How does your Oracle advisor make money?
Looking for an advisor? Follow the money!
When I started Palisade Compliance in 2011 there were three companies (including us) that offered Oracle license guidance. Today there are over 100 companies advertising Oracle license advisory services. Why the explosion in advisors?
To understand why there are so many advisors, you need to understand how advisory companies make money. And when you need an advisor, you should be very careful to ask your potential vendors how they make money.
Most companies offering Oracle advisory services are actually Oracle partners and/or resellers. These companies make money when you spend more with Oracle. In fact, many SAM managed service providers and tool vendors are also Oracle partners. They are simply tied to Oracle in a way that makes it impossible to be the zealous advocate you need.
There is another group of advisors that have popped up over the years. These are Oracle competitors. Whether it’s database alternatives, non-Oracle Java providers, cloud hyperscalers, etc, many of these companies claim to be Oracle license experts. What they are actually experts in is getting you to buy their products. That’s not a bad thing. Every company wants you to spend money with them. However, if someone is giving you Oracle licensing/contracting advice while trying to move you to their competing product, you could end up in a world of hurt when they steer you in the wrong direction. VMware is a perfect example of this. We still have people come to us and say (I’m paraphrasing): “I read this on the VMware website so we followed their advice – now Oracle says we owe them millions of dollars.” (Please check out our recently updated article about licensing Oracle on VMware.)
Let’s take Palisade Compliance as an example of a pure play advisor. We make 100% of our money from the fees we charge our clients to support them. We do not take referral fees, marketing funds, or other remuneration from non-clients. In fact, in 2024 we terminated three partnerships because those partners wanted to give us money to help sell their products.
Here is why this is important. One reason clients come to us is because Oracle charges exorbitantly for the use of Java. Well, alternative Java support providers wanted to give us a percentage of fees if we referred our clients to them and those clients started spending money with that vendor. I, however, want Palisade Compliance to help clients solve problems that Oracle created.
In the case of Java, I want our clients to be in a position where they pay nothing for Java. If they have to pay something I want them to pay the smallest amount, whether that is with Oracle or someone else. Taking money from a third party Java support provider doesn’t align with our vision of keeping costs to an absolute minimum. (We currently have 14 pieces of content on our blog about Oracle Java for you to check out.)
To be fair, we tried the referral model. It just didn’t feel right and didn’t work, so we dumped it.
If you are looking for an Oracle advisor, make sure you ask very pointed questions. Ask them to certify how they make money. Put it in the contract. Don’t give an advisor money only to have them make more money from Oracle or someone else. Know their motivation and you will know how they will support you.
