A new year often means reflecting on the past year and establishing new goals and metrics for the current year. For many organizations, these goals may involve Cloud. As you begin to seek out resources that can assist you in reaching your established Could goals and objectives, I thought it might be helpful to recap COLLABORATE 17.

COLLABORATE 17: Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle Community was an exciting week of education, networking and knowledge sharing. Thousands of Oracle users from across the globe gathered at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for the Quest International Users Group conference.

One of the most prominent themes of the conference was Oracle Cloud. There were sessions covering capabilities and benefits of Oracle’s IaaS and PaaS solutions, Oracle’s recent innovation and investment in the Cloud applications, and much more.

It was clear to see that Oracle was seriously ramping up their cloud capabilities and wanted the world to know. Oracle offers a broad portfolio of software and hardware products and services to enable public, private and hybrid clouds, enabling customers of any size to choose the right approach for them.

Some of the takeaways I have had around the experience at COLLABORATE are the following:

• The technology environment is changing in terms of how organizations can use technology and what they expect it to do. Many more organizations are now moving more towards a mobile approach allowing technology to be in your pocket. Cloud is a tool that will allow you to do that.
• It’s important to involve all parts of the business in the decision of where you want your technology to go.
• You don’t need to take the “big bang approach” to implementing the Cloud, it’s okay to phase it in to your technology strategy.
• Lastly from Steve Daheb’s sessions is that Oracle has a full suite of products for you and your business no matter what your business needs and/or want. It’s important to know that Oracle is here for you in your technology journey.

We know that many of you are in one of four phases in your Cloud journey and we have some great resources as you go through each of these phases.

Strategy & Evaluation – reviewing your strategy and evaluating if Cloud is right for you.

• Is Cloud Right For You?
• 5 Critical Considerations Before Moving Your Enterprise To The Cloud
• How do I Decide what Cloud Works for Me?

Execution & Implementation – activation, implementation and go-live.

• The Cloud Implementation Project – Phase 0
• Your Cloud, Your Implementation, Your Way
• Planning for Oracle Cloud ERP Implementation- Learn the 5 Keys to Success!!

Adoption & Optimization – user adoption is key to your success.

• Trucking along with Allocations and Recurring Journals in Oracle ERP Financials Cloud
• On-Premises Users Move to Oracle Cloud: Stories of Migration and Change

Expansion – identifying other areas to move to the cloud.

• A Successful HCM Transformation Initiative to Support your Corporate Strategy
• Oracle Financials Cloud: Overview, Strategy and Roadmap

Regardless of what phase of the Cloud Journey your organization is in, or the Cloud goals your organization has established for 2018, you’ll want to consider checking out COLLABORATE 18 as a resource. Get more details about cloud education sessions, speakers, networking opportunities and more in the Quest COLLABORATE 18 Advance Program.