OPA Focus Group in Paris

Posted on June 27, 2019October 26, 2020 by Richard Napier

OPA Focus Group in Paris

And so, on to the second Focus Group of the week. In the middle of a heatwave, I traveled to Paris from my current base in Normandy, avoiding a landslide (which closed the railway line for 2 days just before I took this train, and which delayed my return from Utrecht by 24 hours), and a brush fire (which sent us down a branch line and into the countryside for a nice long delay in the heat) and finally getting to my hotel around midnight instead of 21h00. Let’s hear about the OPA Focus Group in Paris.

Anyway, enough moaning. This was, as far as I know, the first Focus Group in Paris since 2017- so my expectations were high for a good turnout in spite of the heat (quite a few public buildings and schools had already closed). And I was not disappointed.

Lots of Customer Showcases

The morning kicked off with a nice coffee and croissant meet and greet, and the agenda of the morning sessions was a great chance to get to know the customers of the two showcases being presented:

PSA (Peugeot/ Citroen / DS) Customer Overview

Everyone knows them, and it was very interesting to hear about their experiences in Oracle Policy Automation. I’ve said this before, but these events are wonderful opportunities to get ahead in the community, but most importantly, a great opportunity to meet like-minded practitioners! The room was filled with a wide variety of customers, partners and even some “not yet customers” – these events are popular because “what’s said in the room, stays in the room” – so there is no pressure or sales talk.

PSA uses Oracle Service Cloud and Oracle Policy Automation for CX Support (service requests, loyalty, and working with owners of vehicles – Peugeot, Citroen, DS). Perhaps the most interesting part for me was the explanation of the process evolving from Word, letters, paper, stamps, laborious steps involving expensive, manual operations into a simple to use Oracle Policy Automation interview. The return on investment is obvious both for the customer (better service, more reactivity) and for the group.

Davin then introduced a variety of use cases from worldwide customers : Dexcom, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, WestPac, BeachBody, Princes Trust to name a few. Very interesting to see the different business processes.

Davin continued after the break, and presented the future plans for Oracle Policy Automation. As human expectations grow more demanding, Oracle Policy Automation is increasing in power and capability. It is fantastic to see Internet of Things, Service Cloud and Oracle Policy Automation working together.

The detailed part of Davin’s presentation provided lots of information about future plans, and was the subject of many questions from the audience. And me!

SACEM Customer Overview

Another excellent customer overview, this time from another business sector entirely : rights management for playing music in bars and restaurants. Wonderful mobile offline demonstration (with a telephone call in the middle, in the mobile device!) with a great user experience.

INDRA Customer Overview

Indra is a specialist in vehicle recycling – connecting car dealers with recycling operators and other partners. A very interesting use case, with some complex Oracle Policy Automation rules for calculation of Service Level Agreements, Clauses, Tariffs and assigning a partner, among other things.