I sell a white label version of one of my products (Twiddla), with an API for integrating it into your site. From time to time I field requests from people who want to build their thing on top of our platform, asking if we do consulting.
I tell them yes, then quote what it would take to build what they want and 90% of them have a heart attack on the spot.
"But we have this quote from another developer saying he can do the whole thing for $1,500!"
I don't doubt it. But then I suspect his dev didn't build Twiddla. I did, so I charge accordingly. I recommend having your own team do your integration since really it's quite straightforward, but if you really need it to work right and you need it fast, you can go straight to the source (but it'll cost you.)
It's the same thing with Oracle. Sure you can find a guy to build your thing for $25/hr, and chances are he'll probably even do a good job. But if you want to remove all the "probably's" from that sentence you can pay 10x as much and have Oracle do it for you.
You are also paying insurance. When the project fails and blame gets assigned, you did the "right" thing.
If you hire an incompetent, it's your fault. If you hire Oracle and they send you an incompetent, it's theirs. Good luck with getting the money back though.
You're not just getting insurance... if the project is delayed or just needs a hand or two, Oracle will throw more people in to meet deadlines. If a consultant leaves the project, they will be replaced to keep continuity. But it all depends on how strategic an account you are to Oracle.
But yeah, nobody gets fired for hiring Oracle consultants.
There's a second advantage to vendors setting their consulting fees quite high, and that is not to undercut their professional services partners. It also leaves room for others to compete in that space.
I've had some bad experience with consultants. So much so that I'm hesitant to use them now. They'll have a plane to catch to fly to the next client's site. And they'll rush to catch that plane and make mistakes on your project, etc. They have the mentality that this is "not their baby".
If you do hire one, make sure you have a maintenance agreement with them so they can't just set it and forget it leaving you with a big bill and problems.
Just my experience.
Edit: I've never used an Oracle consultant. My comment is meant at technical consultants in general.
And I've had bad experiences with clients who want to treat an external consultant as just another body they don't have to treat any differently with respect to communication.
There's pitfalls on both sides, but I've had people not give me information for 3 weeks, fiddling with other projects, then get upset, after our initial agreed on engagement timeframe is done, when they can't just have me stay involved for another month.
I've said before, and I'll say it again - almost all projects I've been involved with that failed or were extremely bad projects (consultant or employee or whatever) failed because of communication issues, not technical issues. Even when tech issues arise, there needs to be competent communication about the impact. Good communication - from all parties - is key. It's just that with full time employees I think many managers prefer to let things slide around longer.
The problem with not using the OEM is finger-pointing between the OEM and your non-OEM consultant. Also, I've negotiated with Oracle many times on behalf of customers, and it's safe to say that they are in the business of shifting risk back onto their customer while charging them a lot of money.
I sell a white label version of one of my products (Twiddla), with an API for integrating it into your site. From time to time I field requests from people who want to build their thing on top of our platform, asking if we do consulting.
I tell them yes, then quote what it would take to build what they want and 90% of them have a heart attack on the spot.
"But we have this quote from another developer saying he can do the whole thing for $1,500!"
I don't doubt it. But then I suspect his dev didn't build Twiddla. I did, so I charge accordingly. I recommend having your own team do your integration since really it's quite straightforward, but if you really need it to work right and you need it fast, you can go straight to the source (but it'll cost you.)
It's the same thing with Oracle. Sure you can find a guy to build your thing for $25/hr, and chances are he'll probably even do a good job. But if you want to remove all the "probably's" from that sentence you can pay 10x as much and have Oracle do it for you.