Oracle's Making Moves to the Cloud

Within the next two years, all 4,000 on-premise Oracle users in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will transition into the cloud. Although it is a massive and challenging task, senior vice-president of business applications, Arun Khehar, at Oracle MEA and India believes it is possible and is dedicated to making this his target. Khehar plans on more than 1,000 of Oracles on-prem customers to migrate to the cloud by the end of 2019. 70% of the 4,000 customers are based in the UAE. 

How Many Live Cloud Customers?

In February of this year, a data center in Abu Dhabi opened. Khehar is fully confident that this has benefitted the company is a lot of ways. Before this, selling would have taken the company weeks to finalize. This new UAE data center made the processes easier, with more big names jumping on board. Oracle currently has more than 700 live cloud customers in the MEA region. A few of Oracle’s customers include Emaar Group, Landmark Group, Fine Hygiene Holding, and DP World. Many of their customers do not inquirer about where the data center is located. Oracle, on the other hand, prefers to take the entire piece and not leave any unknowns up in the air. If there were to be a case where local data residency is a concern, Oracle will have the answer and the customers will have the choice. 

Does Location Even Matter Anymore?

To Khehar, where the data center is located is no longer a criterion. The majority of the discussions regarding the topic revolves around how to move the company and the complexities that follow. Virtual data centers provide the opportunity for on-premise customers to expand beyond geographies and use the internet and cloud to conduct their work. Digital transformation has its own challenges and learning curve. What Oracle is doing differently than competitors is that they are offering end-to-end solutions. These solutions mean that Oracle is not going to just sell and leave. They will sell, service, implement, run, upgrade, and secure their product. Oracle is promising their customers a one-stop-shop service for customer needs. 

Oracle’s Revenue

This major service business is racking in 40% of its revenue from the installed base and the other 60% is coming from new clients. According to Khehar, Oracle’s strategy is to ensure that most of its installed base is in the cloud. The goal is to do more. But why more? As the cloud’s renewal rate is at an all-time high, Oracle wants to take advantage of what they can to do the most for its consumers. Overall Oracle has more skills and people on the ground than ever. They are ready to kickstart their company to the next level. 

Applications in the Cloud

At Oracle’s Future Lab at Dubai Internet City, customers can get a feel of how it will be like utilizing the cloud. All they have to do is bring their own data. Customers will basically see a proof within hours. This already is a huge step forward as it would have taken six to seven weeks in the past. Cost is another aspect that the cloud was able to reduce. Khehar is proud that Oracle has 1,100 applications on the cloud. No other vendor can compete with its length and breadth. So what is next for Oracle? The giant is expected to open another data center in Saudi Arabia later this year.