Welcome to Cloud Chronicles: Real-World Global Transformations. In today’s podcast, Megan Testani, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Project Partners, discusses with three organizations how they managed the transition from legacy on-prem ERP systems like Oracle JD Edwards and Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) to Oracle Cloud Applications or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

Megan Testani, Project Partners: First, let’s speak with Jochen Rahm, the CTO for PROMATIS (an ITG Company) and the Program Manager for PRODINGER. Johan, how did PRODINGER manage their transition?

Jochen Rahm, PROMATIS: Yeah, what we have started and discussed is using the hybrid approach. That means we keep EBS, which is what they have had in the past, so we have less of a change impact on basic functionalities. We also integrated the Oracle Fusion applications before for Oracle Integration Cloud. So, you use and leverage the new functionalities the cloud application can provide you. As I mentioned, the OTM functionality in EBS may not have the strengths which is why we took a hybrid approach with OTM Cloud. That is how we adapted that.

We took a phased approach, so we did not do the Big Bang. In the first phase, we addressed standard functionality and processes, and then we adopted that with additional phases. So that is why we call that the program. And the program is still running. So it’s a program over five-six years. So it’s a huge program. And we are in the middle of that today.

Megan Testani, Project Partners: Thank you, Jochan. Next, let’s speak with  Wino Verschoor, the Director of Applications for  Vanderlande Industries. Wino, for Vanderlande, scalability and future proofing were a big part of this transition. Can you tell us more about that?

Wino Verschoor, Vanderlande: It was indeed a significant step. As I said at the start, our organization is growing. We were also expecting a lot of growth in transactions. So it was, first and most importantly, to have a tool that was a scalable system and to really make that move. Since 2022, OCI and then we are, now, one shape higher. And we also implemented high-performance storage. So, we have already reaped the benefits of being on the cloud solution.

For our resources in Frankfurt, Germany, that instance has three availability domains, which is something we were never able to meet those requirements on-premise. So that is also very important. There is also another region where we have to arrange for that much redundancy to be available. So that is another reason, proof, that this was a future-proofed solution.

Megan Testani, Project Partners: Thank you, Wino. Next, let’s speak with Laurence Cauchy, the Enterprise Performance Management Center of Excellence Director for AtkinsRéalis. Laurence, Your team was managing the move from an on-prem EPM system into Oracle Cloud EPM. How were you able to manage that, and how did it impact financial operations and decision-making processes?

Laurence Cauchy, AtkinsRéalis: So, moving to a single EPM cloud application really contributed to harmonizing all the processes across the finance function. It also contributed to increased collaboration between the teams. It’s because everybody understands what other people are doing and what’s the impact of their work on the work other people are doing. And the systems being now integrated, it offers a more streamlined process. And, like I said before, it increases the visibility of the financial data for our corporate teams. So, the tax consolidation FP&E teams have more granularity in the data. So it’s better for them.

But most importantly, I think it removes duplicate work. We did have people doing some activities for legal reporting and people doing activities for management reporting, and they were actually exactly the same thing. Now, we put everything at the right level. So it’s done once it flows through the legal reporting team and to the management reporting teams. And everybody works on the same data. So I think that was really, really important for us.

Megan Testani, Project Partners: Thank you, Laurence. This concludes episode four of Cloud Chronicles Real World Global Transformations.

Join us for episode five, where we will discuss Managed Services’ role in ensuring seamless cloud operations post-migration.

Did you miss Episode 3? Click here to listen in.