During Oracle CloudWorld 2016 event in Washington, D.C. on March 24, several aspects of cloud services that perhaps do not usually receive due attention were under extra scrutiny, with cyber-security, ubiquity and the competition between Oracle’s event with the nearby Google Developers Conference all examined for market and practices implications.

John Furrier and Dave Vellante, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, took some time at the event to examine these issues, as well as consider which companies have it in their budget and approaches to stay the course with cloud development.

Oracle as the underdog

One of the first points brought up was that Oracle is currently not considered a prime player in the cloud market, though the company is working to change that. With the big four cloud providers listed as Google, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon, Oracle will be in for a tough, uphill battle as it tries to break through to public perception.

As Vellante noted, Amazon has done a major job of making its definition of cloud (“Infrastructure as a Service”) the default one, and accordingly, software is key. “All the action in cloud is in software … SaaS [Software as a Service] is where it is; SaaS and developers,” Vellante said. To rise to this challenge, Oracle would need to “make a major cultural shift to the cloud,” he said.

Big development budgets

As the biggest players all have significant funding clout behind their development, finding ways to leverage those developments for extra revenue, as with renting cloud services rather than selling them outright, is becoming a larger point of consideration. Tied into that, “The linchpin is the developer community,” as Vellante said, and Furrier agreed, laying out the situation: “The developers are moving to a full-stack developer model. If you’re not a full-stack developer, you’re just a bit player in the overall equation.”

Furrier felt that the market focus was shifting faster than many investors and competitors were fully realizing, and that Oracle’s reassessment was leading to some big changes for their company. “The software industry is huge. … You don’t even hear SaP [Software as Product] from Oracle anymore,” he noted, adding, “Software plus Product … is where Oracle is going to win.”

Keeping up with promises

One of the big issues for Oracle’s cloud-shift, Vellante felt, was, “The marketing is definitely ahead of the execution.” However, he also stated that this was perhaps not as large a concern for them as it might be for other members of the big five in cloud due to more rapid-deployment customers. “They move at the speed of their customers, so they don’t have to be as fast as Amazon in some of this stuff,” Vellante said.

Beyond the marketing, the talent pools of each company were another point of hot contention. As Furrier put it, “It’s not just the cash that’s luring [talent] over [to Oracle]; it’s the tech!” On another front, Furrier predicted, “Oracle is going to go blow-for-blow with Amazon on price.” Furrier and Vellante agreed on the assessment that AWS was essentially being run as a volume play, while Oracle was providing a value play.

Furrier saved his greatest caution for the slow but sizable Microsoft, stating, “I don’t think Microsoft understands the digital transformation … they’re just not a digital company.” Comparing their practices, engagement with customers and development cycles to those of their direct competitors, Furrier felt that to keep up, Microsoft would need to make drastic adjustments. “Microsoft has to absolutely change their business practices on how they engage the buyer in the buyer’s journey.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Oracle CloudWorld 2016. And make sure to weigh in during theCUBE’s live coverage at the event by joining in on CrowdChat.

Photo by SiliconANGLE