Expert Overview
Jeff Stovall is an Industry Executive Director at Oracle. His role is to communicate Oracle’s perspective to potential and existing clients in local government agencies across North America. Before joining Oracle, he spent 10 years with the City of Charlotte as the Chief Information Officer.
Q: Can you tell us about your role at Oracle?
My role is to help shape the strategy of how we go to market with our Permitting and Licensing solution, as well as to enable our salespeople to have effective conversations about Oracle Permitting and Licensing and the value it brings, especially when integrated with Oracle Cloud ERP. I also spend a lot of time talking to former colleagues that are still in the public sector to raise awareness of Oracle’s presence in the permitting and licensing software market.
Q: What are your views on Oracle versus the competition and where have we got it right?
The competitors have focused so much on the technology aspect, and all too often enhance their solutions by acquiring other companies. Doing so creates a lot of technical complexities and challenges for years to come. Oracle is fortunate to have a technology ecosystem that’s already very broad across business areas and deep in terms of functional and technical capabilities.
So instead we focused on bringing together a team of people with expertise in the permitting and licensing industry to guide how our functional and technical capabilities can meet the needs of local government agencies. We’re able to constantly push out innovation in a SaaS environment. That’s something that’s very different, very unique. Coupled with Oracle’s brand name and history, that’s powerful. The capabilities that we bring to the table allows local governments to be able to really transform from a back office operation to something that’s on the cutting edge.
Q: When you have the opportunity to share suggestions with prospects or customers, what are they?
Well, the first suggestion that I would offer to any customer is that they need to examine not just where their suppliers have been, but where they are going – what trajectory that supplier is bringing to the table. In terms of their capabilities, in terms of their security, in terms of the ability to adapt the software to their needs, etc. Because looking at the status quo doesn’t tell you a whole lot about what will you be doing within a year or two as you develop a relationship with the supplier. Investing in software is going to be a long-term relationship because community development is a long-term process. So look at where your supplier is going, not just where they are.
The second thing that I would offer for any of our customers or prospects exploring solutions is to understand where you are today and where you want to be. Looking beyond the journey or trajectory your supplier is on, also look at where you want to be in terms of the maturity and growth of your organization.
The third thing that I would ask agencies to consider is what it means to be in this long-term relationship. Customers should be clear about that, and who they want to work with.
Q: How are you as a person outside of work?
Well, outside of work I’m all about my family. I spend a lot of time with my family because that’s my reason for doing the work that I do.
Learn More
Modern cloud technology solutions can help public-sector organizations overcome many of the challenges they face. By migrating to the cloud with Oracle Permitting and Licensing, organizations can embrace innovation and push the limits of what their employees and constituents have come to expect from their government. Oracle is excited to be able to partner with government organizations on their journey to the cloud, and you can discover more Permitting and Licensing product here.