"Be global but act local because each economy is unique"

Garrett Ilg, Executive Vice President of Oracle Japan and Asia Pacific, on his company's mantra in the diverse region, the role of India, security and sustainability

- Nidhi Singal

Database management and cloud services company Oracle, which entered India nearly three decades ago, is witnessing strong growth in its cloud business in the country. This is driven by digital innovation in the BFSI sector, small and medium businesses, and public sector initiatives. Given the strong growth prospects in India, Garrett Ilg, 62, Executive Vice President of Oracle Japan and Asia Pacific-in an exclusive interaction with Business Today's Nidhi Singal-talks about the role the country plays in its global operations, skilling employees, the impact of macroeconomic headwinds, adoption of new-age technologies such as generative Al, and more. Edited excerpts:

Q: What are Oracle's current business operations in Japan and the Asia Pacific?

A: Japan and Asia Pacific is a very broad region for Oracle. All facilities available to our customers worldwide are available in this region, from the cloud, the database, the applications, the analytics, what we do in our hardware and systems business, all the way up to consulting. It's an exciting region, it's a dynamic region, but it's [also] a very diverse region. And one of the things that we're very careful about is being global but acting local, and working with our customers in the form that they need to be worked with, so we can help them be more competitive.

We have been in Asia for decades. Our strong employee base of 50,000-plus professionals, with our partners, are laser-focussed on making sure our 90,000-plus customers have all the support they need to help them be successful.

Q: Where does India fit into your operations?