Top 3 Must-Haves in an Oracle Cloud Migration Partner

2019 is the year cloud migration from Oracle applications will pick up speed. Our recent survey, Oracle to the Cloud: Top 5 Myths, Debunked, found that 59% of Oracle users are planning to migrate their legacy applications or databases to the cloud this year. The clear majority are actively in the process of either planning or migrating their applications to public, private or hybrid cloud – and 32% of respondents noted they should have made the move already.

However, many Oracle application users remain unsure of the best pathway to an efficient migration. In today’s “cloud wars” landscape, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the many cloud options. The decision to migrate and the process of executing it are not choices that can be taken lightly. For many businesses, the very backbone of the company relies on Oracle applications, and downtime can spell disaster. Cybersecurity concerns also remain paramount in the mind of 97% IT decision makers (ITDMs), as they rated it to be a top concern around cloud migration.

Finding the right partner is a way to reliably alleviate the stress and real challenges that come along with cloud migration, as seasoned partners who know what issues to look for can remove friction from the process. A well-established partner can pull from their experience with other companies to help navigate common concerns, such as security and licensing challenges, and assist with everything from roadmap strategy to planning and execution.

Where Is Partner Expertise Most Valuable?

There is clearly a demand for expertise and partner assistance when it comes to cloud migration. And at least 90% of ITDMs surveyed said there would be value in having a provider who can help with the following:

• Planning and executing the Oracle footprint cloud migration
• Building analytical solutions that are tightly coupled with source Oracle data
• Integration (connecting Oracle footprint to non-Oracle applications)
• Allowing the company’s CRM to work in an integrated way with Oracle
• Finding a single provider who can help with execution and integration across all four areas

The data is clear: ITDMs want to move their traditional Oracle enterprise applications to the cloud…but are often lacking the expertise around how to migrate. The survey found there is also confusion among ITDMs about the level of cloud migration support that exists in the current IT landscape. In fact, half of ITDMs feel if they move to the cloud, they will not be able to find the support they need, and only 38% feel there is “definitely” a provider who can help with the aspects mentioned previously. This indicates a lack of awareness in the marketplace about where to find the resources they need to get the job done – and confusion around what to look for in a partner.

No need to fear, help is out there! To make this process easier, we’ve outlined the top three must-haves to consider when looking for a provider to help with cloud migration.

Top 3 Things to Look for When Searching for a Cloud Migration Partner

When looking for a partner to assist with cloud migrations from Oracle applications, keep the following top of mind:

• Level of Oracle experience – including expertise with enterprise applications (traditional licensed and SaaS cloud applications), database, analytics, integration and related technologies up/down the Oracle stack. This may seem obvious but finding a partner that understands the full stack of Oracle enterprise applications specifically, and not just cloud migration in general, is critical. The partner should have in-depth expertise in this type of migration, with documented proficiency migrating similar size companies from traditional, on-premise Oracle.
• Breath of service offerings – partners should be able to provide both migration and managed services support (Application, Infrastructure), so ITDMs aren’t left on their own once the full migration is completed. There are many factors in play during cloud migration and having a partner that can provide full support across SaaS, public and private IaaS or manage, maintain and optimize your Oracle footprint as you move to cloud can significantly impact your operational efficiency, cost savings and overall TCO. Another component is the ability to implement and offer functional support for critical business areas such as finance, sales/marketing (CRM) and human resources (HCM). Understanding that these factors of the business are all affected by migrating to the cloud is important and working with a company that can assist with strategy in the areas outside of just IT will help immensely.
• Vendor vision – look for both independent analyst and customer reviews of the company before reaching out for help on cloud migration. The partner should be easily found online, with demonstrable expertise and have high rankings among both analysts and customers. This is important as it shows third party validation and that the company has experience in migrating legacy Oracle enterprise applications, which varies from other types of cloud migrations. Also, avoid the hype cycle by checking satisfaction ratings and customer references for the company. Many partners are just now jumping on the bandwagon to offer Oracle to cloud migrations, so it’s important to find an established, well-known company rather than a company that’s received a lot of hype.

For IT pros in an Oracle-based environment, the right partner will help alleviate the guess work, and set companies up for long-term success. The partnership should be designed to provide in-depth guidance throughout the entire cloud adoption process, and even post-migration. Seamless transition from legacy Oracle applications to public, private or hybrid cloud options is possible – and IT pros don’t have to do it alone.