I am an Oracle Customer

One thing that really annoys me even within my own usergroup is the definition of membership. Yes Fujitsu is a partner or SI. We do make money from providing products and services complimentary to those of Oracle, but we are also a customer of Oracle. In the UK alone we have hardware, linux, virtualization, databases galore, middleware and apps to run our business which is to Design, Build and Run ICT systems.

So I was delighted to be asked by Fujitsu to speak at the Oracle Customer Showcase in Tokyo on our use of Hyperion Financial Manager, a single global instance we run from the UK to manage and consulate all Fujitsu Entities at regional and Group levels.

The event was held in a major hotel, accessed by a 7 minute walk from the subway (I love the Tokyo subway) and there was no mistaking what event was taking place.

My schedule was hectic and I arrived at the venue just one hour before my session to meet with the interpreter and left straight after.

The extract for my session was

Fujitsu has successfully used Hyperion throughout its global operations for many years but in 2007 decided to consolidate to a single instance of HFM to give them faster month end accounting, local statutory reporting and a sound basis for ever increasing regulation.

This is the story of why and how they moved from 23 disparate Enterprise  installations with 350 users to the model they use today, and the benefits it gives them.

The presentation was not simulations translated but the slides were in Japanese. So I stood at the lectern using a clicker with my right hand to move on the slides, with my Fujitsu tablet in my left hand showing the slides in both languages, so I knew what they were looking at and what I was meant to be saying. Japanese uses more words so for the 35 minute presentation I spoke in total for around 14 minutes, not long for me and a lot to share. We then had a question time and they were good questions which always tells me as the presenter how well the audience has engaged.

I know users love user stories and this was one of ours. A special thanks to the Hyperion and accounting teams in Baker Street for their help in teaching me what they do everyday and to my Belfast colleague Stephen Sharkie for his alleged translation skills :-)