ERP Cloud Highlights from Oracle Applications Day 2020
The Version 1 Oracle Applications Day 2020 is our largest event for customers and business users of Oracle. Taking place virtually for the first time Version 1 was joined by 200+ delegates across the UK & Ireland and speakers from across the globe on 15th October 2020. Recordings of all sessions are now available On-Demand for anyone wishing to re-watch sessions or for anyone who missed the event the first time around.
Having joined Version 1 a little over a month ago I was as keen as any of the delegates to hear from current customers, to learn how they are innovating to drive value in their organisations; and of the lessons learned along the way that others following similar journeys can take away to benefit both them and their organisations. For those of you that want to understand some of the key messages from the Oracle ERP Cloud stream before committing to the full videos, here are some of my highlights….
Keynote — Tom O’Connor — Version 1 CEO
Opening the day with a warm welcome for our all attendees and speakers Tom set the scene that even in the context of all of the business challenges presented by the current pandemic situation, that there is hope, there is a way forward, and that there is an opportunity to improve the fortunes of our customers and partners organisations.
How this occurs in practice will depend on what your organisations priorities are, be they:
- Digital Transformation
- Automation / Cost Optimisation
- Business Value
- Avoidance of Technical Debt
Tom stressed that one of our Core Values at Version 1 is Customer First and that “Our job is to give you the best advice that allows you to make an informed decision for your long term business benefit, regardless of whether that’s in the short-term interests of Version 1”
We hope that we can help to inform your journey and enable you to make the best decisions for both you and your organisation — irrespective of where you are starting from and where you would like to get to.
The Art of Agility in the Age of Disruption — Chris Leone (SVP & GM Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud), Oracle
Chris Leone describes how Oracle is partnering with HCM customers to successfully adapt and navigate the new world of constant change and disruption and started by congratulating Spire Healthcare (one of UK’s largest private healthcare providers) and Version 1 for delivering one of several successful Oracle Cloud Implementations during the lockdown.
Chris then delivers an update on Oracle’s response to Covid and the FOC support available to customers. Key messages include:
- Agility is key: including notable examples of how Mount Sinai and Co-Op were both able to react and adapt to Covid-related challenges and opportunities
- Outpace Change: highlighting the importance of updating existing business processes and creating new ones whilst keeping employees engaged and productive. This covered how talent can be mobilised effectively, how ‘Journeys’ can be used to enable change via simplified daily tasks, and how people analytics delivers insights that inform business decisions.
- Partnership: how the Oracle Cloud Community is helping to share knowledge, identify future roadmap based on user needs and deliver best practice for the benefit of all.
SaaS: If not, why not? If not now, when? — Colm Gillard (Head of Oracle Cloud ERPM and HCM Practice), Version 1
A must watch session for anyone considering Oracle Cloud transformation based on Colm’s experience across dozens of successful large-scale Oracle transformation programmes.
Using an analogy of Neo’s decision between the red pill and blue pill from The Matrix movie this session describes the differences between On-Premise Applications versus Software as a Service (SaaS) and provides some real-world examples, and considerations, from our experiences of deploying SaaS — while also dispelling some myths along the way. These are described in the context of some of the key differences regarding: Releases/Upgrades, Adoption, Patches, Security and Ability to Innovate.
Colm covers how Covid has impacted organisations and gives his thoughts on how we are observing their future Corporate System Roadmap being impacted and some of the ways our customers are adapting, namely by: turbo-charging financial planning, upskilling staff and delivering transformation (with a small ‘t’) can help to accelerate towards the new normal.
Colm delves into some of the challenges that change presents and how Version 1 and our customers have successfully navigated these. One example covered is Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust’s journey, which is also available on-demand.
Finally, Colm closes by stating that “It’s still a journey so don’t forget the map” with a call to action to get in touch if you have any questions on how you can navigate the path to business benefit from Oracle SaaS.
Guy’s and St. Thomas NHS Foundation Trust’s Journey to ERP Cloud — Catherine Eyre (Chief Accountant)
Catherine gives a very practical Step-By-Step guide of how they built their business case and how they then engaged with Oracle, before selecting Version 1 as their implementation partner.
Their internal business case discussion covered the risks of doing nothing, timescales, the process they undertook and some of the decisions & rationale on their Oracle ERP Cloud implementation journey to date.
Catherine covers their consideration of upgrading their On-Premise solution and why ultimately Cloud/SaaS was their chosen model (spoiler alert: the cost of upgrading and implementing Cloud were very similar).
Once this decision was made Guys & St Thomas recognised that they needed some advisory support to set the foundation for the project (goals, vision, scope, etc) and also a trusted implementation partner, Version 1, to hit their April 2021 go-live goal.
Catherine leaves us with how they are managing their comms for Day 1 to ensure that expectations are correctly aligned (something we term transformation with a small ‘t’) to provide a successfully adopted platform for their continued SaaS journey.
Future Ready Finance — Nick Jackson — President, at Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and Oracle Sales Development Leader, Finance Digital Transformation
Nick’s session shares many of the global insights that he has gleaned from his work on the frontline of Finance Digital Transformation.
Nick starts by stating that the pace and scale of change that organisations are facing has never been as significant and will only continue to impact. Covid has exacerbated this, increased uncertainty, whilst also requiring organisations to establish greater resilience within their ways of working.
He goes on to describe how the finance profession will help rebuild confidence and drive recovery; along with the associated phases of recovery, namely: Respond, Endure, Innovate, Restore, Reimagine. These phases help to address the immediate needs of clients and employers, protect business continuity, identify and leverage new opportunities, regain full functionality, and commit to continuous evolution.
Perhaps controversially Nick states that Target Operating Model (TOM) definition is no longer the best approach. With the pace of change he concludes that it is better to offer a model which focuses on Today, Tomorrow and crucially provides flexibility to cover what we don’t currently know so that we can adapt in a more agile fashion to whatever challenges the future brings.
Nick also shares some predictions of how the finance function is changing to move away from systems of recording, to systems of interpretation, to systems of engagement, and towards systems and technologies of governance and oversight to help set strategic direction. This presents vast opportunities but also presents skills gaps associated with this opportunity — primarily around Data and Analytics, Cyber Security, Business Solution Architects and Strategic Business Partners.
Change and agility are difficult to achieve without a solid foundation. Nick closes on the importance of Cloud to underpin this change and how Cloud sets the foundation for Day 1 Savings, which are the platform for Day 2 Savings. Crucially, while the pace of change is great this quick pace doesn’t need to solve all problems in one go. It can be at a more modest pace which focuses on getting live, then using the Information gathered to move to Insight, to then ultimately Influence and Impact your business.
How Tindall Riley Have Leveraged OIC & OAC — Seren Halil (Director) Tindall Riley
Seren Halil (Director at Tindall Riley) provides a fascinating client perspective on how they have leveraged Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) and Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) to build upon their Oracle Cloud migration, which was completed in record time, on-budget, within 3 months.
As a global Major Shipping Insurer Tindall Riley had used their Business Objects Reporting Tool, which had been refined over many years to their exact business needs. However, as their underpinning Corporate Solutions were not keeping pace with the changes their business required this meant that they needed to change how future reporting would be conducted within their Oracle Cloud ERP solution; deciding on Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) and Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) to satisfy this need.
Seren described how he was supported in their decision of OAC and how requirements gathering and validating business needs led to enhanced reporting that helps to drive Tindall Riley’s business globally.
In closing Seren describes their benefits from Oracle Cloud including how it reduced pressures within Tindell Riley, automated certain processes and has ‘virtually paid for itself’.
Automated Testing for Oracle Fusion Cloud — Adam Hammel, Version 1
Moving to SaaS and quarterly releases has enormous advantages but does present some smaller trade-offs, namely more regular regression testing. Adam covers some of the challenges which Version 1’s Maximise Automated Testing solution is designed to solve along with some of the design decisions we made to enhance customer benefits.
Some of the challenges to be overcome include:
- Reducing the time and effort spent by SME staff during regression test windows so that they can focus on value-add activities
- Creating repeatable test scripts that are updated to align with the Oracle product as it continues to evolve, so that testing can be run at the click of a button
- Making the correct technology decisions upfront to futureproofing the solution and our customers’ investment
- Having a fully audited trail that helps our customers to demonstrate compliance, reduce risk and prevent issues/fines
The session finishes with a short demo of the solution to help visualise how the solution helps our customers to reduce testing effort, reduce cost and maximise the value their staff can add to their business.
Managed Services for Cloud Applications — Rachel Blake & Raj Bopari, Version 1
Version 1 has been delivering Oracle Managed Services since 1996 to 150+ customers while maintaining 98%+ customer retention. With the move to Oracle Cloud Applications the landscape of Managed Services has changed and Rachel and Raj cover how Version 1 continues to deliver value in the Cloud.
This session delivers an overview of the Cloud Quarterly update process and benefits, some of the considerations of going with Wave 1/2/3 — along with details of how monthly maintenance and weekly high priority updates can be managed.
Rachel then moves on to describe how Version 1 Managed Services offerings (which are tailored to individual requirements) help to manage and optimise your implementation. This support can be anything from light-touch support of customer in-house expertise, right through to a fully managed offering, or anything in between. Each offering includes a quarterly health check service which ensures everything is running smoothly and provides recommendations for improvement, and can also include regression testing recommendations/support which can be either manually executed or Automated.
Six Easy Steps to Engaging the Business, Keeping Focused & Implementing Change — Chris McBrien, Version 1
Is your verdict of project success the event of go-live? Or the realisation of benefits from solution delivery and new ways of working?
Chris covers the context of change both with respect to projects in general but also in light of Covid, which is driving different change/transformation needs than was the case earlier this year.
This brings change management resilience, and it’s inclusion within your project to the fore.
With this in mind, Chris describes our proven six-stage process for implementing change, along with practical advice, templates, details on resourcing and timings, and lessons learned.
This all starts with gaining clarity on what we are doing, why and how we will do it; and ultimately then tracks how benefits will be monitored, delivered and how success will be declared, when.
This approach is woven into, and aligned to our project methodology, to ensure that change is cohesive with technical deployment to ensure that business outcomes are delivered rather than solely technical go-live; thus ensuring we stay true to the Version 1 core value of Customer-First to support Customer Success.
In Conclusion:
The event covers the full spectrum of the journey to Oracle Cloud from considering whether Cloud is right for you, the steps to write the business case that sets the foundation and validates your choice, the journey through the eyes of our customers, some of the tools used along the way, and how our customers have been supported at every step.
As Tom mentions upfront, irrespective of where you are starting from and where you would like to get to, there is hope, there is a way forward. If you need someone who has travelled this path before, has a map, is willing to put your interests first, and can take you on the journey, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Version 1 at gregory.alexander@version1.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryalexander1/
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