Oracle User Group says budgets are static

24.09.2011
Oracle users are having to squeeze more value from their budgets and significant numbers of projects are being delayed or cancelled because of financial pressures, a new survey from the UK Oracle User Group (UKOUG) and Fujitsu has found.

According to the 'Economy Survey 2011', tightened budgets have caused a quarter of companies to delay their Oracle projects for up to a year. Delays and cancellations mainly hit Oracle applications projects (more than 70 percent), while database projects (fewer than 10 percent) went largely unscathed.

Nearly 10 percent of respondents, who were UKOUG members but not all Fujitsu customers, experienced delays of up to six months, with 7.7 percent experiencing delays of between six and 12 months. Another 7.7 percent had delays of more than a year.

However, just 2.6 percent of respondents said new projects were cancelled, down from 10 percent in 2010.

The size of Oracle budgets for most respondents (60 percent) was less than £500,000, while 30 percent had budgets of more than £1 million and 10 organisations said they have budgets of at least £10 million.

Some 155 organisations responded to the online survey in June and July 2011, made up of private (one-third) and public-sector (two-thirds) customers.