Oracle wants to recruit 1,400 cloud-focused sales people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa to speed up adoption of its portfolio of off-premise services in the region. According to the software giant’s recent second quarter financial results, its cloud activities account for around 7% of Oracle’s overall revenue, and – in the past six months – it claims to have signed up 3,600 software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service customers (PaaS). Furthermore, the company’s chief technology officer (CTO) Larry Ellison previously declared the company is on course to book $1.5bn in SaaS and PaaS deals before the end of this current financial year. To help capitalise on the reported demand the company is seeing for its cloud offerings, the company wants to ramp up the number of cloud sales professionals it employs, with particular emphasis on those with at least two to three years’ experience. The company will hire 1,400 people to work in six locations, including Amsterdam, Cairo, Dubai, Malaga, Prague and Dublin, where a third of the new recruits will be located. To underscore its commitment to growing its cloud sales force, Oracle plans to open sales centres in Amsterdam and Cairo, as well as offices in Dubai, Dublin and Prague. The recruits will be responsible for peddling Oracle’s portfolio of cloud applications, while helping users tailor their IT strategies to include more off-premise technologies, the company said. Loic Le Guisquet, president of Oracle, said the overall aim of the recruitment drive is to ensure its customers are supported at every stage of their journey to the cloud. “We are hiring 1,400 sharp, ambitious inside sales professionals across Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” he said. “I want socially savvy, switched on individuals who can help customers respond to the digital imperative and make their businesses future-proof. We’re looking for people who want to be relevant to the biggest trends shaping business and technology. “Anybody looking to make a real impact with their career in technology should come and join Oracle,” he added.