What is our primary use case?
I use Oracle in two systems. The first one is called the Complaint Management System, and the second one was for Human Resources for the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq.
The Complaint Management System is related to a call center. There is a call center responsible for writing down the complaints from the customers about their network electricity. If there is an error they reach out to us. There is an operator there writing down this complaint using his terminal. There are many different call centers in the country and all of them write up these complaints using the Oracle Database.
What is most valuable?
Oracle has always been a wonderful database.
It is reliable. It's very stable.
The solution has everything you are looking for in terms of features on offer. It's very complete.
What needs improvement?
The solution can be quite expensive. It would be ideal if they could work on the pricing model in order to figure out how to lower the licensing.
It takes time to learn Oracle. There's a bit of a learning curve. It's not easy to use at first, however, slowly, day by day, you can get and develop your skills.
There are a lot of YouTube videos and tons of material on Google that you can access. You can also easily find so many training institutes all over the world if you really want to understand aspects of the product. It would be ideal if Oracle could initiate some sort of learning center in Iraq. Even if it's just on Youtube, if it can be catered towards Iraqis to showcase the technology in the form of online Youtube videos or webinars, it would be extremely useful for expanding the solution within the Iraqi market. Right now, competitors like Microsoft can easily come in and just say "here's what we do, and at less cost than Oracle".
The initial setup is a little complex.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about ten years at this point. It's been around a decade, and therefore I've used it for quite a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable most of the time. Unfortunately, I faced a few different issues. I was luckily able to solve them.
It's very important, if you choose Oracle as a solution, to also get the support as well. You can technically live without it, however, if you run into issues, Oracle can help you when you have the support that they offer.
In my case, I didn't have support so I had to kind-of feel around for a solution. I made the mistake, after the first year, of not renewing my support and I really should have.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. If a company needs to expand it outward, it can do so.
How are customer service and technical support?
While it's my understanding that technical support is good, frankly, for the first year, I didn't ask them for any help. Therefore, I don't have any experience with Oracle support.
That said, I have full faith that they will respond very well to any issues.
In my case, I had support for the first year of service and then did not renew it. You really should renew though.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not really so straightforward. It's actually rather complex.
There are two ways to start with Oracle. You can go in by yourself and try to learn as you go or you can study a bit at an institute or school so that you can get pretty comfortable with the product. If you have some knowledge, there's less of a learning curve during installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The support does cost extra, however, it is worth the extra money. It really comes in handy if you run into problems.
What other advice do I have?
We're just customers and end-users. We don't have a partnership or special business relationship with Oracle.
I really enjoy using the solution. It is stable and reliable.
It's more expensive than Microsoft's options, however, I personally prefer working with it. It's worth the extra money.
Aside from stability issues and a certain level of complexity, it's quite a good solution. I would rate it eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
My experience with IBM support is that they rarely admitted a new bug but rather provided workarounds like updating internal tables, Putting scripts to clear locks etc.
Also we found layers like TSA and RSCT issues are not handled or fixed end to end