMR's survey of Oracle customers two years ago, he writes:

I contacted many of the Oracle customers originally interviewed in 2002 to see how things have changed. All agreed that the level of software quality has improved, but it could still be better. As one company told me, “It has gone from being the number one issue to number three or four.” More pressing at these customers are the classic issues common to all Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects, including user adoption, change management, and data quality . . . .

The quality gap between Oracle and its competitors has narrowed tremendously in the past two years. It should no longer be a major issue in new selections, nor should it be slowing existing customers from getting benefits from their investment. Companies are managing any remaining quality issues with automated regression-testing and system management tools. Oracle is sticking to the right path, and its ongoing efforts should continue to improve the software’s quality.

AMR's research note has more details.