Oracle provides logistics managers with more “cloud” options

Just as it promised at last year’s annual Oracle OpenWorld, Oracle is expanding its Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio with four new cloud solutions to help businesses fully utilize the benefits of digital supply chains.

The announcement was made at this week’s Oracle Modern Supply Chain Experience.

According to the company, these solutions enable businesses to detect, analyze, and respond to IoT signals and incorporate these insights into existing and rapidly evolving market capabilities.

As noted last year in Supply Chain Management – a sister publication – executives see a large gap between the current state of “Digital Transformation” across their extended global supply chains and what they expect to see just five years from now.

Oracle is hoping to address that concern by introducing new services.

Signals from IoT-enabled devices are growing exponentially and represent an opportunity for organizations that are able to manage, interpret, and leverage these vast sources of data. Organizations with the tools to integrate device data into business processes and applications can gain critical predictive insights and drive cost-effective actions. IoT solutions enable businesses to deliver innovative new services faster and with less risk to their customers.

“The world is becoming ever-more digital and IoT is the next step on that journey—delivering better customer experiences and helping organizations achieve a competitive advantage," said Bhagat Nainani, group vice president of IoT applications development at Oracle. “Oracle IoT Applications enable businesses to leverage connected devices and equipment to modernize the digital supply chain.”

Rick Jewell, SVP of Applications Development at Oracle told LM in an exclusive interview that By 2020, every company with a supply chain will need to be “in the cloud.”

“This is a natural choice for a new digital supply chain,” he said. “The voice of the digital thread is for engineering, that will enable business process change to streamline the distribution process via next-gen cloud technology.”

According to Jewell, the benefit of cloud is that logistics managers don’t have to purchase and maintain hardware in-house, and they don’t have to maintain large hardware, thereby reducing cost and improving agility.

“You do need to be careful when choosing a vendor, however,” he cautioned, “as yesterday’s applications will continue to solve yesterday’s problems.”