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Companies have invested significant amounts of time and money installing Oracle E-Business Suite (Oracle EBS). However, Oracle’s announcement to focus primarily on Fusion Cloud made Oracle EBS users tense until Oracle released a roadmap supporting EBS atleast till 2030. In a recent research on “What Oracle ERP Customers Need to Know About Oracle Cloud Applications,” Gartner found that many Oracle customers have been inaccurately told that their on-premises ERP suites are at the end-of-life stage and that they must move to the cloud now. As a result, Oracle customers are unsure about Oracle’s commitment to its on-premises suites until Oracle EBS roadmap was out. On the other side, Oracle ERP Cloud is the latest from Oracle. It is still evolving, and its success entirely depends on project completions. Many CIO’s are planning to ignore a full-scale fusion cloud implementation as the cloud applications have differing levels of maturity and wait until these applications gain an excellent rate of adoption – especially Oracle SCM Cloud which is less mature than Oracle Financials/HCM cloud. So the answer between Cloud and On-Premises is not yet clear, and premier support for E-Business Suite may continue even after 2030. Oracle is continuously investing in E-Business suite on the following aspects-

User Interface Features – Oracle is working on building solutions that are user-friendly and accessible from smart devices using HTML User Interfaces.

Analyzer Scripts- Oracle introduced product based Analyzer Scripts that provide recommendations, solutions and early warnings about items that should be reviewed and corrected. For instance, Inbound Transactions Analyzer identifies Inbound Transactions issues and offers solutions to known ones.

See: June 29th, 2018 – Oracle reaffirms commitment towards Oracle EBS customers

The need to modernize legacy systems made many enterprises to move to cloud initially. But that is not the case now. As per a recent survey by IDG Communications, nearly 60 percent of IT decision makers believe apps that touch critical data and systems must remain on-premises for security reasons, while 42 percent say they can’t migrate off legacy systems because they’re mission-critical and have security policies barring them from using cloud apps for certain functions. However, companies are likely to upgrade some of their modules/apps in 2019.

On the other hand, Oracle wants its customers to use the co-existence strategy to incrementally adapt and migrate to cloud apps over time. This approach is practical, and cloud apps closely integrate with legacy ones to perform as a single unit. However, customers may be reluctant to make a move, unless they are looking for the latest functionalities not present in core applications, as the current systems can perform the same job. Some IT decision makers say that the current systems are deeply ingrained in the business activities and a switch in the software could interrupt business operations.

See:

Is Oracle jeopardising EBS for Oracle Cloud?

Customization challenges should be considered as ERP Cloud offers few opportunities to customize and may impair companies from innovating. Companies need to change the way they work to achieve the full value of Cloud solution. This strategy is executable, but the complexities involved in implementing features not present before and the issues that pop up are unimaginable. Also, standardizing ERP benefits Industries as a whole but not companies as every company and its processes are unique. Companies using E-Business Suite customized it to suit their business requirements and attained competitive advantages. They will lose their competitive edge when business processes are standardized to meet Cloud ERP requirements.

Oracle’s intent initially was to provide a like for like replacement. However, a recent finding from Gartner does not suggest so. What it means is a high complexity in switching from Oracle EBS to Fusion Cloud. Oracle on June 5, 2018, announced Oracle Soar to cut migrating costs of EBS users in their journey to Cloud. But, the market feedback shows that the switch won’t be easy considering the customizations EBS customers have done for their ERP. Even the recently announced quarterly results report that cloud services and licence support segment grew only 3 percent year-on-year, down from 10 percent in the last quarter of 2018.

See:

Oracle Announces Soar

“Future of Oracle E-Business Suite holds good.”

Taking all these into consideration, the future of Oracle E-Business Suite holds good. Oracle is continually updating E-Business Suite to provide value with new features that reduce downtime and improve user experiences. So one may expect premium support from Oracle for E-Business Suite even after 2030 taking into consideration the money companies spend on ERPs, and the long term R12 support timelines and commitment from Oracle to offer premium support for EBS till at least 2030. Unless the need for new needs and functionalities arise, companies can stay on Oracle EBS and assess the need for technology shifts by matching their business and technology requirements with the roadmaps and support from Oracle for EBS.

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Essential Elements to Consider for Enterprise Mobile Strategy

Mobile is transforming the way businesses work. Realising the benefits of mobile apps and devices, companies are adapting to mobility faster than ever. Here are some of the elements that every company must consider before drafting an enterprise mobile strategy.

App Development Technologies

Developers have the option to build apps using Native or web-based technologies. Native app development technologies offer the ultimate UX but are expensive to build. On the other side, web-based hybrid technologies offer easier app development and are gaining traction in the app development space. A recent report by Ionic says, 41.7% of the apps built with Ionic Framework are for internal-use (B2B) apps. The biggest benefit enterprises are seeing with Hybrid technologies is with the development and maintenance of app for different platforms. With hybrid technologies, developers need not maintain different versions and development is easier with single code for all the mobile platforms. In the coming years, native app development will see a gravitational pull as developers building exclusively with native tools will drop down in the next two years to 2.9% from 20%. So, companies are recommended to consider hybrid technologies when planning enterprise mobile strategy.

Prioritize App Development

Companies having various lines of businesses shall mobilize the highly important workflows first to achieve maximum business value and ROI. Do this by listing out all the workflows to be mobilized and prioritize them considering the business value they generate, technical feasibility and complexity and need for mobility.

Mobility Governance Policies

When employees use smart devices for company and personal purposes, issues such as security breach arise, and puts company’s data at risk. With Mobile device governance, companies can mitigate most of the issues by establishing a mobile governance Charter. Before implementing mobility in the enterprise, the Mobile Governance Team shall bring out all the possible issues and risks they may face in the future. They shall determine boundaries for using mobile and execute mobile governance policies necessary to put a check on the risks that may arise. These policies reduce wasteful spending of resources and improves security. Some of the key topics included in policies are protection of corporate data, app restrictions, mobile data reimbursements and agreements to standardize use of mobile phones and apps for company and personal purposes.

Build Vs Buy Apps

Buying Off the shelf apps helps users quickly go to market and save tons of money on design, development and maintenance, but vendors restrict platforms and lack flexibility and comprehensive solution offering.

Building apps helps companies develop tailor made custom apps but takes enormous amounts of time and resources to build 20+apps.

CAPRIZA Could be a potential platform to alleviate many of the Build issues.

Our recommendation Research the solution providers with a comprehensive strategy towards Enterprise Mobility. You need a full suite of apps, services for a quick journey towards Digital Transformation. Take a holistic enterprise wide look.

Design & UX

As mobile device popularity increases, digital experiences are more important than ever for your customers. The need for presenting complex information on a small screen have accentuated the importance of design in every software application. Design and user experience now play a much deeper role in the successful integration of technology into business. Create experiences that employees love to use and

“Design thinking helps you seek a balance between intuition and analytics, between exploration and exploitation, between reliability and validity, and between art and science” – Roger Martin

By discovering people’s unmet needs through rapid prototypes, you can offer solutions that are designed for end users. Straightforward and aesthetically pleasing products are compelling to use and more relevant in the mobile-first world. Simple solutions are easy to use and get the work done. Know more about the benefits of Design Thinking here.

Hidden Costs

Many Organizations do not take hidden costs into consideration while calculating TCO of Enterprise Mobility.

“In fact, in the US ‘real’ TCO is 116 per cent more than expected. Approximately $1,000 per device of annual costs for services, security and IT are not being taken into account when calculating the TCO of enterprise mobility.” Says Eldar Tuvey, CEO of Wandera for Enterprise Mobility Exchange.

It is necessary to include hidden costs of services, security into account before budgeting mobility. Taking all these into consideration, companies shall build/buy most effective mobile solutions. Those looking for companywide mobility can internally develop with a mobile team OR consider Rapid mobile app development (RMAD) tools such as Capriza for building large number of tailored apps. RMAD tools are the latest trend and offer low cost development and ensure security. However, enterprises planning for quick to go to market OR mobilizing only a few line of businesses can consider mobile solution providers with comprehensive mobile solution offering.

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Simple Mobile Solutions at Your Fingertips

Choosing a mobile solution is a tricky job. Choosing a mobile solution developer is even more challenging.

But the value of your mobile solution should be judged based on the functionalities, features and key principles behind its design. Algarytm’s products reflect the company’s guiding principles in mobile solutions design. They aim to enhance user experience, hence they are simple and straight forward. The features do not intimidate. They’re consistent and secure. And most of all, they deliver.

Take your pick from their range of simple and user-friendly solutions that deliver excellent performance

Mobile solutions to Streamline and improve worker productivity

Enhance business processes, reduce paperwork and help your employees perform their tasks anytime and wherever they are with these mobile applications.

Smart Sales

Smart Sales is handy for your sales agents working on the field. They can easily pull up product information anytime so they can easily check customer prices, arrange for orders, view their clients’ accounts, and check order status. The best part is that it works offline so they don’t need Internet connection.

Stock Transfer

One more tool helpful for your sales representatives and agents on the field. With this, your sales people can easily facilitate transfer of stocks to their fellow sales agents even while on the field. Sales agents can also use this to process and accept the stocks transferred to them.

Smart Delivery (POD)

Smart Delivery is perfect for your delivery staff so that they can easily take proof of deliveries or issue delivery invoices on their mobile device. They can easily pull up requests for delivery on their mobile and even capture signatures and photos.

Order Adjustment

Another handy tool for your delivery staff so they have access to real-time and updated orders, make adjustments based on stock availability, and even issue updated invoices while at your customers’ or clients’ location.

Deliver customer satisfaction

A main purpose of your mobile solution is to make transacting with you convenient and satisfying for your customers. Algarytm offers these mobile solutions designed to enhance customer experience.

Happy Customer

Happy Customer lets you connect with your customers easily and makes your business more reachable to them. Happy Customer can complement your business website and lets your users view your product catalog, request for price information and most of all, place orders.

Smooth Returns

Smooth Returns helps you and your customer process requests for product returns. Customers can easily request for a product return using their mobile device, and your delivery people can also easily process the request since they receive real-time instructions on how to handle the item, and you have more loya; and satisfied customers in the end.

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Every visualization must a purpose and tell a story. Our data visualization best practices transform dull, boring dashboards into powerful stories.

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Algarytm solves your complex problems with simple user experience designs. Our award-winning solutions are a testament to the industry-leading expertise of our Oracle UX designers.

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Ionic offers mobile optimized HTML5, JS, CSS tools & components for developing highly interactive, mobile web apps. Algarytm is a proud partner of Ionic