Advice and Information for Finance Professionals

Three scenarios where a completely integrated ERP Cloud solution can drive business performance and results for fast growing distributors and wholesalers.

Three scenarios where a completely integrated ERP Cloud solution can drive business performance and results for fast growing distributors and wholesalers.

Andy Pieroux discusses how Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) can help growing businesses control their profit margins.

Andy Pieroux discusses how Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) can help growing businesses control their profit margins.

Embedding AI directly in your cloud ERP can provide recommendations you hadn't thought of.

Embedding AI directly in your cloud ERP can provide recommendations you hadn't thought of.

This year's survey reveals a technology gap that needs to be addressed.

This year's survey reveals a technology gap that needs to be addressed.

A BHAG is a goal that is big enough to lift us out of our everyday thinking and set our sights on an exciting horizon.

A BHAG is a goal that is big enough to lift us out of our everyday thinking and set our sights on an exciting horizon.

Leaders are investing in digital technologies and data-savvy talent to create the future-ready finance function.

Leaders are investing in digital technologies and data-savvy talent to create the future-ready finance function.

Meet the business leaders who have reimagined Oracle and learn from their challenges and successes.

Meet the business leaders who have reimagined Oracle and learn from their challenges and successes.

Dropbox keeps customer focus at the center of its business, even as it's acquiring new ones.

Dropbox keeps customer focus at the center of its business, even as it's acquiring new ones.

A recent memo from the U.S. Department of Education has institutions scrambling to patch this vulnerability.

A recent memo from the U.S. Department of Education has institutions scrambling to patch this vulnerability.

Broadcom continues to transform its business into an infrastructure technology provider with help from the Oracle Cloud.

Broadcom continues to transform its business into an infrastructure technology provider with help from the Oracle Cloud.

Finance professionals returned to work after Modern Business Experience with an arsenal of new knowledge. Here’s what they learned.

Finance professionals returned to work after Modern Business Experience with an arsenal of new knowledge. Here’s what they learned.

In case you didn’t get the memo: The future has just arrived. You probably saw it coming but never thought it would actually get here. The Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), blockchain: Not long ago, all of these technologies were little more than buzzwords and thought experiments.   Meanwhile, rising consumer expectations are impacting every kind of business. Your customers have come to expect same-day deliveries, two days at worst, and every single order has to be right. Now people want to subscribe to your products instead of buying them. Your investors expect you to predict demand precisely and fulfill it just in time. And regulators expect you to trace all your ingredients back to their source to help troubleshoot supply chain issues and even save lives.  The best companies are learning to adapt to this “future-is-now” world – and quick. Outpacing change is no longer option. It’s a mandate for business survival and success.  New financial models  The problem with keeping up with the future is that businesses are constrained by legacy systems that can’t support the businesses model changes they need to survive. For example, most on-premises accounting systems aren’t equipped to handle the new world of “product-as-a-service” subscription models that require new revenue recognition capabilities tailored to this environment.  The cloud removes that obstacle. Oracle, for example, built a subscription-management capability into its ERP cloud to help companies sell products as services, if that’s what they need to drive their business forward.  These types of new cloud technologies also help enterprises successfully execute mergers and acquisitions. Cloud solutions have changed the M&A game, allowing new business units to be onboarded quickly and their books consolidated and closed just as fast. Predicting the future Take another example: In the not-so-long-ago world, maintaining a factory floor or enterprise asset used to be a reactive, timebound, scheduled activity. So when something broke, it was a big and expensive problem. But in the future-is-here world, companies are using machine learning to make predictions about when equipment is wearing out and then schedule repair and maintenance activities before anything breaks.   It’s clear that these formerly futuristic technologies are delivering a lot value for businesses and the people who work there. By the way, it’s not about taking people out of the equation but allowing them to shift to more value-added work. Instead of just managing transactions, they can focus on analyzing data and trends and making better decisions.  Business planning is so much better today in the cloud. This is largely because cloud solutions can integrate business planning, sales and operational planning, and supply chain planning all on one platform. Oracle’s unified data model, for example, can bring together core operational data with product info, with machine data, and now third-party data. When you integrate all that intelligence into your supply chain planning process, you now have the power to match supply and demand with unprecedented precision, creating a huge competitive advantage. One Oracle customer – a contract manufacturer for top brands such as Newman’s Own – leveraged a cloud-based demand management system to save 5-10 percent from inventory reductions while eliminating 50% of food waste. It turns out that matching supply with demand – a collaborative process we call “plan to produce” – can help you achieve valuable strategic goals like environmental sustainability.   No science project required Today there are a lot of vendors that are “playing” with AI, ML and IoT. The difference with Oracle is that it’s building real industrial strength apps based on proven, market-tested versions of these advanced technologies. One of Oracle’s financial management solutions, for example, comes with built-in machine learning that allows companies to detect financial fraud and anomalies and improve compliance.  More recently, Oracle delivered a blockchain app that you can use “out-of-the-box” to manage entire supply networks. This helps companies track and trace goods across the supply chain and provides complete trust and transparency for all parties.  Remember that IoT sensor data is great to have, but it’s only as good as what you can do with it – which is why it’s important to apply machine learning to your data feeds. Oracle leads the way in proven ML solutions that gives companies a clear vision of how to react to changing operational conditions.  In the future that is upon us, finance and operations will need to work in unison to help companies thrive with leaner inventories, more precise product costing, and more profitable product-as-a-service business models. The fundamentals of business haven’t changed – profitability still drives success – but the way to success will require enterprises to take a more future-leaning path.  Is your enterprise equipped to outpace change? Learn more about the future of Finance and Operations at Oracle OpenWorld 2019 and at Oracle.com/scm.

In case you didn’t get the memo: The future has just arrived. You probably saw it coming but never thought it would actually get here. The Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI),...

A move from Infor Infinium to Oracle ERP Cloud paid off for this diversified gaming company.

A move from Infor Infinium to Oracle ERP Cloud paid off for this diversified gaming company.

Data analysis in real time helped engineering and consulting services firm Michael Baker International redefine planning.

Data analysis in real time helped engineering and consulting services firm Michael Baker International redefine planning.

When building a business case for cloud ERP, project managers should look beyond the standard ROI and TCO calculations that IT teams have historically relied on.

When building a business case for cloud ERP, project managers should look beyond the standard ROI and TCO calculations that IT teams have historically relied on.

Artificial intelligence offerings are taking enterprise resource planning (ERP) to new heights. From transforming accounts payable to recommending dynamic discounts, emerging technologies are automating transactional processes and driving smarter business decisions. At the forefront of these transformational technologies are Oracle Adaptive Intelligent Apps, allowing you to focus on strategy and optimize for innovation. To get a deeper understanding of the market landscape and learn how Adaptive Intelligent Apps for ERP can influence your organization, we attended Oracle OpenWorld London. Matthew Bradley, senior vice president of product development and enterprise performance management at Oracle, and Beat Nuolf, director of product management for AI Apps for ERP at Oracle, took a deep-dive into the technologies powering a smarter back office. Moving from Operations to Innovation By leveraging the new transformative technology available for the back office, organizations are able to focus on strategy to drive improvement and increase performance across the board. Fundamentally, AI Apps for ERP are streamlining your day job so you can spend more time on innovation. "By innovation we mean improving or enhancing existing processes to offer new services to your customers and new offerings to suppliers. A lot of this is coming through from the access to data and being able to leverage newer algorithms against that data to actually arrive at better insights and outcomes." - Matthew Bradley, Senior Vice President of Product Development and Enterprise Performance Management, Oracle A key characteristic of the current market is how quickly it's changing. Whether based on new competition, regulatory compliance, and/or security, an organization's ability to adapt and react quickly to change is imperative for long-term sustainability. That means digesting large volumes of data and understanding what changes are signalling a need for innovation. AI Apps for ERP give you an opportunity to see these signals in near real-time so that you can adapt and react sooner. Achieving this state of agility against change is the ultimate accelerant for revenue efficiency. "Our overall goal is to help you run your organization quicker, smarter, and faster than your competition." - Matthew Bradley, Senior Vice President of Product Development and Enterprise Performance Management, Oracle Emerging Technology Powering the transformation of the back office is a myriad of technology that can roughly be grouped into four buckets: IoT, machine learning, intelligent applications, and blockchain. With IoT creating an interrelated system of technology devices, the ability to capture and transfer data has never been easier. Being able to access all of this data (from every single device) and sort it in an intuitive way gives organizations the leverage needed to transform their back ends. For example, you can get a deeper understanding of when scheduled maintenance needs to occur and what the impact on your operating system will be if certain machines are down. With the vast amounts of data made available through IoT, machine learning gives us access to the algorithms needed to parse all the collected data, derive correlations, and deliver quick insights. This begins the shift from rule-based approaches to model-driven approaches that learn over time from user interactions and ongoing data analysis. Taking this analysis and delivering learned insights to an end user takes shape in the form of intelligent applications. An intelligent application will learn based on the context of user input and personalize recommendations to improve existing processes. For example, when your business runs forecasting analysis, an AI App for ERP would improve the accuracy of that forecast based on robust data analysis combined with human input that identifies changing business needs. The final piece of technology powering next-generation ERP Apps is blockchain. This record-keeping technology provides a new way to represent data and process transactions between different parties. With the complex interplay of decentralization and cryptography, a blockchain network can heighten security and verify transaction data by the consensus of network participants. "The end goal isn't to expose users to all this underlying technology but to expose a better way to do what you're currently doing, so you can improve the productivity and accuracy of completing that task." - Matthew Bradley, Senior Vice President of Product Development and Enterprise Performance Management, Oracle Embedded Intelligence and Automation Two areas of focus specific to AI Apps for ERP are intelligent process automation and intelligent performance management. Aligned with Oracle's overall AI strategy and primarily accelerating the automation potential of finance activities, these two areas provide context for better planning and faster time-to-action. From an intelligent process automation perspective, this means identifying repetitive tasks and automating the activity to free up human capital so that employees can focus on higher value tasks. At an ERP level, this solution would include things like touchless transactions—for example, automatically filing an expense report based on a photograph rather than manual data entry. Similarly, at an EPM level, close orchestration can automate entire schedules based on the completion of one task kicking off the succeeding task. Intelligent performance management focuses on connected planning to get access to more information and operationalize that data for more accurate outcomes. By bringing in third-party data from external providers and leveraging machine learning algorithms, predictive analytics can inform planning decisions based on a more comprehensive set of data. For example, AI Apps could run a time-series forecast based on your history to provide a forward projection that not only includes the evaluation of data against different algorithms but also leverages past user interactions. Artificial Intelligence and Smart Data The business value that artificial intelligence offers is unrivaled. From freeing up human capital to interpreting data in new ways, the insights these tools provide allow organizations to stay agile and work smarter. But, the impact of any artificial intelligence offering (and even any machine learning algorithm) is entirely dependent on quality data. "At the end of the day, artificial intelligence is only as smart as your data." - Beat Nuolf, Director of Product Management for AI Apps for ERP, Oracle Addressing this paradigm is Oracle's acquisition of DataFox and subsequent focus on smart data. With DataFox's data engine powering AI Apps, quality and comprehensive data will drive better predictions and deeper insights—specifically, focusing on smart data that is dynamic, contextual, and embedded across systems. Together, this data strategy leads to better insights so you can focus on innovation and make smarter business decisions. How AI Apps for ERP Work Collectively, the aforementioned technologies and smart data strategies work together to power Oracle AI Apps and provide your organization with better decision making. Below you can see how user interaction, decision science, and smart data all play a role in delivering relevant recommendations within an intelligent application. With this system rooted in quality first, and third-party data and algorithms that learn based on user feedback, AI Apps for ERP can begin delivering enterprise-wide benefits: Automate Smarter: Reduce processing costs, information latency, human error, and single points of failure Work Smarter: Influence strategic initiatives through smart insights and recommended actions Optimize Smarter: Increase agility and efficiency with smart business processes Available Today: Supplier Recommendations Supplier Recommendations intelligently categorize and rank suppliers with enhanced vendor data to optimize the entire procure-to-pay process. From improving early payment discount negotiations, to targeting suitable suppliers, to supporting sourcing decisions, Supplier Recommendations offer deep insights into your organization's supplier network. Available Today: Intelligent Payment Discounts Intelligent Payment Discounts generate vendor-specific discount offers for early payment of outstanding payables based on in-the-moment supplier intelligence. By optimizing early supplier payment discounts, Intelligent Payment Discounts can capture savings for your organization that would have been missed by traditional discount terms. Unlike traditional discounting approaches, machine learning algorithms and data-driven discounts can constantly adjust and optimize recommended discount offers as parameters change over time. Rather than being locked into a pre-negotiated contract, Intelligent Payment Discounts follow a sliding scale that automatically adjusts the discount rate on an ongoing basis from the invoice date. Coming Soon Even more AI Apps for ERP are on the Oracle roadmap. Automated Expense Audits will be able to identify and review expense anomalies; Procure-to-Pay will be an intelligent invoice matching application that automates invoice line to PO line matching; and Order-to-Cash will offer smart receipt-to-payment matching to improve efficiency and accuracy. Learn more about AI Apps for procurement and finance professionals. Check out Oracle AI Apps for ERP.

Artificial intelligence offerings are taking enterprise resource planning (ERP) to new heights. From transforming accounts payable to recommending dynamic discounts, emerging technologies...

Join us at AHRMM 2019 in San Diego, California, July 28-31.

Join us at AHRMM 2019 in San Diego, California, July 28-31.

Cost reduction and managing risk remain the top priorities amongst procurement organizations today. One area that organizations should look to help reduce cost and risk is within their contracts. While some businesses have embarked on the journey of digitally transforming their contract lifecycle management (CLM) processes, there are still several teams who continue to rely on paper-based processes to create and manage their contracts. Below are some of the key benefits that organizations receive through implementing a contract lifecycle management software to streamline and automate their processes:   Streamline and Standardize Contract Authoring Time is money, and that is especially true when creating a contract. If you have ever built a contract from scratch, then I’m sure you know how much time and effort it can take. By digitizing the contract lifecycle, organizations can save precious time by streamlining and standardizing the authoring process. Contract authors accelerate the creation process by leveraging built-in, pre-approved templates and other time saving functionality like clause libraries (i.e. pre-approved legal terms specific to a type of contract), allowing them to quickly create contracts that are legally-compliant and don’t require time-consuming legal reviews.   Additionally, users can increase collaboration between cross-functional parties with modern CLM systems. Stakeholders are able to work on the same contract with an approval workflow, and built-in collaboration for faster contract creation. One key function of Oracle Procurement Contracts Cloud is its ability to shorten the negotiation process. Redlining and subsequent revision can add considerable time with back and forth negation. There are always changes that need to be made to a contract, so handling redlining in a more expedient manner is an important step that allows them to better manage the process. This feature also provides stakeholders with a complete audit trail of every single contract update, enabling them to keep track of every step of the authoring process and approvals. Oracle Procurement Contracts Cloud is also integrated with DocuSign, which provides a seamless signature process, enabling users to digitally sign and execute contracts faster.   Improve Visibility For many organizations, contracts continue to be split between several global locations. Since many businesses still rely on paper-based contracts that are stored in filing cabinets or an electronic version on someone’s laptop in their back office, it can be hard to track down contracts, especially those located in other departments. According to the recent Hackett Group report, Raising the World-Class Bar in Procurement Through Digital Transformation, one of the benefits of implementing a contract lifecycle management (CLM) software includes “… reducing the amount of time required to find a contract by 52%.” By implementing a platform with full contract management capabilities, organizations are able to increase the visibility and management of their contracts by electronically accessing them. By having a single location for all contracts, it increases the productivity of your employees by allowing them to locate the document they are looking for when necessary, improving their productivity. Oracle Procurement Contracts Cloud provides a repository that centralizes all existing contracts in to a searchable repository so stakeholders are able to easily access their documents, increasing visibility across the board.   Reduce Risks and Ensure Compliance When organizations deal with hundreds of active contracts, it’s almost impossible for them to keep a close eye on them. One significant challenge that can arise is keeping track of expiring contracts. In the Hackett Group report, a modern CLM system also trims “the number of lapsed reports by 39%, and increasing the use of standard terms and conditions to ensure compliance.” Managers need to make sure they are notified about expiration dates so they can decide whether to renew an existing contract or renegotiate/terminate contracts that are unfavorable to their organization. In order to relieve organizations from this issue, Oracle Procurement Cloud Contracts sends automatic alerts when a contract is about to expire, ensuring no contract gets forgotten and proactive measures are being taken.   All in all, an automated contract lifecycle management system is not just a want, but a necessity for procurement organizations that need to streamline and manage their contract lifecycle management processes. When organizations do not effectively manage their contracts, it can leave them exposed to unnecessary costs such as contract leakage, increases in maverick spend, paying additional costs that negatively impacts their bottom line, and can even damage their relationship with their suppliers. By implementing a modern system, such as Oracle Procurement Contracts Cloud, organizations are able to streamline their full contract management cycle, allowing customers to get the most value out of their contracts while avoiding contractual risk. For more information on the capabilities of Oracle Procurement Contracts Cloud, click here.  

Cost reduction and managing risk remain the top priorities amongst procurement organizations today. One area that organizations should look to help reduce cost and risk is within their contracts....

Supply chains need to be agile and connected to effectively serve customers today and tomorrow. Here are 6 characteristics of supply chains that are built to last.

Supply chains need to be agile and connected to effectively serve customers today and tomorrow. Here are 6 characteristics of supply chains that are built to last.

It's important for FP&A professionals to learn how to fail safely, according to AFP.

It's important for FP&A professionals to learn how to fail safely, according to AFP.

As small-to-medium businesses plan and prepare for next year and 2025, embracing the plethora of emerging and next-generation cloud applications and technologies increases the odds of survival significantly.

As small-to-medium businesses plan and prepare for next year and 2025, embracing the plethora of emerging and next-generation cloud applications and technologies increases the odds of...

When it comes to technology, finance leaders in higher education are worried they’re not making the grade.

When it comes to technology, finance leaders in higher education are worried they’re not making the grade.

In the 2nd in his series, author Jim Maholic explains the 3 questions your business case must answer.

In the 2nd in his series, author Jim Maholic explains the 3 questions your business case must answer.

CIOs and CFOs should partner to change board and stakeholder perceptions of ERP from a transactional back-office system to a critical digital business core.

CIOs and CFOs should partner to change board and stakeholder perceptions of ERP from a transactional back-office system to a critical digital business core.

CFOs should govern data security, not IT. Why? Because they hold the purse’s strings and are most qualified to plan for risk, in an era where the next cyber-attack is not a question of “If” but “when” and “how often”.

CFOs should govern data security, not IT. Why? Because they hold the purse’s strings and are most qualified to plan for risk, in an era where the next cyber-attack is not a question of “If” but “when”...

We are honored that Oracle has again been recognized as a Leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems.

We are honored that Oracle has again been recognized as a Leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems.

Cetera Financial Group discusses the benefits of moving their financials to the cloud to support the transformation of their growing business.

Cetera Financial Group discusses the benefits of moving their financials to the cloud to support the transformation of their growing business.

In the first of a series, author Jim Maholic outlines the steps to building a winning business case.

In the first of a series, author Jim Maholic outlines the steps to building a winning business case.

Finance employees are no longer spending their evenings at work, thanks to Oracle Cloud.

Finance employees are no longer spending their evenings at work, thanks to Oracle Cloud.

A PwC survey looks at the current state of blockchain adoption and use cases.

A PwC survey looks at the current state of blockchain adoption and use cases.

Oracle EPM Cloud offers everything you need to help improve your organization's performance.

Oracle EPM Cloud offers everything you need to help improve your organization's performance.

Finance leaders have always felt responsible for company data, but the spotlight has shifted to protecting people outside the business. Customer and employee data breaches can swing reputations and valuations overnight, making ethical data management a priority across the organisation.

Finance leaders have always felt responsible for company data, but the spotlight has shifted to protecting people outside the business. Customer and employee data breaches can swing reputations and...

Oracle ERP Cloud is positioned highest for “ability to execute” and furthest right for “completeness of vision.”

Oracle ERP Cloud is positioned highest for “ability to execute” and furthest right for “completeness of vision.”

Moving to the cloud opens your company to a new level of revenue generation, according to new research.

Moving to the cloud opens your company to a new level of revenue generation, according to new research.

New research from MIT uncovers the cost and risk of obsolete technology.

New research from MIT uncovers the cost and risk of obsolete technology.

Students who know how they're going to pay for college are much more likely to graduate, research finds.

Students who know how they're going to pay for college are much more likely to graduate, research finds.

If you're a user of Oracle applications, especially EPM and analytics, this conference is for you.

If you're a user of Oracle applications, especially EPM and analytics, this conference is for you.

Healthcare providers should ready themselves for changes in delivery and insurance models.

Healthcare providers should ready themselves for changes in delivery and insurance models.

Every organization must embrace innovation now if they want to survive the future, says Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.

Every organization must embrace innovation now if they want to survive the future, says Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.

Oracle is launching Intelligent Track and Trace, the first of four new blockchain applications.

Oracle is launching Intelligent Track and Trace, the first of four new blockchain applications.

John Matrachisia, CIO of LiDestri Food and Drink, discusses the LiDestri supply chain: why they went to the cloud and how it's affected their business.

John Matrachisia, CIO of LiDestri Food and Drink, discusses the LiDestri supply chain: why they went to the cloud and how it's affected their business.

With a modern ERP and SCM product, manufactures are able to thrive in today's disruptive environment.

With a modern ERP and SCM product, manufactures are able to thrive in today's disruptive environment.

The alliance between Microsoft and Oracle gives customers the ability to use multiple clouds with greater effectiveness.

The alliance between Microsoft and Oracle gives customers the ability to use multiple clouds with greater effectiveness.

Oracle CEO Mark Hurd says automating finance tasks can offer huge improvements in security, costs, and employee productivity.

Oracle CEO Mark Hurd says automating finance tasks can offer huge improvements in security, costs, and employee productivity.

A 300-percent surge in orders is no sweat for GE Additive, thanks to a unified ERP cloud.

A 300-percent surge in orders is no sweat for GE Additive, thanks to a unified ERP cloud.

A best-of-breed approach has inherent flaws as an IT strategy.

A best-of-breed approach has inherent flaws as an IT strategy.

From artificial intelligence to predictive analytics, yesterday’s business applications are acquiring the technologies of tomorrow.

From artificial intelligence to predictive analytics, yesterday’s business applications are acquiring the technologies of tomorrow.

Small-to-medium businesses are mitigating risk with better supplier qualification management strategies and technologies.

Small-to-medium businesses are mitigating risk with better supplier qualification management strategies and technologies.

The high school class of 2017 missed out on $2.3 billion worth of free college aid. How can institutions ensure this aid gets to the right students?

The high school class of 2017 missed out on $2.3 billion worth of free college aid. How can institutions ensure this aid gets to the right students?

To manage short-term volatility, FP&A practitioners often have a principled response: follow the core attributes of your company.

To manage short-term volatility, FP&A practitioners often have a principled response: follow the core attributes of your company.

Finance teams can start using AI by choosing cloud providers that embed machine learning into their ERP and EPM software.

Finance teams can start using AI by choosing cloud providers that embed machine learning into their ERP and EPM software.

Thirty three years ago, Mike Cowen was sitting in the bleachers watching his son’s baseball game, when he noticed the diamond didn’t have a scoreboard. In fact, many of the places where his kids played sports lacked score-keeping devices. As a self-professed data geek, Cowen decided to invent a battery-powered, portable contraption that he could bring along to games. And with that, Sportable Scoreboards was born. From its start in a California garage to today’s 40,000 square foot facility in Murray, Kentucky, Sportable Scoreboards is home to 60 dedicated employees who are eager to see exciting numbers on the board. Their commitment to the company’s success has propelled Sportable to become one of the major players in the youth and high school market over the last three decades. To continue this momentum, Cowen, now chairman of the board, recently challenged his team to double its growth over the next five years. Sportable manufactures 6,000 made-to-order scoreboards each year for every indoor and outdoor sport imaginable. By doubling its production, Sportable hopes to positively impact twice as many communities across America. “There are hundreds of thousands of young people that are able to compete on an athletic field with a scoreboard that validates their experience and says ‘what you’re doing matters,’” Mike Daniel, Sportable’s president explained. “And quite frankly, that tells us that what we’re doing matters as well.” Sportable’s customers are our country’s communities. They are high school athletic directors and coaches with limited or non-existent budgets. They are parks and recreation departments who rely on government funding for their sports programs. They are parents and Little League officials who put on bake sales and car washes to raise money for a scoreboard. So how does a business plan to double in size in a market that may not be able to afford the product it sells? Sportable takes pride in meeting its customers on their own playing fields. To do so, the company created a Score Rewards program that helps schools sell advertising space on their scoreboard to offset costs. They also implemented a long-term finance program for more expensive models. But in order to double down on growth, Sportable realized it had to transform the way it operated, in hopes of finding efficiencies and cost savings that it could pass on to its customers. “We had to make radical change and radical improvements to get from where we are currently to where we want to be,” Daniel said. “We don’t want incremental change, we want to transform the way we address our business very fundamentally. There are inefficiencies, there are opportunities, and there are ways for us to reach our customers that we’ve never focused on before.” Sportable Scoreboards Grows and Transforms with Oracle SaaS Sportable recognized the need to up its game. Its front and back office software was outdated. The company was maintaining a dozen disparate, legacy systems that didn’t talk to each other. Costly to manage, the customized integrations between each weren’t sustainable for future growth. Each line of business was operating with duplicate records, process inefficiencies, and manual data entry. Cowen’s challenge to take Sportable to the next level led the company to retire its on-premises systems and overhaul its entire business – from marketing, sales, quoting, and customer service to finance, accounting, procurement, and order management – in a move to Oracle Cloud. “Our owner and leadership team decided that it was time for us to make a bid toward growth, and what we were seeking was a single source of truth,” recalled Micah Sugg, director of IT. This data transparency and accuracy has had an immediate impact at Sportable. By integrating Oracle Marketing Cloud and Oracle Engagement Cloud, website traffic increased and sales reps are pursuing higher quality leads. Order precision improved with Oracle CPQ Cloud and Oracle ERP Cloud, reducing waste and required man power. Oracle Order Management Cloud, Oracle Manufacturing Cloud, and Oracle Supply Chain Cloud help ease order fulfillment, shipping the right product to the right customer, quickly. For the first time ever, accounting and financial teams can access the same data as their colleagues in sales and service with Oracle Financials Cloud, eliminating confusion caused by thousands of duplicate records. Sugg’s IT department is also reducing costs, no longer relying on a third party for server maintenance and set-up. Freed from the day-to-day business system maintenance, Sugg’s team is increasingly focusing on product development, exploring IoT-enabled scoreboards among other emerging technologies. Additionally, this single source of truth enables Sportable’s management team to quickly generate reports for strategic planning. “We’ve really freed up time to be more intentional about where we’re going and what we’re going to do, because that intentionality takes time,” Sugg explained. Sportable has also transformed its customer experience, removing the barriers and complexity of finding a product that meets its customers’ unique needs at an affordable price point. The company can now guide each school or parks director through a simple quoting and order process, shipping a scoreboard–configured for lights, horns, and team colors–to the field or arena in just 10 days. (Its competitors take twice as long to deliver a product.) Should the customer encounter any issues with set-up or maintenance, Sportable’s service department is on hand 24/7 so the inquiring coach or parent can get back to what’s really important–game day. At the end of the day, there’s no higher priority than Friday’s hockey game or Saturday’s soccer tournament. A scoreboard is just one part of that experience, but it’s a profound one. “There's nothing better than going past a football game on a Friday night and seeing our scoreboard in front of thousands of people,” Cowen said. “We’re united by the fact that we all love kids, we love sports, and we want the best programs that we can offer. Sportable is a part of that. We feel very proud about that.” Learn more about Sportable Scoreboard’s business transformation amidst a growing youth sports market on Forbes.    

Thirty three years ago, Mike Cowen was sitting in the bleachers watching his son’s baseball game, when he noticed the diamond didn’t have a scoreboard. In fact, many of the places where his kids...

We predict how the future of work will change based on advanced technologies.

We predict how the future of work will change based on advanced technologies.

InterRel releases its 3rd annual State of Business Analytics survey of more than 600 FP&A professionals.

InterRel releases its 3rd annual State of Business Analytics survey of more than 600 FP&A professionals.

AI is increasingly seen as the future of project management because of the revolutionary speed it brings.

AI is increasingly seen as the future of project management because of the revolutionary speed it brings.

Blockchain plus ERP cloud can provide better records, faster transactions, more accurate product tracking, and easier verification.

Blockchain plus ERP cloud can provide better records, faster transactions, more accurate product tracking, and easier verification.

Can you close your books in a day? We're working to help you get there.

Can you close your books in a day? We're working to help you get there.

Informatica gained mobile reporting and speed when it replaced PeopleSoft with Oracle ERP Cloud.

Informatica gained mobile reporting and speed when it replaced PeopleSoft with Oracle ERP Cloud.

Got a finance question? Ask your digital assistant for the answer.

Got a finance question? Ask your digital assistant for the answer.

Digital finance leaders are gaining business influence with advanced technology and strategic thinking.

Digital finance leaders are gaining business influence with advanced technology and strategic thinking.

University business officers can make the big decision easier with the right financial aid package.

University business officers can make the big decision easier with the right financial aid package.

New research shows that finance teams spend more time collecting data than analyzing it. How can your team make better use of digital intelligence?

New research shows that finance teams spend more time collecting data than analyzing it. How can your team make better use of digital intelligence?

CFOs need to have a broader and deeper understanding of technology and its potential. So what advice would IT pros give to their CFO to ensure success?

CFOs need to have a broader and deeper understanding of technology and its potential. So what advice would IT pros give to their CFO to ensure success?

Cutting-edge research institution boosts efficiency, insights and decision making with modern cloud platform.

Cutting-edge research institution boosts efficiency, insights and decision making with modern cloud platform.

M&A activity is on the rise for small-to-medium businesses. Find out how cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) can ease these transitions.

M&A activity is on the rise for small-to-medium businesses. Find out how cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) can ease these transitions.

New research uncovers insight on how to build operational excellence in your finance function.

New research uncovers insight on how to build operational excellence in your finance function.

A century-old company replaced an aging Infor system with Oracle ERP Cloud. Learn what they gained.

A century-old company replaced an aging Infor system with Oracle ERP Cloud. Learn what they gained.

Community college deploys Oracle Student Cloud to recruit and engage students across an expanding portfolio of learning programs.

Community college deploys Oracle Student Cloud to recruit and engage students across an expanding portfolio of learning programs.

In two years, an estimated 43% of the US workforce could be freelancers. How can finance teams adapt?

In two years, an estimated 43% of the US workforce could be freelancers. How can finance teams adapt?

Gartner recently published a research note, “4 Things You Need to Know Before ‘Soaring to the Cloud’ With Oracle ERP Applications.”

Gartner recently published a research note, “4 Things You Need to Know Before ‘Soaring to the Cloud’ With Oracle ERP Applications.”

The University hopes to guide students to the best financial aid options for their goals.

The University hopes to guide students to the best financial aid options for their goals.

By Jennifer Toomey, Adriana Smith and Nick Stankovic, Oracle Does this scenario sound familiar to you? You have great plans for your business, and there are myriad opportunities in front of you. You want to move quickly to take advantage of them. But your IT systems are holding you back. Your sales team is using CRM from a vendor that doesn’t sell much else. Your finance team uses on-premises ERP for accounting, and does planning, budgeting, and analysis using spreadsheets. Meanwhile, human resources is managing payroll using an outsourced provider that doesn’t integrate with your on-premises HR system or your ERP system. Then along comes a cloud provider like Workday that promises to simplify all of it for you. They vow to give you a single, seamless, highly usable solution. Over the past year, however, we've seen the line between promises and reality come into sharper focus. It's important to keep looking at what Workday can actually offer across its business applications and compare how these offerings stack up against Oracle Cloud. This turns out to be a big topic, especially when you get into detailed, hard-fact comparisons. We thought it would be useful to distill all of this into five things every potential customer should know as they weigh the merits of Workday versus Oracle for finance, reporting, planning, HR, supply chain, and other business applications. 1. Innovation Matters, Especially Today Over the years Workday has talked about “the Power of One,” meaning a single system for both finance and HR. Innovation plays a huge role in this story: The best way to maintain a single, seamless user experience is to invest—heavily and consistently—in building an in-house R&D and technology innovation pipeline. However, the reality is that Workday mainly uses acquisitions instead of in-house R&D to drive its innovation pipeline. Rather than working on truly unique and innovative capabilities, Workday is fighting a long, hard, uncertain battle to integrate a grab-bag of inconsistent, incompatible acquired offerings. The cost of that fight is clear. On the cutting edge, Oracle's artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities are driving high-value innovations such as digital assistants, powerful new mobile apps, built-in machine learning capabilities for end users, and advanced controls. Oracle's internal innovation engine has enabled more than 1,200 enhancements and features for Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud alone. Workday, by comparison, is betting that it can integrate acquired applications (like Adaptive Insights, for planning) to gain functionality that Oracle Cloud already offers. Even if those bets pay off—and these types of integration efforts are almost never an easy task—Workday is still playing catch-up. As Oracle keeps the pedal down on its own innovation engine, industry analysts have noted that Workday’s portfolio of applications is not completely comprehensive, that Workday has functional gaps compared to other HCM vendors, and the extent of support for use cases for emerging technologies such as adaptive intelligence, machine learning, or digital assistants, is not as strong as competitors like Oracle. 2. Your Business is Unique In the world of cloud applications, customizations are the enemy of innovation. One of the biggest benefits of software-as-a-service is that the cloud provider updates the software on a regular basis. If you’ve changed the underlying code, an update can cause your painstaking customizations to break. Yet businesses invest a fortune to stand apart from competitors. Your business applications should support those efforts—not undermine them. Rather than customizing your cloud ERP or HCM applications, you can extend them using platform-as-a-service (PaaS). With PaaS, you can build new capabilities that live outside of your core applications, meaning you can upgrade your SaaS environment without affecting your extended functionality. Oracle offers its own cloud platform to let you build extensions for your Oracle Cloud applications. Workday’s platform is still in limited availability; until it is generally available, customers who would like to expand their Workday applications must use a set of third-party integration tools. 3. You Can't Run a Business on Slideware and Solution Gaps Analyst reports reveal that Workday is missing some mainstream capabilities that Oracle offers today—and, in many cases, has offered for years. ERP users looking for quote-to-cash, order management, or inventory valuation tools won't find these capabilities in Workday; neither will HCM users looking for HR applications with complex scheduling requirements, HR case management, HR Help Desk, Advanced HCM Controls, HR Risk & Compliance, or work-life solutions. From financials to planning to supply chain, working with Workday means living with solution gaps—or, if you're lucky, with incomplete functionality and partially integrated acquisitions. Again and again, customers have a choice: Get the capabilities they need from Oracle Cloud, or settle for the possibility that Workday will eventually move this missing functionality from slideware to software. 4. You Need to Be Ready for Future Growth As your business grows and scales, existing technology and business needs will change, and new ones will emerge. Some firms will need to integrate external data sources; others will need access to cloud platform and infrastructure capabilities. Still others will want more flexible cloud deployment options and contracts. Workday’s focus is on finance and HR software. For lines of business such as sales, marketing, customer service, or supply chain, you’ll need to connect Workday to systems from other providers. Eventually, you’ll end up with an IT hairball that’s nearly impossible to untangle. In contrast, organizations can (and are) running their entire business on Oracle Cloud: finance, HR, customer experience, supply chain, and more. Oracle Cloud Applications all run on the same data model and use the same interface—so that both the data and the user experience are consistent across lines of business. Oracle PaaS lets you extend these capabilities if and when you need to—something that smaller cloud providers can’t match. And we offer Data as a Service (DaaS), so that you can combine anonymized third-party data with your own data to discover unforeseen trends and insights. As business needs change, companies can add new capabilities with Oracle—without developing a cloud hairball that ties up growth in knots. 5. One Fact Is Worth a Thousand Promises It's increasingly clear that Workday has a lot riding on its future roadmap—about capabilities, completeness, and giving customers a clear path to scale, compete, and succeed. Maybe Workday will deliver on that roadmap—or maybe it won't. Either way, when your business runs on Oracle Cloud, you can stop betting on a vendor's promises, and start depending on hard facts: Oracle offers nine pre-configured payroll localizations—while Workday offers just four. Oracle offers a complete ERP, EPM, HCM and analytics solution, using the same data model across the entire cloud. Workday has a separate data model for planning (Adaptive Insights) which can lead to mismatched data and reporting.   Oracle Cloud includes a full set of line-of-business offerings across Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, and eCommerce. Workday does not. The examples go on and on. It simply comes down to this: Oracle delivers. Workday is incomplete. Organizations running their businesses in the Oracle Cloud have streamlined processes, empowered their employees, made their teams more nimble, increased customer satisfaction, and fueled growth—just take a look at our thousands of success stories and analyst reports across the domains of ERP, EPM and HCM. We can’t think of a more ringing endorsement than that.    

By Jennifer Toomey, Adriana Smith and Nick Stankovic, Oracle Does this scenario sound familiar to you? You have great plans for your business, and there are myriad opportunities in front of you. You...

Five manageable steps for growing businesses to plot their path to successfully choose the right ERP software solution.

Five manageable steps for growing businesses to plot their path to successfully choose the right ERP software solution.

If you missed the last big wave of business change, here's how to catch the next one.

If you missed the last big wave of business change, here's how to catch the next one.

Familiar features and tools can make cloud migration easier than anticipated.

Familiar features and tools can make cloud migration easier than anticipated.

Close collaboration between HR and finance is essential to workforce strategy and planning.

Close collaboration between HR and finance is essential to workforce strategy and planning.

Enjoy the history and sights of San Antonio, Texas, while learning about your finance applications.

Enjoy the history and sights of San Antonio, Texas, while learning about your finance applications.

HR and finance teams need stronger analytics skills and tools to better collaborate on human resources planning.

HR and finance teams need stronger analytics skills and tools to better collaborate on human resources planning.

A Chicago-based manufacturer of off-road tires took a leap to the cloud recently, and shows no signs of turning back.

A Chicago-based manufacturer of off-road tires took a leap to the cloud recently, and shows no signs of turning back.

Adventist Health supports its healthcare vision with a move to a unified Oracle Cloud.

Adventist Health supports its healthcare vision with a move to a unified Oracle Cloud.

A pair of upcoming events for higher education offer learning opportunities for growth.

A pair of upcoming events for higher education offer learning opportunities for growth.

Learn from the winners of our 2019 Change Agents of Finance Awards, announced last night at Modern Business Experience.

Learn from the winners of our 2019 Change Agents of Finance Awards, announced last night at Modern Business Experience.

Entertainment trailblazer moves to cloud applications to support growing and diversifying business demands

Entertainment trailblazer moves to cloud applications to support growing and diversifying business demands

Modern Business Experience kicked off with news of easy-to-use AI for finance and supply chain.

Modern Business Experience kicked off with news of easy-to-use AI for finance and supply chain.

A value realization assessment can help you measure the return on your cloud ERP and HR investments.

A value realization assessment can help you measure the return on your cloud ERP and HR investments.

Need to move ERP to the cloud? Here are 5 arguments to get your C-suite on board.

Need to move ERP to the cloud? Here are 5 arguments to get your C-suite on board.

New research shows a troubling talent gap in the office of finance.

New research shows a troubling talent gap in the office of finance.

EmblemHealth implemented a full cloud suite in just 11 months. Learn how.

EmblemHealth implemented a full cloud suite in just 11 months. Learn how.

CFOs seek faster close cycles with better reporting and fewer manual tasks. Intelligent process automation (software-driven processes) can absorb the repetitive steps in typical close cycles so that finance specialists can spend more time on analysis and partnering with the business.

CFOs seek faster close cycles with better reporting and fewer manual tasks. Intelligent process automation (software-driven processes) can absorb the repetitive steps in typical close cycles so that...

As CIMA turns 100, the institute take a look at the future of accounting.

As CIMA turns 100, the institute take a look at the future of accounting.

New research from IMA uncovers how to embrace finance analytics for organizational success.

New research from IMA uncovers how to embrace finance analytics for organizational success.

Attend the focus group luncheon at Modern Business Experience.

Attend the focus group luncheon at Modern Business Experience.

Why should finance leaders attend Modern Business Experience?

Why should finance leaders attend Modern Business Experience?

A new survey illustrates the pressures facing higher education. Learn more in this webcast.

A new survey illustrates the pressures facing higher education. Learn more in this webcast.

It’s time to move ERP to the cloud. Learn how to get your journey off the ground.

It’s time to move ERP to the cloud. Learn how to get your journey off the ground.

It’s time to move ERP to the cloud. Learn how in the first of this two-part series.

It’s time to move ERP to the cloud. Learn how in the first of this two-part series.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loan debt approached $1.5 trillion in 2018.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loan debt approached $1.5 trillion in 2018.

Still cautious about cloud? EPM Cloud can offer a quick win for finance.

Still cautious about cloud? EPM Cloud can offer a quick win for finance.

Standardization as a business practice is incredibly important, because it ensures that customer and employees alike are beneficiaries of best practices.

Standardization as a business practice is incredibly important, because it ensures that customer and employees alike are beneficiaries of best practices.