Hardware/Software Development

Oracle Gets Ready To Soar To The Cloud

IoT

Oracle has initiated a new program “Soar” to encourage customers to move from legacy on-premises applications including the E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft and Hyperion ERP into the cloud. According to the tech major, the new solution reduces the time and cost of cloud migration by up to 30%.

In a candid conversation with CXOToday, Prasad Rai, Vice President, Applications, Oracle India, explains the philosophy behind Oracle Soar and its business benefits.

Soaring high

According to Rai, Oracle Soar to the cloud is the world’s first automated cloud migration offering that enables Oracle customers to save time, cut costs and stay focussed on business. It includes tools that identify existing integrations and customizations in the on-premises Oracle application, scan for configuration parameters and metadata, and use that information to automatically configure an instance of Oracle ERP Cloud. Additionally, the data in the on-premises application is automatically extracted, transformed, and loaded into the cloud application. 

With the help of a complete set of automated tools and cloud transition methodologies, the new “Soar to the Cloud” solution enables customers with applications running on premises to upgrade to Oracle Cloud Applications in as little as 20 weeks.

Automating today’s CFO

Soar has been devised keeping the CFO in mind, who are under mounting pressure in order to be agents of change for their organization.

“Today, the CFO must do more with less. To get more value from the same level of resources, automation and adoption of technology will be necessary – for financial close, planning, budgeting, forecasting, tax reporting, allocations, management reporting and so on. Hence, routine finance tasks should be completely automated so that resources can be more effectively used to combat disruption and deal with change,” explained Rai, stating that Oracle Soar is a step in that direction. 

New technologies such as IoT, Big Data Analytics, and Adaptive Intelligence etc. are powerful tools that can help the CFO in addressing these challenges. One of the most lucrative impetus to move ERP and other core applications to the cloud is growing as businesses look to adopt a range of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, chatbots, and the Internet of Things.

Journey to the cloud

“We have created Oracle Soar for those companies that understand the value of moving to the cloud, but somehow still are struggling to do so. There can be several reasons for this struggle. Especially in ERP, it is not uncommon to see that many companies have not updated or upgraded their systems for a very long time. These outdated systems coupled with customizations, make moving to the cloud seem a daunting task,” said Rai.

He added that it’s now easier to move from Oracle E-Business Suite to Oracle Fusion ERP in the cloud, than it is to upgrade from one version of E-Business Suite to another.

Stating the example of Clover Infotech, one of India’s leading IT services providers has implemented Oracle ERP Cloud, Rai said that the implementation was done by Clover Infotech’s team in just three months. Oracle ERP Cloud was able to address many business challenges including those associated with the changing laws on taxation in India, the advent of GST and its impact on multiple end customers. The Oracle ERP Cloud implementation enabled Clover Infotech to support localized tax rules, capture revenue and expenses at a granular level, and significantly reduce data processing time. As a result, Clover Infotech’s senior management and decision makers can get a holistic and customized view of business data for better analysis, decision-making, and reporting.

Likewise, logistics major Transworld Group has chosen Oracle’s ERP cloud suite (Enterprise resource planning) to automate and streamline their enterprise business processes. The choice supports the company’s holistic understanding of seamless supply chain management. The transformation aims to help the logistics major to become preferred business partners for global logistics solutions.

These are just a few examples. With 4,000 customers live with Oracle cloud applications globally, Rai agrees to what Oracle CTO Larry Ellison  said at the launch of Soar in June that, there is still a lot of room for Oracle’s cloud business to grow. “Once you are in the cloud, it will be the last upgrade you ever need.” 

True to Ellison’s saying, Rai explained that as a company Oracle truly understands the power of automation in solving business problems its customers, and hence integrated it into all its applications. “We have applied the same thinking to the cloud upgrade process to create an end-to-end solution that will enable our customers to experience a rapid, predictable, and cost-effective journey to the cloud,” he summed up.

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