Recent Posts by Oracle Cloud

The finance function is changing shape. Until quite recently, the traditional pyramid structure was entirely appropriate, but the advent of new technologies mean that organisations need to rethink their shape, quite literally. Up to now, most finance functions would look something like this: A CFO at the top supported by functional leads in areas such as treasury, reporting, and financial control and planning – a leadership layer. Senior people in their teams share niche...

Blockchain, the cloud-based distributed ledger, is one of the hottest emerging business technologies and has clearly become one of the latest buzzwords. But how do you know whether you are ready to deploy it for your company? Blockchains provide a shared, immutable, secure record of transactions across a business network, so embarking upon a blockchain project will require commitment to a process that goes beyond one’s own organization or business. It also means joining or...

There’s a bewildering array of new marketing must-have technologies, including AI, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT). But what do they actually do ─ for you? The answer is critical to any business that wants to deliver the ultimate customer experience. IoT is the application of the web to the physical world, rather than the online one. It’s probably most visible in the apps that allow us to turn our heating and lights on from the sofa, the car or even another...

We’ve seen how AI can replicate and automate intelligent human analysis at scale, in our last blog. Potential is one thing, but how can the modern marketeer apply it ─ and what does it deliver? AI results Let’s start with results. A 2017 eMarketer report shows that marketing leaders apply AI to marketing’s sweet-spots digital transformations:  personalisation (54%); customer understanding (54%); identifying and reorganising customers across channels (48%); and targeting and...

Finance is embracing its new best friend, automation. Many organizations have heard of robotic process automation – or RPA – and every day more of them deploy software bots to boost efficiency and control costs, often in the cloud. Many financial processes can be automated. A good example is the close, consolidation and reporting process, the bane of every finance operation, as it is very resource consuming and comprises a high level of risk. However, as Deloitte recently disco...

The world of work is changing, fast, and HR teams face a new landscape. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Work 2018 report predicts 75 million jobs will disappear by 2022, but 133 million new roles will be created, thanks to robotics and AI. Man vs machine. That’s how many thought about Artificial Intelligence in the past: humans on one side and computers and robots on the other. But AI should mean man and machine work better together: Humans augmented by technology. And...

  Research shows that Autonomous databases are the second most-valued technology, likely due to people working to keep on top of surging data volumes now and well into the future. It’s also the tech making the most noise in the press, and people want to hear more. But what exactly does Autonomous mean? Children don’t follow rules. Living and learning, they carve out a path to adulthood through years of trial and error. Each insight helps to build the intelligence necessary to...

New technologies are revolutionizing decision-making. For CFOs and their teams – the traditional guardians of “the truth” about the planning and performance of those decisions – the opportunity to forge new strategic partnerships across the enterprise is immense. The days of the blocking finance function – with a CFO who always seems to say “no” – are long gone. A host of emerging technologies are moving the finance team decisively away from record-keeping and reporting, and...

Fast tech progress is fantastic – isn’t it? For those in Silicon Valley, new products, rapid development, and swift growth are all key to success. But how do people in the business world love new technologies? Or do they think they’re frustrating and overhyped? Every country, company, and team has a variety of opinions and feelings about technology – and Oracle wanted to find out what they were. So over 4,000 professionals were asked about six key technologies: artificial...