But not everyone agrees that Oracle has mended its channel-offending ways.

"It has never been a partner-friendly company," said Michael O'Neil, founder and CEO of Toronto-based analyst firm IT in Canada. "Oracle has been successful finding a strategy that values a direct-sales-driven culture and has taken out a lot of competitors by acquiring them."

Oracle currently employs a deal registration program to minimize channel conflict between the company's direct sales force and its partners, Kennedy said.

"Partners are still free to go ahead and compete," Kennedy said. "We look at whether it is a green field opportunity or whether it has been on Oracle's radar. If it is on Oracle's radar, we look at who is in the best position to close it in the most expeditious manner. And it depends on the situation. We are trying to lower overall cost of sales."

O'Neil said that companies that have traditionally followed a direct-sales model often have trouble converting to support a channel-friendly structure. It is coded into their DNA, he said.

"There's a feeling in some parts of the industry—not pointing a finger at Oracle or anyone else—that 'real men sell direct,'" he said, calling it a part of the corporate culture.

Oracle first made the 40 percent number public during a prerecorded Webcast with Kennedy and Ochs offered to media outlets on Oct. 29. Kennedy did not mention the decline in channel sales percentage at that time. During the Webcast Kennedy touted Oracle's channel statistics from the past year—Oracle now has 19,500 partners, a 10 percent increase year over year; did 103,500 transactions last year through the channel; and now has 9,100 ISVs, up 7 percent year over year.

Oracle also announced several improvements and expansions to its channel program during the recent Webcast.

Among them were training partners to the same level it trains internal sales staff, expanding its solutions catalog to include more than 4,600 partner profiles, a simplification of support pricing for partner development and demos, ISV solution maps to increase the visibility of partner products in the market, the Oracle Partner Network Competence Center, and plans to launch a social networking platform for partners to interact with each other.

Click here to read more about Oracle's Partner Network Competence Center.

As growth in the large enterprise market slows and midtier enterprises show the most promise for growth, Oracle has had to adjust its attitude toward the channel, which usually sells into those midsize businesses.

"Oracle at some point has to face up to a real challenge in dealing with the midmarket in how to expand beyond its big enterprise stronghold in the marketplace," said O'Neil. "Partners are important to that, but making products available for sale is different from selling them. Over time you win together and you lose together."

That's not an approach that Oracle has traditionally followed and is one the company still needs to learn, he said.

"Microsoft is not ideal in all circumstances but understands that it relies on the ability of its partners to structure its value propositions inside customer organizations," O'Neil said. "That's not something that is clear to companies that deal with direct-sales tactics."

Sharon Linsenbach also contributed to this article.