Actors have the Oscars, writers the Pulitzer Prize, and statesmen the Nobel Peace Prize. But when it comes to finance professionals, oftentimes the only award they get for a job well done is a pat on the back, a gift card... and more work.
We at Oracle know the value that finance brings to the organization; after all, we’ve spent almost the last four decades delivering solutions that automate routine tasks so that you can focus your time on providing financial and business guidance to the C-suite. Now we want to celebrate your accomplishments with a brand new category of awards honoring finance visionaries using Oracle Cloud solutions to transform finance for the 21st century: the Oracle Change Agents of Finance Awards.
Oracle’s Change Agents awards celebrate individuals or teams who have leveraged Oracle Cloud for Finance—including Oracle ERP Cloud and Oracle EPM Cloud—to solve business problems, drive growth, and spur innovation in areas such as reporting, procurement, project management, financial planning and analysis, and finance talent. We’ve created 10 categories of awards to make sure that every finance function has its day in the sun—and 15 minutes of fame onstage at the 2017 Modern Finance Experience in Boston, Massachusetts, where the winners will be honored by Oracle CEO and head of finance Safra Catz.
Over the next three days, I’ll be providing the back story on each award and what it takes to win. Your action item? Nominate yourself or someone you know deserving of recognition in one or more categories, then get ready to vote on all 10 categories for the best submission in each category. In this article, we’ll explore the first three awards:
You don’t have to be a street racer to apply for the Fast Finance Award, which celebrates individuals or project teams overseeing the fastest, highest-impact implementation of Oracle Cloud for Finance applications. These awards will recognize cloud ninjas who implement new ERP or EPM systems in weeks, not months, and can demonstrate maximum project ROI in terms of implementation success, user acceptance, and business impact.
The Fast Finance Award submissions will be judged on the following criteria:
When it comes to attracting, retaining and grooming top talent, are you a hard act to follow? The Top Talent Award honors superstars in organizations where HR and finance teams work closely together to attract, retain, and promote your top finance talent, using some combination of Oracle ERP Cloud and Oracle HCM Cloud. Some suggested areas for consideration include:
In 1999, Oracle founder and then-CEO Larry Ellison announced to financial analysts that Oracle could save $1 billion annually by adopting its own Internet-enabled business applications.
One year later, Ellison backed up the claim with some hard numbers. Not only had Oracle saved more than a billion dollars, but in adopting its own applications had improved its operating margins by 11.7 points. Thus began the legend of the “Oracle Billion Dollar Story,” and the beginning of a spectacular growth trajectory for the company.
This award honors those CFOs and other finance leaders who have used the Oracle Cloud for Finance applications to create their own “billion dollar” story. Don’t worry if you’re not on track to save a billion dollars today; we know you’ll get there eventually because you’ve put the right infrastructure in place to scale. For now, Oracle Billion-Dollar Story Honorary Award nominations must meet the following criteria:
If you think that you, your team, or even someone you know is transforming the finance function in one of these areas, we want to hear from you! Here’s how to get started:
Winners will be honored by Oracle CEO and head of finance Safra Catz and her finance executive team at the 2017 Modern Finance Experience. The submissions with the most compelling stories and the most votes across the Oracle global finance user community will win (only one vote per person, per category is allowed), so sharpen your pencils and get ready to vote!
In Part 2 of this series, I’ll review the next three awards categories: