Oracle Becomes Data-as-a-Service Provider

Oracle has launched two cloud-based services that provide access to what the company describes as vast troves of external user data available online to advertisers and marketers with security and privacy compliance built in.

Pitched under the umbrella brand “Oracle Data Cloud,” the two services are DaaS for Marketing and DaaS for Social, DaaS standing for Data-as-a-Service. The data cloud platform used to deliver the services is based on Oracle’s recently acquired BlueKai Audience Data Marketplace and the Redwood City, California-based giant’s own data products.

Oracle bought BlueKai, a data services and technology firm, in February. The estimated purchase price was between $350 million and $400 million, according to Ad Exchanger.

DaaS for Marketing provides access to user data offline and online, including mobile. Oracle said it gathers the data from “trusted and validated sources,” which ensures privacy and security compliance.

The amount of user profiles the database contains is massive. Oracle claims there is more than 1 billion profiles of people around the world, which can be used by sales people to identify prospects at massive scale and by marketing people to targeted ads and content.

The service is also a channel between the customer and hundreds of Oracle partners in the online, mobile, search and social marketing industry.

DaaS for Social (currently in limited availability) enriches and categorizes unstructured data collected from social networks. In Oracle’s words, it provides intelligence on customers, competitors and market trends.

The solution uses a text processing technology, which in combination with other structured data can provide business intelligence, according to Oracle.

Data available through the services can be combined with enterprises’ own internal data. They can also be “plugged” into Oracle applications and its other cloud services.

Omar Tawakol, general manager and group vice president for Oracle Data Cloud, said, “Unbundling data from SaaS applications has enhanced a business user's ability to activate insights gleaned from external data sources, leading to more engaging and personalized customer experiences."