Over the last few years, the software giant has made all their applications that were historically large, on-premise deployments more broadly available to businesses in the cloud. Oracle’s strategy is based on the prediction that enterprises will be completely cloud-based in less than a decade. More broadly, cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has levelled the playing field for companies all sizes, enabling small and mid-sized enterprises to take advantage of tools that were previously only available to big companies with deep pockets.

Oracle Public Cloud puts existing customers first

The Oracle Public Cloud is similar to Microsoft Azure in that both were built around their core technologies – Oracle DB and Microsoft Windows, respectively. But while Microsoft’s approach has been to open its Azure Stack to other software companies to build on their Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service ecosystem, the Oracle Public Cloud is being built around its large ecosystem of customers who invested in the Oracle Database.

Compared to Microsoft Azure and AWS, the Oracle Public Cloud represents the evolution to next-generation computing options and creates greenfield opportunities. Unlike its competitors, it not only supports IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, but also Bare Metal, on-premises and can be hosted at an Oracle MSP infrastructure. Although Oracle Public Cloud is not available yet in Canada, it does have its own data centre here to address the data residency for Canadian customers for Oracle SaaS offerings and Canadian service providers for IaaS.

What Canadian enterprises must consider

There are many reasons why mid-sized enterprises should consider the Oracle Cloud, whether they already run Oracle applications or are looking migrate to them:

• Core applications are built on Oracle
• Security is a core element of Oracle’s foundation (the company counts the CIA as its first customer)
• Flexible deployment models, including on-premise, hybrid and cloud
• IaaS pricing is comparable to competitors

Organizations looking to build applications that could be deployed in the Oracle Public Cloud in Canada can have peace of mind that all of Oracle’s core components and intellectual property, such as Database, Virtual Machine, Middleware and Business Intelligence, are integrated, which allows them to get up and running quickly with an enterprise-class solution.

However, there also several challenges organizations must consider when mulling a move to the Oracle Public Cloud. For one thing, there is a lack of skilled people who can answer the common questions customers will have, such as how many CPUs they need and the licensing costs, making it hard to get started. There is also a limited number of Oracle ecosystem vendors available, which means there could be a premium cost to bringing a third-party provider onboard to help turn on services.

The biggest hurdle is that the Oracle Public Cloud is technically not available yet in Canada, so today, companies here must deploy in the U.S. Right now, the company is selling these on-premise Oracle Cloud deployments in the short-term with the knowledge that will be coming to Canada eventually.

Get started with the Oracle Public Cloud

It is possible to begin the journey to the Oracle Cloud in Canada today without having to deploy south of the border. An experienced Oracle partner can host your applications and database in its cloud by leveraging the Oracle Cloud Machine platform. When it’s time to move, they can migrate you to the Oracle Public Cloud and still provide you with managed services in either environment. This gives you the option of taking your on-premise environment for applications such as Oracle ERP into the Oracle Cloud without switching to SaaS, which can be challenging for highly customized environments. Instead, you simply lift and shift to the cloud so you need no longer worry about infrastructure.

Tapping an Oracle managed service provider with deep expertise in hosting, managed services Oracle deployments and Oracle application suite can set you up for success for true hybrid cloud service that offers the flexibility of the cloud, while delivering control and on-premises IT