RE: Metalink forums - effects of the outsourcing

  • From: "Reidy, Ron" <Ron.Reidy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Paul Vallee" <paulvallee@xxxxxxxxx>, <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:30:42 -0600

I like to think I am somewhat an optimist, but I would be stunned if things 
ever changed.  The current (10g) hype of minimal DBA (remember M$'s Zero 
Admin?) could be twisted to justify(?) the (lack of) support.

On the other side, I have encountered many support personnel via metalink that 
are very knowledgeable and helpful.  It just seems like there are too many (and 
too frequently encountered) personnel who just do not know the product in 
enough depth to really provide the quality support needed.

-----------------
Ron Reidy
Lead DBA
Array BioPharma, Inc.


-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Vallee [mailto:paulvallee@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 2:18 PM
To: Reidy, Ron; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Metalink forums - effects of the outsourcing


Totally. They have really lost their way on support I think. If you
look at their numbers, annual support is a huge chunk of their overall
revenue (I forget how huge, if no-one has it on the top of their heads
I should look it up). And it used to be absolutely one of the _best_
things about the software, yeah you paid a lot but you sure felt like
you got your money's worth when things went to hell and you could get
a _competent_ (seriously!) analyst on the phone within a minute or
two. It was such a relief. It totally made those "pucker moments"
(thanks Jared for that coinage) a bit better. :-)

I wonder what the future holds given license price pressure from the
low-end (sqlserver or even open-source dbs.) In light of that price
pressure, what used to be the best thing about working with Oracle may
need to become the best thing once again, wouldn't you think? Or at
least hope?

Cheers,
Paul



On 6/22/05, Reidy, Ron <Ron.Reidy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I remember being able to speak with someone!  I had forgotten how great that 
> was and how impersonal it has become.  What next, reading the source code to 
> answer why things [do not] work?
> 
> -----------------
> Ron Reidy
> Lead DBA
> Array BioPharma, Inc.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Vallee [mailto:paulvallee@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 2:07 PM
> To: Reidy, Ron
> Cc: jkstill@xxxxxxxxx; mgogala@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Oracle-L (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: Metalink forums - effects of the outsourcing
> 
> 
> Now we are yearning for the heyday of Metalink!? :-)
> 
> Man it used to be we could call a toll free number and have a
> competent human being on the phone within minutes. It was downright
> awesome, frankly. The first erosion was you started having to go
> through a phone tree that only connected you to a human being if you
> had a downed production database. If memory serves, this was true
> right up to the launch of Metalink V2 in the Summer of 1999 and
> possibly even later.
> 
> Then the general level of competence went down because they hired
> "researchers" as the front line, who would essentially be low-paid
> workers who would screen "easy" TARS and attempt to answer them before
> routing TARS to the real support team.
> 
> This is the path of progress I suppose?
> 
> Paul
> --
> Paul Vallee
> President, The Pythian Group, Inc.
> http://www.pythian.com
>

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