Anthony Peake

'As a company we make full use of our own products and estimate that we have saved five to 10 per cent on our asset costs through our new enterprise asset management software,' he says. 'The other new product that we have in this area is the daily business close which collects management information together on to a portal tailored to suit ceos, finance directors and other directors'.

In these challenging times businesses are looking for any way to squeeze costs, and those companies that have bought around 6,000 Oracle applications in the region will probably be the first to consider these new offerings from the global e-business pioneer. So what do they offer, and how do they save money?

A passionate IT advocate, Mr Peake used to run an incubator for dot-coms in Singapore before taking up his current role in Oracle, and never takes a holiday, preferring to work rather than play.

He says: 'Enterprise asset management uses the Oracle single data model to draw together information relevant to asset management in one place. It allows an overview of anything from sourcing for spare parts to maintenance, engineering and production schedules. It creates a dynamic plan for management to follow, and is not just for manufacturing business but for any business with a large number of assets to manage or even a large government department.

'The daily business close allows executives to review the performance of their business on a daily basis, and not just once a quarter as with many management systems. We have come up with a simple web screen presentation drawing together all sorts of data such as sales performance, debtors, borrowings and the top ten clients.

'This provides ceos and finance directors with their own portal to access in the morning to see how their company is doing. We can even mark areas in need of urgent action in red, and those for action in green. And this is for small and medium sized firms, not just for large corporations'.

Mr Peake believes that the daily business close system will give any firm an edge over its competition, and it is hard to dispute this claim. For cost control on a daily basis has to be the way to pare business expenses to a minimum. Again the system is easily integrated into the Oracle single data model to function as a part of an Oracle E-business Suite.

With e-business rapidly gaining acceptance across the Middle East, Oracle hopes that its latest innovations will both benefit existing clients and help to persuade others that e-business is for them.