Category Archives: Art of BI
Using Oracle ERP Cloud to Speed the Pace of Business
Many companies choose Oracle ERP Cloud to manage their enterprise resource planning tasks and processes. With cloud flexibility, ease of use, and continuous innovation at their fingertips, companies can build and grow with confidence.
Of course, all great things come with complexity and Oracle ERP Cloud applications are no different. A company we recently worked with had made SOX compliance one of the organization’s top priorities and was also struggling with inefficiencies in its accounts payable (AP) invoices – problems that required in-depth knowledge of Oracle ERP Cloud to resolve. Let’s talk briefly about the challenges they faced and how proper configuration and use of Oracle ERP Cloud enabled them to solve them.
Of primary importance was the company’s need to ensure that it was compliant with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for public companies’ financial reports. The client had recently hired a new comptroller who had made SOX compliance one of the organization’s top priorities—and that included analyzing and revamping the client’s financial and accounting IT practices in Oracle ERP Cloud.
The client had also been handling many of these AP invoices manually: printing out checks, placing them in envelopes, and mailing them to recipients. However, this was highly tedious and inefficient. The client was thus looking for a way to automate and eliminate these slow, manual operations.
Our team came together with the client and put together a number of Oracle ERP initiatives to improve efficiency, productivity, and SOX compliance. In particular, Datavail helped the client automate many of its cumbersome, time-consuming manual accounting functions. Here’s a shortlist of some of the automations we implemented:
- A new automated system for AP invoicing.
- Implementation of Oracle WebCenter Forms Recognition for automated data extraction and analysis.
- Purchase orders and new invoices are now linked in Oracle ERP Cloud.
- Approval workflows for AP invoices and payments, journal entries, and supplier additions/updates.
- For SOX compliance, the client can now identify exactly who has access to their systems, and what their access privileges are.
- Breakdown of the report generation process into smaller, more manageable parts.
- Integration of Oracle ERP Cloud with third-party systems and software.
- Design and implementation of automatic reconciliation rules that complete immediately as long as all data is consistent.
As a result of these efforts, Datavail has helped this organization eliminate hours of manual effort, reduce data entry hours, improve IT security and SOX compliance, and integrate systems that are essential to the company’s operations. By automating and modernizing the client’s Oracle ERP deployment, Datavail’s enhancements to the client’s IT systems have dramatically improved productivity. Employees can spend less time stressing out about their tedious, error-prone manual processes, and more time focusing on the big picture. Datavail and the client continue to work closely together, refreshing and updating the client’s Oracle ERP system.
For additional details on this case study, download the full white paper: Community Lender Improves Process Speed and SOX Compliance with Oracle ERP Cloud.
Do you have improvements to make in Oracle ERP Cloud, but lack the personnel or time to execute? Contact our team to learn how we can help.
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Stairway to Heaven with Cloud-Based Analytics Solutions
Business intelligence and analytics are often the most complex area of a company’s IT environment. Make sure that your enterprise data is being stored securely and is easily accessible for day-to-day use.
The Case for a Cloud-Based Analytics Solution
Analytics solutions of the past are reactive and do not provide real-time information. Insights are constrained to a flat, static report that fails to capture your data’s true richness and variation. While useful, these reports only tell you what happened so that you can better prepare for the next time in any given context.
Cloud Business intelligence and analytics solutions have become highly mature and feature-rich in recent years. Instead of making business decisions based on old data, your insights offer a real-time and predictive look into your next moves.
On-Premises vs. Cloud Analytics
When you begin your evaluation of cloud analytics solutions, it’s helpful to understand how it relates to traditional on-premises options.
- Flexibility – Cloud platforms deliver flexibility by allowing you to easily reconfigure them as needed to match your footprint in the market. You can add or downsize your resources based on your current requirements.
- Only pay for what you need – When you have an on-premises solution, you’re paying for the system’s maximum capacity, whether you use it or not. With cloud analytics, you only pay for what you use.
- Lower cost of ownership – The total cost of ownership for cloud infrastructure is typically lower than on-premises, as the providers are responsible for many expenses that would otherwise be the responsibility of your company with an on-premises solution.
- More accessibility – You have access to a wider talent pool to build, maintain, and improve cloud-based systems since staff members don’t need to be on-site to work on them.
- Less disruptive – When you roll out cloud analytics infrastructure, you don’t need to disrupt your existing processes on-premises. You can build the cloud-based solution parallel to your current system and then switch over when everything is production-ready.
- Less downtime – Adding resources to your cloud analytics infrastructure generally doesn’t involve disruptive downtime.
- Easier migrations – The ease of migrating from one cloud solution to the other means that you can choose the architecture that best serves your business today, rather than making a ten-year commitment.
Possibilities Abound with Cloud Analytics
The Business Intelligence (BI) and analytics requirements for your different business groups can vary significantly. The data your sales team needs to successfully close leads is not the same as what your operations team needs to keep the business running.
With cloud analytics, you have the opportunity to use multiple solutions that best fit each group’s needs, rather than compromising on functionality. When you’re looking at tools, you also have the option of tailoring it to the types of reports that users such as data scientists, visual analysts, and data miners utilize.
Cloud Analytics Platforms to Consider
You have many powerful options to choose from with cloud analytics, including:
- Azure Analytics Services
- Oracle Analytics Cloud
- Amazon Web Services
Cloud Analytics Tailored to Your Organization
Once you decide to adopt cloud analytics, you’ll want to choose the delivery model that works best for your company.
- Full cloud: Your analytics solution is fully in the cloud with this option. Everything from the underlying infrastructure to the data you’re analyzing goes through the cloud.
- Hybrid on-premises and cloud: If you have a heavy investment in on-premises resources or want to have more control over your data, you can take a hybrid approach. You leverage the infrastructure you already have on-site while gaining cloud advantages such as anytime, anywhere access.
Tackle Your Move to the Cloud with Datavail Cloud Migration Services
A migration to cloud analytics solutions isn’t without concerns, especially if this is your organization’s first time adopting cloud technology for critical functions. If you run into trouble, help isn’t far away when you partner with Datavail for cloud migration consulting.
Datavail Solves for Cloud Migration Challenges
- Not enough IT resources for a migration: If your in-house IT department doesn’t have enough people or the right specialists for cloud migration, Datavail fills in the gaps with highly experienced personnel.
- Unexpected cloud migration costs: Datavail can guide your organization through the planning process, so you know exactly how much your cloud analytics solution will cost.
- Problems integrating cloud analytics with on-premises resources: Our database experts will get to the bottom of integration issues and troubleshoot the issues.
- Performance issues following migration: Tuning and optimizing your cloud solutions allow you to maximize the value of your investment. We’ll track down any bottlenecks and technical issues, so you have the performance you expect.
Get your cloud migration project started today with Datavail.
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Things to Consider for an On-Premises Oracle to Amazon RDS Migration
Are you considering moving your on-premises Oracle databases to Amazon RDS? Before you undertake this transformative change, you’ll want to make sure that it’s the right decision for your organization. Here are the most important factors to keep in mind.
Oracle Database Version and Licenses
Check the list of supported Oracle database versions of Amazon RDS to ensure that the service supports your on-premises deployments. If your Oracle version is older, you may need to upgrade your databases before you can move ahead with the Amazon RDS migration. You also need to look at the Oracle licensing options to see whether you need to change licenses, bring your own license to AWS, or use a solution that includes it.
Control of the Underlying Infrastructure
Moving to Amazon RDS means that your organization is giving up control of the underlying database hardware and much of the software. You may not want to cede that much control to an external partner, especially when you’re used to running Oracle on-premises.
Data Regulations
What data regulations are you subject to? If you have restrictive requirements to work around, you’ll need to ensure that Amazon RDS is compliant with the requested measures. Your sensitive data may have special security requirements or need to stay within a particular region.
AWS Regions
The latency between your systems, your users, and the AWS data centers is another important Oracle to Amazon RDS migration consideration. With on-premises Oracle deployments, your internal systems use your own network to deliver low-latency access to your data. When you move your databases to the cloud, you switch to using internet connectivity, which may change the performance.
Full or Partial Cloud Migration
Do you want, or need, to take a 100% cloud approach for your on-premises Oracle databases? A hybrid model offers greater flexibility and allows you to separate out data that is sensitive or under regulatory requirements.
Pricing Model
Amazon RDS has two pricing models: pay-as-you-go, and reserved instances. The right option for your IT budget depends on how predictable your Oracle database workloads are and how much flexibility you want. Pay-as-you-go is a no-contract option that charges based on your resource usage. Reserved instances offer a year or longer contract that allocates a specific amount of Amazon RDS resources. This option is less expensive than pay-as-you-go, but it’s not always a feasible choice if you have highly variable workloads.
Want to learn more about the pros and cons of migrating to Amazon RDS? Download our white paper: Why You Should Consider an Oracle to Amazon RDS Migration.
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Cloud Analytics: Everything You Need to Know
Business Intelligence is a key component to staying competitive in today’s market. With 89 percent of companies leveraging cloud-based platforms for some or all of their BI workloads, you may be looking into migrating from your on-premises systems.
Making the decision to move to the cloud from on-premises analytics solutions can be challenging. Let Datavail put your mind at ease by answering some of the most common questions about cloud analytics and addressing any concerns.
Understanding Cloud Analytics
What is cloud analytics?
At the most basic level, cloud analytics is using cloud computing technology for analytics functions. These solutions may be complete BI platforms or have components that are essential to gaining insights from your organization’s data. Many on-premises analytics solutions also have a cloud version, so it’s entirely possible that you could use the software you’re already familiar with when you migrate to the cloud.
How is cloud analytics different from on-premises?
With cloud analytics, the vendor handles everything from software updates to maintaining the hardware needed to run it. Rather than adding servers on-site when you need more resources, you can quickly scale up capacity based on changing requirements. You access cloud analytics software by logging into the solution on the vendor’s portal or website, or you may be using it as embedded analytics that’s pulled into another application.
What are the types of cloud analytics solutions?
You have several options for deploying cloud analytics in your organization:
- Fully in the cloud: Your analytics solution is completely in the cloud, as is the data that it’s processing.
- Hybrid cloud: You have a mix of on-premises and cloud-based software for your business intelligence needs. Organizations that have heavy investments in their on-premises solutions may want to leverage their available resources with this combination. Other companies may keep sensitive data stored on on-premises databases rather than keeping it in the cloud along with the analytics tool.
- Public cloud: These cloud providers are widely available to users, and have multi-tenant configurations.
- Private cloud: A private cloud is developed specifically for your organization’s requirements and usage, so you don’t have the same data privacy concerns that you would in a multi-tenant environment.
- Multi-cloud: Vendor lock-in can be problematic in some situations. Using a multi-cloud analytics deployment means that you leverage more than one public cloud provider.
- All-in-one cloud analytics platform: You get all analytics functionality in a single platform. These comprehensive solutions reduce the complexity of your business intelligence stack and allow you to leverage economy of scale for contracts.
- Best-in-class cloud analytics applications: All-in-one platforms do a lot, but they might not be able to cover very specific use cases or could fall short in key areas. Best-in-class solutions are the best in a particular area of cloud analytics. They may be focused on a particular industry or functionality. You don’t get the same comprehensive set of tools that you would with an all-in-one, but you’ll get the ones that matter most to your organization.
- Integrated cloud analytics components: You can create your own purpose-built cloud analytics solutions through cloud vendors offering the different components required for this functionality. For example, you can use an Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) tool for getting data into a cloud-based data warehouse or data lake, then connecting that to a data visualization and dashboard creation tool.
- Custom-developed, cloud-native analytics tool: You can also build a cloud analytics solution completely from scratch, although this approach requires substantially more resources than other options on this list.
Why Migrate to the Cloud
What are the benefits of cloud analytics?
There are a number of benefits companies are taking advantage of by moving their analytics environments to one central location in the cloud. Companies who have their analytics on the cloud can work more effectively and efficiently. Here is a list of additional benefits:
- Flexible: You can pick and choose from a wide range of cloud analytics solutions, whether you need an application that handles your entire BI workload or one that fills in an important gap.
- Scalable to massive data volumes: New data sources continually add to data sets, and having a system that can scale to accommodate the increased load is essential. These agile systems seamlessly scale, with many of them offering automated scaling so you can focus on the data analysis rather than the underlying hardware.
- Easier to integrate than legacy tools: Many cloud analytics solutions have APIs and native integration support, allowing you to connect them to other software in your organization without extensive development.
- May enable access to more modern technology: If you have legacy hardware and software on-site, you may have fallen behind on modern technology. Beyond the improvements in analytics solutions, such as AI-powered predictive analysis, you can also gain access to better security, more compute power, and other improvements.
- Cost-effective: Your CAPEX costs shift to OPEX through the cloud’s subscription payment or a pay for what you use model. You don’t have to price according to your maximum required capacity but can scale your resources based on your workloads.
- Access anytime, anywhere: Cloud analytics tools are accessible remotely, which is an important capability for remote-heavy workforces. Even if you don’t have a large number of employees working from home, having this level of system access means that everyone from executives to the sales team can get insights from any location.
- Reduces load on in-house IT department: The software and hardware maintenance is handled by the cloud provider, so your in-house IT department has more time for their other important duties.
What pain points does the cloud solve for?
Moving to the cloud solves many pain points that organizations have with their analytics solutions.
- Data silos: You can centralize your data in a cloud analytics tool, which allows you to have full visibility into your organization’s insights. Important metrics won’t be locked away. You can make data-driven decisions based on all the information available.
- Unexpected expenses: You can better predict the total cost of ownership with the cloud solution, based on your current usage and future estimates.
- Difficulty scaling analytics tools: Scaling on-premises solutions requires significant work and downtime. You avoid all that with a cloud analytics platform.
- Problems with integrating data sources: Legacy software may face issues working with newly emerging data sources. The cloud’s flexibility can accommodate these groundbreaking needs without requiring significant custom development.
- Obsolete solutions: Sometimes your hardware or software powering your BI solution is just obsolete. You can get a big upgrade by moving your operations to the cloud.
- Limited IT resources: If your IT team can’t keep up with their daily workload, especially if it’s because they are constantly trying to prop up legacy solutions, moving to the cloud frees up large amounts of their time.
- Lack of mobility: Most cloud-based solutions can be accessed through any Internet-enabled device, which opens up mobility for your organization.
The Logistics of a Cloud Migration
Where do I start once my company has decided to migrate to the cloud?
The first thing you should do is to take stock of your current analytics solution. Does your existing solution serve your needs? If not, where are the gaps? How much capacity do you need now and five years from now?
Go through a thorough audit and get feedback from all stakeholders, especially the end users. You can evaluate cloud analytics solutions based on this data to get a system that meets your current and future requirements.
What are some common issues to be aware of with cloud migrations?
If you’re in a regulated industry, check to see whether your chosen cloud solution meets requirements before you migrate. You may need a plan to store sensitive data on-site in a hybrid cloud infrastructure or a way to scrub this data before it’s analyzed. A comprehensive change management plan will help you transition staff from legacy systems to modern solutions.
How much will it cost to migrate?
The migration cost varies significantly depending on the type of cloud analytics solution you select, where you deploy it, and the scale of this system. Budget estimates during the planning process help you avoid unexpected expenses as you shift from CAPEX to OPEX.
What type of support services are available?
Managed service providers, such as Datavail, offer many types of support services for cloud analytics solutions and migrations. You can get help from end-to-end if necessary, along with ongoing maintenance and support.
Let Datavail Experts Guide You Through a Cloud Migration
Datavail has led hundreds of customers through successfully migrating products of all kinds to the cloud. We can guide you from start to finish with our team of experts so your cloud analytics deployment meets your expectations. We’re a Microsoft Gold Partner, Oracle Platinum Partner and AWS Advanced Tier Consulting Partner ready to tailor our services to your cloud migration project.
Reach out to Datavail to begin your cloud migration project today.
Learn more about Datavail Cloud Analytics services and also check out our extensive library of resources.
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7 Reasons Why Companies Migrate to Azure Cloud
According to an article by Forbes.com, 23% of IT workloads are now in the cloud, and that number is expected to grow to 43% in three years.
Companies across the globe are scrambling to take advantage of the benefits of the cloud and that includes making difficult decisions about which cloud vendor has the most to offer. All organizations big or small experience unique sets of requirements and challenges which may benefit from a different cloud provider. It can be a difficult landscape to navigate.
In early 2020, CNBC reported that Microsoft continued to lead the pack as one of the most popular suppliers of public cloud services, especially with larger companies. It touts more than 50 regions around the world and offers an appealing free 12 months of service for new customers (restrictions apply). And, of course, it is backed by one of the largest corporate enterprises in the world.
But that’s not the only reason IT organizations are flocking to Azure. Here are the seven main reasons companies choose this versatile platform:
- High Availability: Microsoft has a significant global footprint which means Azure can provide a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 99.95% for its customers. If your company has hundreds of worldwide locations or even just one obscure location, Azure might be the right way to go.
- Existing Microsoft Investments: Large companies that are already using Microsoft products usually have an existing Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, which means they receive discounts on bulk licensing and other cost-saving benefits. They are also likely already developing in .NET and using other Microsoft platforms like SQL Server and Office 365 that easily integrate with Azure.
- Hybrid Flexibility: Azure offers unmatched flexibility for small or large companies that may not be ready to go all-in on the cloud. Companies can pick and choose which databases and applications provide the best cloud benefits, while remaining on-premises everywhere else. This “pay-as-you-go” design allows companies to manage their Azure consumption, and only pay for the services they use. Another way to test the waters before diving-in completely is via a pilot project. These are usually easy to run so organizations can test their cloud-readiness in specific areas before making a final decision.
- All-in-One IaaS, PaaS, SaaS: Azure offers Infrastructure, Platform, and Software-as-a-Service capabilities, making it extremely versatile. Customers can migrate their entire infrastructure to Azure, develop and host applications and software in Azure, or access and configure Microsoft SaaS applications in Azure – or any combination of those three options.
- Continuous Innovation: As of this writing, Microsoft has built over a thousand new capabilities in Azure in just one year, keeping it on the cutting edge of analytics, artificial intelligence, and virtualization. This includes innovations in machine learning for IT Ops, updates to Azure Resource Manager (ARM), greater storage efficiency, and the soon-to-be-released Azure Chaos Studio. You can follow their blog to stay up to date on the cutting-edge changes and releases.
- Unlimited Scalability: The Azure cloud platform provides hyperscale relational databases and a fast NoSQL database with open APIs for any scale. This includes high-performance horizontal scaling on Postgres using Hyperscale (Citus), integration with valuable Postgres features including JSONB, geospatial support, rich indexing, and dozens of extensions, and intelligent performance recommendations generated from a custom analysis of your database. This elastic framework provides the infrastructure companies can leverage to scale to meet increased user demands.
- Instant Insights: Azure combines big data analytics and data warehousing—from serverless or provisioned resources—through a single, cloud-native analytics service, delivering critical insights for businesses. You can innovate with the latest advancements in areas including machine learning, AI, databases, and virtualization.
In addition to all of these benefits, it’s also a cost-friendly option with many available resources to help manage your usage and spend. And, of course, there’s the standard cloud benefits of mobility, accessibility, flexibility, reduced infrastructure costs, and regular platform updates.
With so many upsides, it’s easy to understand why Azure continues to move towards the front of the pack.
Read This Next
5 Companies That Solved Common Challenges with Azure Cloud
In this white paper, you’ll learn why Microsoft Azure is the cloud platform of choice for so many organizations. You’ll also learn why, as a flexible, scalable cloud service, it also comes with many roadblocks that are difficult to anticipate.
The post 7 Reasons Why Companies Migrate to Azure Cloud appeared first on Datavail.
