A CIO's Apprehensions with Oracle Cloud
As she sipped her morning coffee and took a bite of the gluten free croissant, Michelle Evans browsed her calendar for the day. It was 7:00 AM and she had a 9:00 AM closed door discussion with John Stockton, her Director of IT. As CIO of BIOS Electronics Inc., Michelle was keenly exploring every angle of the solution design that her team of consultants had presented her with, regarding the impending implementation of Oracle Cloud in her corporation.
Throughout her long career in the IT world, Michelle had been exposed to software installations and enterprise solution implementations of every hue and stripe but they were all based "on premise". The server boxes, the racks, the installed software, all if it was housed indoors and was looked after, nurtured and maintained by her folks in IT. There was a tangible sense of ownership about hardware and software that you could touch and see that gave a sense of comfort and familiarity to the technology that Michelle had always navigated, till now. All the familiar paradigms were about to change with the introduction of an ERP solution on the Cloud.
A solution that is visible to you only when it plays out on your browser but is otherwise invisible, housed and maintained as it was on the Cloud - was a concept Michelle has been struggling for some time now to come to terms with. But even if she were to believe that there were expert, invisible hands weaving this digital magic in the Cloud and delivering it to her through a buffet of subscription based offerings, the one question that presented this CIO with some cause for concern and nervousness was - will it be able to perform to the strategic demands of her global corporation?
Michelle thinks through her questions for John
Ever since the Board of BIOS had decided to adopt the Cloud, Michelle had spent quite a few sleepless nights. Which is why she had finally decided to have some of her doubts settled by discussing her concerns with John.
Of the many Items on my List. can we Centralize our Global Procurement?
"Our Purchasing and Payment functions are in a mess. We need a complete review and overhaul of the existing system so we can replace it with a centralized Procurement policy. Will Oracle Cloud support such a policy?". Michelle's question was the first thing John heard as he entered her corner office.
John had the benefit of hindsight. He had been with a few Oracle Cloud implementations prior to joining BIOS Electronics. That prior experience was what had set him apart from the other candidates when he applied for the position of IT Director at BIOS.
John explains to Michelle, the concept of the Shared Service Business Unit
"We have something in Oracle Cloud called the Shared Service Business Model. It is a feature that is as powerful as it is flexible in giving you all the options you need with a Centralized Procurement architecture", John responded.
John then went on to whiteboard certain specific use cases for Michelle to absorb the concept of the Shared Service Business Model.
…to be continued in Part 2 (coming soon)