On-premises to cloud—FAQ

As Oracle on-premises ERP customers look to the future and consider the benefits of cloud solutions, they often have questions about transitioning to the cloud and the options available to them.

The following answers seek to address these frequently asked questions, covering topics including cloud technology and applications and the specific options that are available for your business. As your enterprise technology partner, our goal is to help you determine the path and timeline for cloud adoption that best meets your organization’s needs. We hope this information helps you better understand and evaluate your options.

What does “in the cloud” mean?

Two primary characteristics define enterprise solutions as being in the cloud:

1. The solution is not located on hardware that you own and maintain on your own premises.

2. Users subscribe to the solution rather than paying up front for a perpetual license. The subscription fees cover technical support, and the solution provider applies patches and updates to the solution on your behalf.

On-premises applications are not in the cloud. They are traditional software applications sold through a perpetual license with annual maintenance fees, and they have historically been deployed on-premises.

The many options for cloud deployment broadly fall into two categories: SaaS (software as a service) and IaaS (infrastructure as a service).

• SaaS and Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications: Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications support the same business processes as on-premises applications. Many on-premises customers have completely shifted to Oracle Cloud Applications, while others are integrating on-premises ERP with Oracle Cloud Applications to augment or add functionality.
• IaaS for on-premises: On-premises applications can be run on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Rather than buying and maintaining hardware and network components, customers can instead subscribe to physical hardware and storage capacity and use these to run Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, or PeopleSoft.

How do on-premises customers benefit from cloud adoption?

The primary advantages of migrating from on-premises ERP to Oracle Cloud Applications include a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and the ease of staying current with software, security, and technology.

Unlike on-premises systems, there is no hardware to purchase or maintain. Maintenance tasks, such as applying security and technical patches as well as maintaining the operating system and applying updates, are all performed by Oracle. This reduces overhead costs across IT resources, including hardware and services provided by system administrators.

Many organizations also find cloud adoption compelling because IT operations are not their core competency. By outsourcing system hardware, infrastructure, and maintenance to Oracle, organizations can better focus their time, energy, and resources on strategic initiatives, competitive differentiators, and other critical areas.

Do on-premises customers have to move to the cloud?

No. As a Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, or PeopleSoft customer, you can continue to run your solution for as long as it meets your organization’s needs. Oracle continues to invest in these applications with regulatory updates, functional enhancements, simplified and automated system administration, and strategic new capabilities that drive digital process transformation. New on-premises features are available quarterly, with hundreds of new capabilities added every year.

In addition, as specified in the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy for Oracle Applications Guide (PDF), we have extended Premier Support for on-premises until at least 2035, reinforcing our commitment to our customers and product innovation. This commitment provides more than 10 years of product support, giving on-premises customers more than a decade to make decisions about their cloud options based on what’s right for their business.

While on-premises customers can continue using their current system, a growing number of companies are choosing to move to Oracle Cloud Applications. By doing so, they benefit from a cloud approach that offers subscription-based applications, industry-leading analytics capabilities, and an infinitely scalable infrastructure to support their global business needs.

What are Oracle Cloud Applications?

Oracle Cloud Applications are a comprehensive suite of SaaS applications for running all aspects of your business, including finance, HR, operations, supply chain, and more. Engineered to work together, all Oracle Cloud Applications share a common data model that unites business functions to seamlessly connect your business, processes, and people.

Our complete suite of cloud applications includes Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Oracle Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) for organizing and modernizing your order management, risk management, procurement, supply chain planning, and more. Oracle’s human capital management (HCM) and advertising and customer experience (CX) cloud applications provide organizations with HR, workforce planning, and payroll capabilities as well as marketing, sales, and service solutions.

All Oracle Cloud Applications are subscription-based SaaS offerings and feature quarterly updates that keep your organization current with the latest security, features, and technologies. Oracle Cloud Applications include robust analytics and reporting, next-generation technologies, and a modern user experience.

Can Oracle Cloud Applications meet our needs?

Yes. As an on-premises ERP customer, you can be confident that Oracle Cloud Applications will help you tackle challenges and position your business for growth. Thousands of customers already successfully manage their organizations with Oracle Cloud Applications.

Oracle Cloud Applications leverage Oracle’s collective experience across many solutions, including E-Business Suite, Agile Product Lifecycle Management, Demantra, Hyperion, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel Customer Relationship Management.

On-premises customers of all sizes from different industries throughout the world have moved to or extended their applications with Oracle Cloud Applications. Their experience has confirmed that Oracle’s enterprise performance management (EPM), ERP, SCM, HCM, and CX cloud functionalities support their requirements today while establishing a strong foundation for the future with next-generation technologies.

These applications also support the planning, budgeting, HR, payroll, and CRM functionalities that were previously managed in on-premises ERP.

Analyst firm Gartner has named Oracle Cloud Applications as a Leader in the categories of ERP (for product-centric and service-centric enterprises), HCM, and EPM. In addition to the thousands of customers using our cloud applications, we also use our own cloud technology to run our global business.

Since solutions and technologies evolve rapidly and have likely changed since you implemented your on-premises ERP, we recommend you evaluate Oracle Cloud Applications against your current and future business requirements and objectives rather than using your current system as a checklist for comparison.

Can we use Oracle Cloud Applications with on-premises ERP?

Yes. Your on-premises solution can be integrated with Oracle Cloud Applications. By integrating your solution with our cloud applications, you can incrementally move business processes to the cloud as you see fit. Many on-premises customers start their journey to the cloud by implementing components of Oracle Cloud Applications for business processes they don’t currently manage with their on-premises systems.

For example, if you use E-Business Suite with third-party solutions for planning and budgeting, talent management, or supplier management, you could move those specific functions to Oracle Cloud Applications. Or you might choose to start by adopting the cloud for a specific business unit, department, or an acquired organization.

How do customizations work with Oracle Cloud Applications?

Customizations are expensive to build and maintain, and it’s always in your best interest to minimize them with the goal of eventually eliminating them altogether. Customers often acknowledge that they have customizations that could be retired and replaced with similar applications that are available in Oracle Cloud.

Oracle has invested heavily to provide you with ways to continue tailoring the solution to your unique needs in the cloud without expensive customizations. Features, such as personalization and form extensions, enable you to retire and replace old customizations. Customers typically use an on-premises-to-cloud project to simplify, standardize, and automate their business processes and use the configuration tools to meet their unique needs. In addition, customers often find that their customizations are related to reporting and are no longer necessary with the robust reporting available in all Oracle Cloud Applications.

Many customers find that their IT or business stakeholders already have experience migrating a customized solution to a configurable SaaS solution—which can also make the transition easier than expected.

Like all SaaS solutions, Oracle Cloud Applications are configurable instead of customizable. This approach enables us to deploy regular system updates, ensuring your users have access to new features and technologies. This is fundamental, as SaaS solutions have changed the expectations for enterprise software. In this digital era, infrequent updates are a barrier to the software’s ability to contribute value to the organization. The nature of cloud applications ensures that the software will never become obsolete and that organizations permanently stop carrying the unnecessary cost of maintaining tailor-made customizations.

How do integrations work with Oracle Cloud Applications?

Many customers have integrated other business systems with their on-premises ERP. Those integrations can continue with Oracle Cloud Applications using Oracle Integration Cloud, which enables you to easily and efficiently set up, automate, and manage complex integrations across your application landscape. This includes both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-on-premises applications.

Oracle Integration Cloud provides integration between Oracle Cloud Applications and virtually any application, service, or datastore. Oracle Integration eliminates barriers between business applications through a combination of prebuilt adapters, process automation templates, and a visual builder for web and mobile app development. Prebuilt application adapters and integration flows simplify the technical aspects of dealing with low-level APIs. This makes SaaS integration 6 to 10 times faster while reducing upgrade risks. Process automation brings agility with an easy, visual, low-code platform.

How are Oracle Cloud Applications maintained?

Oracle Cloud Applications are maintained with automatic, quarterly system updates. You can deploy (enable, configure, and use) these updates on your schedule.

It’s important to monitor the new features that are released and planned for each quarterly update. When deploying updates, we recommended testing to ensure business processes run properly and proactively communicating updates to users as they are deployed. Existing on-premises customers who use a continuous adoption process will have a smooth transition to this model of consuming updates.

How do we run on-premises ERP on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure?

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is an IaaS platform for building and running many kinds of applications. OCI lets you use the computing, network, and storage capabilities of Oracle Cloud on a subscription basis, increasing automation, speed, and agility while minimizing the cost of hardware and routine maintenance.

OCI provides an infinite amount of capacity that automatically scales up and down. This provides increased performance, improved security, and reduced TCO. With OCI, Oracle manages an all-Oracle stack that includes hardware, database, and applications, which improves overall lifecycle management.

Use these resources to help you determine if this is the right path for your enterprise:
Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Cloud
PeopleSoft on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
JD Edwards and Oracle Cloud

Where can I find more information about moving to the cloud?

Oracle has forums on Cloud Customer Connect for on-premises customers who are interested in learning more about Oracle Cloud Applications and best practices for cloud migration. These forums are a great resource for customers to engage with subject matter experts and Oracle’s product development teams. Pose questions, connect with experts, and share your thoughts and ideas. We’re here to help you with your journey to the cloud.

What’s the best path to the cloud?

There’s no single solution that’s best for every business. The best path to the cloud is the one that fits your organization’s unique needs, goals, and technology strategy.

To determine your path, start by discussing your priorities and challenges with your stakeholders and technology partners. Your conversation should include a wide range of viewpoints, including input from system experts, functional users, organization leaders, and IT staff. The conversation should include how you use on-premises applications today and how you plan to use them in the future. Here are a couple talking points to keep in mind:

• What is the total cost of our current on-premises system?
• Is our IT system keeping up with technology? Can it support AI capabilities?
• Do we have a single source of truth for data?
• Can our users quickly and easily access critical information?

At Oracle, we strive to be your trusted technology provider, advisor, and partner. We also appreciate your commitment to and recognize your success with your current applications. Whatever path you choose, we will continue supporting your success, offering you choices, and providing advice as you continue on your journey.