Oracle's only play is to migrate existing Oracle database and apps to the "Oracle Cloud." The only customer they tout is AT&T (cloud at Customer) which basically has Exadata as a Service on premises with a 5 year ULA, and a 5 year renewal at the same price at the end of the first 5 years.
The "Cloud at Customer" offering isn't really cloud, as it sits in the customer's data center. But I am 100% certain the 200 million or so (guesstimate) AT&T paid for the 5 year ULA was ALL counted as cloud revenue.
Also certain that cloud credits sold for support reduction at 50% on the dollar are counted as cloud revenue. Also pretty sure the vast majority of that is not being consumed at all. Closer inspection of those customers in Oracle cloud... touted for marketing purposes are there for free or at a substantial discount.
@QswfiJB and @OurfSwz are two threads on this site asking about possible SEC investigations on Oracle cloud revenue. Cloud washing at Oracle is definitely real. We all know that the Sales people are incented to sell cloud above all else. If the sales people put cloud credits in the contract as they are instructed, then Oracle management will simply say... I was following what the sales guy put in the contract. Shame on the sales guy for scamming Oracle corporation to line his pockets with commissions on cloud credits. The highest managers will say they relied on accurate information from the SVP, GVP, VP and director... They will distances them from the deal.
Point is with all the cloud washing going on, cloud revenue growth is pathetic compared to every other single cloud vendor including IBM. Who's fault is this? Who is selling cloud at Oracle?
That's the problem! The entire field sales team. At the end of Q4 oracle will fire the weak legacy sales team and replace it with new Oracle digital call centers with super young super bright new sales people trained on cutting edge cloud technology.