Software must be flexible and able to withstand new ideas and changes

The information we deal with every day moves increasingly from the tactile world of paper, film, and photograph into the binary world of digital electronics.

This movement makes much of what we once thought was tedious easy. No longer do we add up columns of numbers or spend hours looking through index cards for a name. The ease with which such things can now be done on a computer is astonishing. This ease comes at a price, however.

The more things move on to computers, the easier our lives become. There was a time when getting information off the London Stock Exchange would have taken days. Then it became hours, then minutes. Today, we can get prices in real time, that is, instantly.

At the same time, some companies are becoming larger than most nations and global business means having to deal with global business practices. A multinational company will need to know how the financial world is shaped in London, in New York, in Beijing and in Tokyo.

Dealing with such radically different systems means using software that is flexible and able to withstand new ideas and changes in the world. Oracle Corporation believes it is the company that can provide this software.

Already the world's leader in database applications, Oracle has for the past few years been establishing itself as a financial application powerhouse as well.