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Oracle Opens Door to External Cloud Data Sources

Vincent Lucey - Senior Enterprise Account Executive

Born in Ireland, raised and educated in UK, with disciplines in Economics and IT, Implemented SAP Shared Services Centers for Chevron in Europe, then moved to Houston TX, and now […]

Oracle opens door to external cloud data sources.

Workplaces have changed forever. The coronavirus pandemic forced offices worldwide to rethink the fundamentals: how they work, where they work, and what the long-term strategy may be. Everyone remains optimistic we will reach a “post-pandemic” future, but few expect things to ever return to what we considered normal.

Oracle Pursues a Forward-Thinking Strategy

Befitting its name, Oracle seems to have anticipated these disruptions early. Even before the pandemic hit, Oracle was moving to untether its cloud offerings from its own exclusive cloud. Users can now access data from sources outside the Oracle cloud like Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure. By linking together multiple cloud-agnostic data sources, Oracle enables in-depth financial intelligence based on anything deemed relevant. The end result? Decision-makers get the whole picture.

Users can also now host Oracle EPM in whatever cloud they choose. Before, it was limited to the Oracle cloud, but the company decided to switch course after receiving abundant user feedback looking for more flexibility. Ever responsive, Oracle decided to make its ERM product a free agent as part of the broader effort to improve adaptability and accessibility across its cloud business.

Rounding out that effort, Oracle aims to integrate EPM with the broadest range of data sources possible. In addition to accessing data in other clouds, users can also now bring in data from unexpected and under-utilized sources.

Take weather data for example. In industries ranging from food service to construction to trucking, the weather has a huge impact on daily performance. Therefore, it makes sense to include weather data along with financial and operational data as part of Oracle reporting. Users could also pull in credit ratings, stock market data, demographic info—anything that could enrich the analysis.

Looking At A Tablet

Making the Most of Oracle Cloud

Oracle opens the door to external cloud data sources, but it’s up to users to take advantage of everything at their disposal. In practice, that involves two challenges. The first challenge is to identify all the different data sources to include in the analysis. Now that Oracle makes it easy to integrate so much, companies can draw on a vast range of structured and unstructured insights. It takes creativity to identify untapped sources to include in financial intelligence or performance reporting. It also takes caution to avoid excluding important data and ending up with skewed insights as a result.

The second challenge of reporting across multiple data sources is to handle the scale of data involved. It can be overwhelming trying to find, integrate, organize, and analyze all the relevant information in one source, let alone five, 10, or 15 different sources. In that way, Oracle reporting can feel like a catch-22 where users are either investing exorbitant time and resources into reporting or, conversely, learning less than they need to from their own data. Companies can’t accept either option when they need to move quickly, confidently, and with the best insights available.

That’s why many rely on CXO Software to supplement the native Oracle reporting capabilities. By design, CXO Software reaches across data sources and automates the most laborious parts of developing financial intelligence (or any other kind of intelligence). Plus, it’s available through any browser, so with only an internet connection and a login, decision-makers can check on KPIs or see how charts and graphs are trending.

On-demand intelligence couldn’t be more important to today’s companies, and thanks to CXO Software, it’s couldn’t be more accessible either. Explore how it fits into a broader business strategy with a free resource from our experts. Download our ebook: A Guide to Driving a High-Performance Organization today.