In the midst of the pandemic, Albert Triola (Barcleona, 1963) assumed the position of general director of Oracle Spain, one of the largest technology companies in the United States and the 13th largest market capitalization in the world. This telecommunications engineer, graduated from the UPC, has taken the reins of a key company in the technological gear that manages enormous amounts of data in the cloud.
Oracle stock hit an all-time high in late March and is down 11% since then. At what point is the business?
In a very sweet moment. Artificial Intelligence is driving demand for data management in the cloud. We are behind the Microsoft AI interface and also have Nvidia as a client. Currently, we manage contracts worth $80 billion. And the turnover for the last fiscal year, which we closed in May, was 50,000 million, 22% more than the previous year. The demand is growing a lot.
What is your commitment to AI?
Last generation. We develop our own AI and also integrate that of third parties. In January, we launched the OCI Generative AI service, which brings together large language models from Cohere and Meta to address business needs in 100 languages.
In Spain, who are your clients?
Oracle was born in 1977 and landed in Spain at the end of the nineties. It started working for authorities and large corporations and now it has grown so much that it reaches any type of company.
Could you give an example?
CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell, hotel chains, football clubs and SMEs. 80% of public administrations use our technology, the majority of Ibex 35 companies as well.
You are the first executive from Catalonia to assume the general management of Oracle Spain. What is the biggest challenge of your mandate?
The truth is that I have been very lucky since I landed in 2020. Demand has grown and I have experienced the boom in artificial intelligence and especially that of data management in the cloud.
In what sense?
For many years, Oracle Spain was dedicated solely to data management and left the infrastructure that stores it in the hands of its clients. In fiscal 2023, we decided to change this model and offer our customers the ability to store their data in the cloud.
Where is the infrastructure that stores this data located?
Last year, we reached an agreement with Telefónica to install a data center in Madrid. This infrastructure, along with another cloud region located in Germany, will store sensitive data from clients we have throughout Europe.
What type of data?
From entities that operate in hyperregulated sectors, such as banking, health or the public sector. The objective is to offer maximum control and security. The initiative is called Sovereign Cloud and complies with European Union regulations, which require that the management of this sensitive data be located in European territory. In addition, we employ engineers from the European Union.
In addition to this data center in Madrid, Oracle also announced last year the opening of a digital center specialized in health technologies in Barcelona.
Yes. This opening responds to the strategy of strengthening our presence in healthcare after the acquisition in 2022 of Cerner, a company that supplies technological systems to hospitals. In the center of Barcelona we want to provide technological support 24 hours a day to our clients throughout Europe.
How many people work?
We started with 60 workers but the intention is to significantly increase this number.
Why have you chosen Barcelona?
For its ability to attract talent and for its health and technology ecosystem. In addition, we already have another innovation hub located in the Glòries Tower, with more than 400 employees, including engineers.
What is this center dedicated to?
Develops NetSuite, the business management software specialized in the needs of SMEs. From Barcelona, this technology is distributed to more than 35,000 clients around the world. In the city we also have a small commercial team. Catalonia is an important market within Spain, where we collaborate closely with the Generalitat, the UPF and other companies.
Oracle has also opened a center in Malaga, a city that in recent years has accelerated its commitment to the digital sector.
Yes, in this Andalusian city we have located a commercial pre-sales and customer service office that serves Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We employ workers of many different nationalities, attracted by the quality of life.
In what other cities do you have a presence?
In Madrid we have the headquarters and the data center; in Barcelona, the three offices already mentioned, and in Seville, Valencia and Bilbao, we operate through small commercial offices to be close to clients. In total, we employ 1,900 people in the country.
Has Oracle had layoffs in recent years? Many technology companies have massively cut staff because during the pandemic they overestimated their growth capacity.
In our case we have not applied Employment Regulation Files (ERE) in Spain but we have adjusted, in a timely manner, teams that are no longer strategic or that we had oversized. Nothing out of the ordinary for a company of our magnitude.
What billing does Oracle have in Spain?
As a publicly traded company, we cannot share this information. The Spanish market weighs the equivalent of Spain in the global economy. It is a growing market.
Does Artificial Intelligence drive the business but do you plan to grow through acquisitions in Spain?
We have never bought Spanish companies, although we could be open to it. However, the acquisitions we carry out are from large global technology companies. This is how we have grown from the 1970s to today.
