Curtiss Barnes' blog

This is my first blog, ever. I’m a little nervous about this endeavor since I’ve read somewhere that the average blog has a viewership of 1.5, which tells me that, mostly, the writer and the fractionally-multiplied reader are the same person.

I hope that the missives I’m able to compose in the future are informative and entertaining enough to capture a larger audience. My first, and only so far, podcast has had over 900 hits, but I think several hundred of those were my daughters who found it very funny to hear my voice emanating from the computer.

I think a reasonable target to test this particular Web 2.0 version of our customer communications is at least 5% of our customer base. The Higher Education User Group (HEUG) indicates they have around 18,000 individual subscribers (representing hundreds of institutions), so 904 views will be my original goal. I know, the math doesn’t work, but don’t forget to add 1 for my wife, my oldest daughter (who at 7 is amazingly web-savvy), and my mom. Oh, and 1 more for me.

Seriously, the plan is for me to blog on a few subjects that might be useful for our higher education customers, and prospective customers, in terms of staying up to date on what Oracle is doing in the industry, what issues we see in the market, and what our customers are doing with our solutions to advance the missions of their institutions. Some of the topics I’ll address are:

• The Value of IT in the Education Enterprise – We are at an interesting phase in the industry IT cycle: whether it’s a function of the troubling macro-economic conditions, oversized expectations of faculty, staff and students, or simply IT fatigue, a number of institutions are exploring the question of IT value. This will be a series of posts over time and I hope to include real-world examples of institutions that are wrestling with this topic on their campuses.


• CRM4HE – For a number of years we have been developing industry-specific capabilities in PSFT CRM to serve the “constituent lifecycle” on campus. Several interesting developments in CRM technology and the education industry at large make this an important topic to address to help campuses understand the alternatives that are available.


• Web Services, SOA and Community Source – Mark Armstrong, Vice President of Development for Higher Education at Oracle and I will combine efforts to discuss Service Orientation and what we are doing with Oracle products in Higher Education. We have a vision for how our relationship, and indeed product development dynamic, with our customers will change in the years ahead. As we execute this architectural shift, it’s important to understand that the user community will play a key role in new ways.


• The Higher Education User Community – We are blessed with a strong, sophisticated and supportive user community in the HEUG. As primary liaison to the HEUG Board, I’ll give regular updates on our activities with the HEUG, the Product Advisory Groups (PAGs), and the strategic relationship we share. We also have an Education Industry Strategy Council and other advisory groups that are not necessarily HEUG affiliates, and I will provide some insights gleaned from those groups over time.


• Ongoing Updates and Reactions to Industry Events – What good would a blog be if we didn’t take the opportunity to share regular updates? Look to this space for information and updates on our strategies and product deliveries.