A friend of mine reports layoffs on September 5 in Oracle's North America consulting unit. The reduction in force included 140 implementers specializing in Siebel, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, and Hyperion products.
I can't seem to find any announcements or news reports on this small number of firings, but I have no doubt about the accuracy of this report.
He says that principal consultants appear to be hit the hardest, including some with high utilization rates.
Oracle's layoffs are baffling. Senior consultants with Oracle experience are reportedly in short supply. If Oracle's sales are as robust as Oracle says they are, they should be hiring such people, not firing them. Perhaps this is an early warning that Oracle sees softness in its new sales pipeline, and without cutting headcount it knows that consultant utilization will fall. In professional services, utilization is the key to profitability.
If you have direct knowledge or insight on this situation, please leave a comment or drop me an email.
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4 comments:
I am speculating, but some of these layoffs may have come from analysis of profitability for middle managements year end bonus. Trim the higher paid more experienced consultant, save the salary and put a more junior resource in at the same rate. Voila! More profit to your group P&L. Oracle is run by the numbers and that is why we see some of these unforeseen adjustments. Good for the customer base? I am not sure.
Scott LaFata
www.MyVision3.com
Confirmed, I know someone that just got laid off today, plus one more he mentioned there for the N. America Oracle consultant software application implementers group.
A bunch of people were laid off from Oracle's business units including utility and retail. Major layoffs are to come in Jan 2009
No wonder clients choose to pick job seekers off the street rather than from Oracle Consulting. There is no difference in what the customer would get. In fact, a resource from the street would have better knowledge than a junior consultant from Oracle !
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