When cloud technology first emerged, many believed that the need for enterprise integration would disappear. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and integration remained a significant challenge for both cloud adopters and cloud providers. Implementation delays and upgrade issues plagued many businesses that attempted to integrate their existing systems with cloud-based software. But at Oracle, we knew from our decades of experience providing enterprise applications that integration would continue to be a vital part of any cloud application deployment.
One of the things we regularly discuss with customers is the depth and breadth of Oracle’s Cloud Applications portfolio. We emphasize the fact that Oracle has an application cloud service for every major business area. As a result, customers can subscribe to multiple Oracle Application services that work together out-of-the-box as part of a single, cohesive, and comprehensive solution. When multiple Oracle Application services are used, integration between the services is prebuilt, eliminating the need for customers to develop integrations.
However, we understand realistically of course that not all our customers buy all their applications from Oracle (as much as we would like it if they did). Many customers leverage applications from other software vendors or have built their own, and as a result, the ability to integrate applications, data, and services together is a key requirement of any application cloud service. Luckily for Oracle customers, Oracle Cloud Applications can integrate with nearly any external business system.
In this blog post and the two upcoming ones, we will continue our look at how technology matters for Oracle Cloud Applications specifically around the topic of integration. We will explore the topic of integration in Oracle Cloud Applications by outlining the powerful integration functionality and frameworks that come with Oracle Cloud Applications. This includes bulk data loads, bulk data extracts, report data extracts, inbound/outbound REST APIs, inbound/outbound SOAP web services, and B2B integration support. All of these can be used to connect Oracle Applications to nearly any external applications, data, clouds, or services, and can be fully automated to streamline the flow of data across an enterprise.
There are many business scenarios where external integration and application extensions are required. For example, the creation of a purchase order may trigger the need for an action in an external manufacturing application. Accounting transactions may need to be imported to the general ledger from a subsidiary’s accounting system. Or perhaps employee records need to be imported from an HR application so that certain actions can be approved based on the employee supervisor hierarchy. All these common scenarios and many additional ones frequently occur. They can also all be easily addressed by Oracle Cloud Applications.
In these blog posts, we will also examine integrations that are already built and can therefore be easily enabled and leveraged. Prebuilt integrations have been created because many organizations have similar integration requirements. As a result, Oracle or third parties have created solutions to meet those requirements. This includes, for example, connecting Oracle Applications to banks, tax providers, HR recruiting websites, and many other sources. Because common integrations such as these have been prebuilt, they simply need to be set up and configured in Oracle Cloud Applications for customers to begin using them.
In addition to pre-built integrations, we will also address situations where customers have truly unique requirements and need an easy-to-use platform to assist in developing their own custom integrations. Customers can do this by leveraging any integration middleware tool of their choosing along with the functionality and frameworks built into Oracle Cloud Applications. Customers can also leverage Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) for this purpose. Among other benefits, Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) provides a level of consistency and compatibility with Oracle Applications that third-party tools cannot match. Plus, OIC includes many constructs to simplify external integration including recipes, accelerators, adapters, events, insight, and additional B2B support, all of which will be explained in a future post.
Finally, when it comes to Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC), don’t just take Oracle’s word for it. Not only can OIC simplify Oracle Cloud Application integration, but it has also been named a Leader and positioned highest for Ability to Execute in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Integration Platform as a Service. This recognition confirms the effectiveness of OIC in enhancing Oracle Cloud Application integration and helping customers meet their integration goals.
To learn more about the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Integration Platform as a Service and Oracle’s position in it, please refer to the following:
2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Integration Platform as a Service
In summary, with the prebuilt integrations, functionality, and frameworks that come with Oracle Cloud Applications, customers can streamline the flow of data across their enterprise, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. And for organizations with hybrid and multi-cloud integration requirements, Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) can be used to connect Oracle Cloud Applications more easily with nearly any applications, data sources, or other cloud services.
As you can see, we have many areas to explore when it comes to our extensive support for connecting Oracle Applications. Be sure to come back for future posts on the integration topics described above.
Dive into our ‘Why Technology Matters’ blog series: Introduction, Why Technology Matters – A Strong Foundation, How We Aim to Keep You Out of the News.
Read The IT & Business Leader’s Guide to Oracle Cloud Applications ebook for more information.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Integration Platform as a Service, Worldwide, 24 January 2023, Keith Guttridge | Andrew Comes | Saikat Ray
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The authors are members of Oracle’s North American Applications Advanced Technology team, dedicated to helping customers modernize their businesses through technical innovation. They provide subject matter expertise and vision on SaaS, platform technology, operations, and data management.