Everyone is moving to the cloud these days, and Oracle is no exception. In fact, as the leader of the Enterprise Performance Management vendors, they were the first to begin migrating their suite of products to the exciting realm of software-as-a-service with their Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) offering. Even more compelling, Oracle recently announced that all updates will be applied to cloud-based applications first, giving them priority over on-premises solutions.
All of this begs the question — if the cloud is the future, does it make sense to forgo an on-premises application? It depends on your corporate direction.
If you are looking to reduce IT and hardware expenditures, moving entirely to Oracle PBCS is a good option for your organization. Due to large CAPEX investments, those with enterprise performance management suites have typically relied heavily on IT — but with PBCS, Oracle maintains all systems and upgrades in the cloud. This shifts the focus to the needs of business users rather than cumbersome infrastructure and software setup, leading to faster adoption and uptake throughout the organization. Plus, planning and budgeting becomes an operational expenditure with easier-to-digest monthly expenses, versus significant upfront and maintenance costs associated with on-premises environments.
Due to cloud applications’ fast deployment and ease of use, companies can begin their transition to the cloud by deploying applications for smaller or underserved business units that do not currently rely on an existing on-premises application. Oracle Hyperion Planning on-premises environments are world-class, powerful systems that often cannot be replaced quickly. Organizations can start small by keeping an on-premises system intact while deploying PBCS applications outside the finance department, like in marketing or sales.
This way, the entire organization benefits from a robust analytical tool at a fraction of the cost. More and more users have come to expect and prefer cloud-based environments in business, with 93 percent of organizations running applications or experimenting with infrastructure-as-a-service (Forbes).
Regardless of your corporate direction, Oracle PBCS can play a powerful role in strategic analysis. Learn more about Oracle PBCS and the options available to your organization in our PBCS Services Guide.