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In the Heat of Oracle Enterprise Applications Decision-Making Process

Oracle Fusion Applications are Here. Whats Your Next Move?

Oracle Fusion Applications are Here. Whats Your Next Move?

Within the excitement and optimism towards the new version of Oracles ERP software named Oracle Fusion Applications enterprises who are examining its potential for big business benefits have some important decisions to make going forward. Oracle Fusion Applications, with its new design, new capabilities, and new deployment model, opens up a tremendous amount of flexibility in driving choices and business value. Unlike implementing entire pillars of packaged software functionality, Oracle Fusion Applications allow enterprises to make changes based on business needs speedily with reduced risks. It at once decouples the need for different organizations (e.g., finance, HR, marketing, etc.) to implement systems together while still providing superior integration and performance. The trade-off decisions which hampered us in the past are mitigated; we dont have to only think of an IT engineering effort, and we instead think of what business leaders want to achieve. Oracle Fusion Applications decisions will require a serious moment of contemplation for organizations wondering what to do next. It is also going to change the conversation away from what were used to, requiring a new view on what is possible, new education, some new planning efforts, and some thoughtful and potentially challenging analyses of current environments, enterprise and functional/departmental priorities, technology strategies, and how we consider investments. The time to step into the world of Oracle Fusion Applications is upon us, and smart players will have their actions soundly planned as they get poised to move forward.

To understand what Oracle Fusion Applications is and what it can do, it is perhaps best to start with what new business value can be achieved. Oracle Fusion Applications has broad applicability to business users across the enterprise, inclusive of finance, supply chain, marketing, sales, service, HR, and IT. It also is ready for adoption by companies in nearly any industry, including financial services, industrial products, consumer goods, retail, healthcare, life sciences, and countless others. Several companies have been able to pilot early versions of Oracle Fusion Applications, and have had the advantage of being the first to implement Oracle Fusion Applications at their enterprises. With Oracle Fusion Applications, these early adopters have switched their conversations from what can we do? to what do I want to do? as Oracle Fusion Applications has created an entirely new way of quickly adopting new business capabilities. The graphic on the next page depicts the first release business applications of Oracle Fusion Applications. For business users, the modules chosen can be based on custom criteria and individual department priorities. Following are some examples of how Oracle Fusion Applications may be leveraged to address business opportunities that may have been previously unobtainable.
A. Example business opportunity: Improving product and customer performance

The changes coming in Oracle Fusion Applications and what it means to your business
Those in the Oracle world have heard the rumblings of Oracle Fusion Applications for a few years now. With newly designed functionality based on the best practices of existing Oracle software and an innovative component delivery and integration model, Oracle Fusion Applications represent the next great step in enabling business capabilities with increased flexibility, better integration, and reduced time-to-value.

One example of a company finding new business value through Oracle Fusion Applications was a medical device company that knew it could improve efficiencies around customer and product data administration through improving data, including quality, transformation, security, search, and governance. They began with an Oracle portfolio of systems that included JD Edwards, Siebel, and Hyperion. They decided to implement Oracle Fusion Customer Data Management and Oracle Fusion Product Information Management, and with Oracle Fusion Applications co-existence model, they didnt need to rip-andreplace everything existing, nor did they need to install the entire CRM and Supply Chain pillars. Through this change, they focused on key business drivers and benefits, including

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Oracle Fusion Applications at a glance:

Oracle Fusion Applications offer a comprehensive array of business functionality and capabilities that focuses on the business process orientation such as improved user capabilities, role-based user experience, and embedded business intelligence analytics.

driving down overall operational cost and eliminating pointto-point integrations. Most importantly, they were able to support a brand evolution strategic initiative that would improve how they interacted with customers and provided superior products and services.
B. Example business opportunity: Improving talent and compensation capabilities

Another example of Oracle Fusion Applications-driven business value was achieved by a leading financial services

company that wanted to improve their global compensation system while also achieving improved financial control and a single source of supplier information for statutory compliance. They also believed that they could reduce total cost of ownership by modernizing and standardizing applications. They started with a combination of different systems that included different versions of PeopleSoft and a custom system for compensation. Using a co-existence strategy, they added Oracle Fusion Talent Management and Compensation Management while still upgrading PeopleSoft. They also replaced some of

Oracle Fusion Applications are Here. Whats Your Next Move?

the functionality with Oracle Fusion Procurement. Knowing the flexibility Oracle Fusion Applications provides in deployment options, in the future they plan on adoption of Oracle Fusion Financials and adopting the entire pillar of Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management.
C. Example business opportunity: Creating a 360 view of the customer

A high tech company wanted to improve customer data quality and achieve a 360 view of the customer. Their existing systems were fragmented among SalesForce, CRM On Demand, and other systems. They decided to execute a proof of concept to implement Oracle Fusion CRM On Demand, while continuing with their current deployment of Oracle CRM On Demand. Through this proof of concept they were able to standardize on Oracle CRM On Demand across Marketing and Sales. They created a global pipeline system for marketing, sales planning, and forecasting, and increased user acceptance with a state-of-the art CRM system using Outlook. These are actual accounts of business value created through the adoption of Oracle Fusion Applications. On the surface, they may seem similar to the adoption of other enterprise business systems or new features or capabilities youd expect with the next version of Oracle software. The truth is that Oracle Fusion Applications represents much, much more.

unique or immediate needs of the business. This also meant that transitions had to be singular and relatively intrusive. The implementation required long-term commitments, expensive and potentially risky project cycles, and a do or die transition period where adoption of the system had to happen despite risks to business continuity. Enter Oracle Fusion Applications: a new componentized system of business applications that do not require entire pillars of functionality to be enabled at the same time. Oracle Fusion Applications is built on the concept of co-existence and modularity, meaning that singular pieces of functionality can be delivered as they match business needs, priorities, and schedules. The concept of co-existence means that the new functionality can be easily run in parallel with previous versions, enabling businesses to maintain prior investments in technology while they examine, use, and obtain value from new investments more quickly and with less risk. Much of this innovation is enabled by how Oracle Fusion Applications new middleware design supports the rapid integration of different systems within the environment. Deployment flexibility is more than just the ability to add or subtract pieces of functionality. Its also how an organization is able to implement those pieces. Oracle Fusion Applications provides the ability with a single code line to deploy on premise, let a business partner host, or have a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider run it as a service. An organization is not locked into one deployment option; you may start out today in a hosted model and move to on premise or to a SaaS model later. There are very few restrictions.
What does this mean for achieving business value?

Oracle Fusion Applications: A new deployment model changes how business value is achieved
Unlike other enterprise software suites and even past versions of Oracle business applications (inclusive of PeopleSoft, Siebel, JD Edwards, etc.), Oracle Fusion Applications represents an innovative departure in how it is deployed and how the software components integrate with each other. In the past, software generally had to be installed in an all-or-nothing fashion, meaning an entire pillar of functionality (say, CRM, Financials, HCM, etc.) had to be adopted at once. The new functionality was parceled in with the pillar, and businesses had to for the most part accept features as they were bundled, regardless of whether the particular capabilities matched the

Understanding these changes in how Oracle Fusion Applications is deployed may, at first glance, seem like a technological advantage that only the CIO might appreciate, but the real value is one that should provoke business leadership to rethink how they enable their critical business functionality. Because of the co-existence and modularity in

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Assessment done right: Using a proven Oracle Framework Whether you are assessing your current ERP environment, envisioning the future, or understanding the new slate of Oracle Fusion Applications, leveraging a formal, detailed, and proven Oracle Framework can be beneficial. An Oracle Framework expresses every angle and layer of an Oracle environment. For the sake of analysis, the framework can be used as a comprehensive check-list of sorts to ensure the scope of analysis is complete and comprehensive. It can save great amounts of time by eliminating re-analysis of areas already well known (i.e., not reinventing the wheel) and provide a common basis and language for larger groups to communicate with each other and ensure the assessment is on the same page across different groups and departments.

In traditional models, having groups act autonomously irrespective of larger IT or organizational mandates represented a trade-off dilemma. When one group wants to depart from the pack, it usually comes at a cost. Perhaps the rogue group would need a third party system or a custom system. Maybe their need for speed would compromise other initiatives. Or they might be incompatible with the lumbering of IT project portfolio scheduling. Worse, they could achieve inferior integration with other units or contribute to the sprawling jungle-like diversity of stand-alone systems that IT leadership works tirelessly to combat. Most companies are seeking to integrate their data, standardize processes, and simplify their data and IT environments. They want to leverage information for multiple purposes, including enterprise views and advanced analytics. They want to have a foundation of integrated data that represents one accurate set of facts. Autonomy and diversity, therefore, was the enemy of this drive. Not anymore. With Oracle Fusion Applications, the trade-off dilemma of autonomy vs. standardization is eliminated. Both objectives are met: the enterprise as a whole maintains IT integration and a platform for future expansion without losing past investments. The business user gains autonomy and the ability to prioritize their business capability expansion based on their immediate and unique needs. This explains how, despite more flexibility and autonomy, better integration, as well as future expansion, is achievable via Oracle Fusion Applications, essentially removing much of the trade off dilemma most upgrades or package implementations require. Oracle Fusion Applications represents a profound and exciting win-win for both individual business leaders and the overall data and IT enterprise strategy. It is at once having your cake and eating it too.

deployment, businesses can completely reprioritize the speed and dependency of how they enable business capabilities that is completely independent of traditional technology migration constraints and schedules. This gives functional or departmental business leadership (e.g., Finance, HR, Marketing, Procurement) more autonomy over the speed and scope of their Oracle Fusion Applications deployments. They no longer have to depend on how quickly or completely their entire department or another department wants to deploy the next suite of applications. They can also pick and choose the top priorities for the business here and now. For example, if a Finance department has an urgent need for new collections capabilities, they can quickly mobilize the Oracle Fusion Payments and Collections module while still co-existing with aspects of their existing applications. The accounts receivable group, in this example, does not need the entire Finance department or the entire enterprise to move to a new version; they can operate autonomously. We can imagine similar situations: a procurement analytics team wanting to move quickly with Oracle Fusion Spend and Performance Analytics, or a marketing function wanting to adopt the Oracle Fusion Marketing module without having to gain acceptance from Service or Sales on a wholesale CRM upgrade or system implementation.

Oracle Fusion Applications are Here. Whats Your Next Move?

Key areas for consideration, assessment, and priority setting

If you are business leadership (e.g., finance, HR, marketing, procurement) it may be an important moment to consider new capabilities that might be deployed in light of Oracle Fusion Applications. Because Oracle Fusion Applications are on our imminent horizon, early movers will be the first to learn and create competitive advantage. Thinking about this now will give you the leg up, as the release is in its early stages. You can make early-mover decisions, for example, or begin piloting and experimenting so you can move quickly when you are ready to act. As enterprise applications are always in flux and evolving, the step now is to think about where your business is going, what your current situation is, and how the possibilities of Oracle Fusion Applications change your outlook in both the near-term and the long-term. Listed below are some of the initial assessment activities that should be performed at this time to understand where your Oracle Fusion Applications opportunities lie and how to prioritize the best next steps.
Consider new business capabilities your organization currently desires

Build an understanding of the first and future releases of Oracle Fusion Applications

Based on the understanding of your desired and current capabilities, understand and evaluate the suite of Oracle Fusion Applications that are now available. Vet each one based on its applicability to solve the particular business problem at hand, understand where past functionality is enabled, assess the feature and benefit set, and understand integration possibilities both within the Oracle Fusion Applications integration framework and with the enterprise application environment at large.
Set business priorities

Identify which Oracle Fusion Applications solutions will be deployed based on which have the largest impact, the lowest time-to-value, and fit within the organizations ability and appetite for change. Determine which capabilities should be fast tracked or piloted first and which opportunities should be earmarked for further assessment and analysis.
Develop a Oracle Fusion Applications strategy and roadmap

Evaluate your current and future business drivers and consider new capabilities that are top priorities for the next few years such as integrated planning, types of analytics, and operational capabilities (e.g., trade promotion management). While understanding and planning these capabilities in how they are supported by application technology, consider them in full view of the business impact and value they will achieve, and the impact they will have on processes, people, competencies, and other areas of change.
Understand your current capabilities

Based on the first set of Oracle Fusion Applications priorities, develop a top-down vision and strategy for the new Oracle Fusion Applications-enabled environment that highlights new business capabilities, new processes, impacts, as well as enablement requirements for the future state. Develop a roadmap that explains how you will make the transformation by allocating transformation and deployment activities into groups of projects that have specific steps, resources, milestones, and investments tied to each initiative or desired accomplishment. This roadmap should be informed of the release schedules of Oracle Fusion Applications software and should reflect adequate time to pilot and test new Oracle Fusion Applications technologies as well as provide flexibility to integrate or plan for new Oracle Fusion Applications as they are released in the future.
Build a business case for the next steps

Take an inventory of your current capabilities in light of where you wish to be in the future. Understand which of these current capabilities are supported by your enterprise applications; be they Oracle, other providers, or custom systems. This should form the basis for both an opportunity analysis and gap analysis as you see which areas of improvement represent the largest drivers of value, and which areas represent the most difficult or easy scope of change.

As with all significant business change, costs and benefits should be examined and justified through a rigorous and

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fact-based business case. Due to Oracle Fusion Applications modularity and co-existence possibilities, this analysis may look dramatically different than similar analyses based on traditional ERP technology. These top-level steps begin to color in the types of initial assessment and analysis business leaders should undertake when considering the new and immediate opportunities Oracle Fusion Applications present.

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About the authors

Sam Kapreilian

Vice President & Partner, Oracle Service Line Leader As leader for the Oracle service line, Sam has responsibility for IBMs Oracle Consulting Practice. Sam brings a distinctive and provocative vision for how enterprises harness information and leverage enterprise applications in ways to drive differentiation, advantage, and efficiency. With over 20 years of experience in business strategy, operations/P&L management, and large-scale enterprise transformation across Fortune 500 organizations, he has a distinctive and valuable view into what drives business success today.
Esther V. Parker

Conclusion
Oracle Fusion Applications are here and it is time to act much sooner rather than later. Oracle Fusion Applications have the possibilities to fundamentally change the mindset of business leaders as they consider and explore new capabilities. No longer will they have to couple desired technology-enabled business changes with the all of the constraints levied on them by organizational peers, IT schedules, and integration strategies that created trade-offs in the past. Instead, through Oracle Fusion Applications modularization and co-existence framework, they will be able to fast track business capability priorities while minimizing the negative impacts that autonomy would bring in traditional ERP environments. Given that Oracle Fusion Applications has arrived, business leaders find themselves at an important moment of contemplation where they should step back, understand their priorities in a new light, and devise a formal and thoughtful strategy on how to move forward with Oracle Fusion Applications. The time is now, and those poised with the right information and a sound strategy will be best able to exploit new opportunities, navigate the new environment the fastest, and ultimately accelerate the new business advantages presented with Oracle Fusion Applications.

Partner, Oracle Service Line Executive, IBM Global Business Services, Oracle Tiger Team Leader Through more than 24 years of consulting and systems implementing experience, Esther generates success for IBM and her enterprise-class clients seeking to improve their business performance through Oracle applications. Her consulting experience ranges from managing consulting divisions to managing full system implementations. For the past several years Esthers focus has been on large, complex implementations for state and local government, education, and healthcare companies to help drive improved performance and greater return on investment.

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