Today I attended the Oracle Usability Advisory Board for the first time. We covered a whole range of topics: user adoption, diverse user populations, visualization, gamification, etc. I can’t talk about Oracle’s future product direction or details shared by the customers (all such things are preotected under non-disclosure), but I think the following observations are in the clear...
1. Much as I love #highered conferences, there is something to be said for cross-industry collaboration; while there are vast differences in the goods we produce or services we deliver, people are people and technology is technology. We are more similar than different; finance pros across industries just want their spreadsheets, change is scary, etc., etc.
2. Did you know that Purina dog / cat food lines are owned by Nestle but Purina feed for all other beasts and critters is produced by Land O’Lakes? Or that there is such a thing as “polar bear feed” and “Monkey Chow”?
3. The new simplified user interface for Oracle Fusion is slick. See this article http://www.oracle.com/webfolder/ux/applications/successStories/130724-FUSE.html on Oracle.com to see some screenshots and a few quotes from the people who ran my session today!
Overall, it was great to meet some new people and learn about what others are doing with Oracle technology, where Oracle might be heading in the future, and how all of it might apply to my institution! Next up on the Usability front: a bunch of sessions at Open World in six weeks!