Managed Services for Oracle’s Cloud Applications

Such statements are commonplace today, and this is a good summary of the impact of Cloud Applications – any applications, not just Oracle’s. Cloud can deliver a paradigm shift that brings many positive changes. The same is true for application support.

But while Cloud Applications change organisations’ support requirements, they don’t remove the need for such a service. While some support needs, e.g. hosting, are gone, Cloud brings new requirements and unique challenges. To address these, we introduced our Managed Services for Oracle Cloud Applications.

Over the past 20 years many organisations modernised their back-office systems. They moved to integrated platforms, e.g. ERP, that enabled the redefinition of business processes. Cloud delivery now offers organisations a new generation of applications that addresses some of the previous generation’s challenges. These include: inflexible licensing models; specialist technical skills for systems hosting and support; limited support for mobile devices; and outdated user interfaces.

DSP's Managed Services practice already delivers something unusual: a combination of better services and lower costs unmatched by alternative providers. That’s one reason why many organisations choose DSP Managed Services (80% of customers switch from other providers). Our dedicated team of the very best Oracle functional and technical support consultants share a passion for support delivery. We give them the time, space and freedom to deliver excellent customer support.

Backed with effective ITIL V3 processes and state-of-theart infrastructure, they deliver faster fixes, better quality solutions, are genuinely proactive and strive for continuous improvement. Most of all, we work in partnership with customers to ensure our support enables their Oracle systems to deliver their business requirements.

• Commercial Certainty: Our fixed-price Managed Services give customers long-term certainty and align perfectly with Oracle’s Cloud Opex model.
• Operational Certainty: Each customer’s Managed Service fits their unique needs, and when combined with their in-house capabilities, customers benefit from comprehensive operational support.
• Flexible In-house Support: We allow customers to choose how much Oracle Managed Service support they require.
• Avoid Change-related Issues: Cloud Applications’ update cycle can cause business disruption if not managed properly. We can take responsibility for this management and ensure customers enjoy the benefits of change without unexpected issues.
• Maximise Return on Investment: Implementing a new system should be the start of a process, but the challenge of ERP implementations meant many organisations were relieved to complete such projects and the system was subsequently little developed. Such an approach is a missed opportunity with Cloud and we help customers benefit from Oracle’s cycle of changes and improvements.

• That’s best understood by looking at what changes Cloud Applications bring to support:

  • Gone: The obvious, fundamental change is that hosting & technology support is no longer required. Specialist technical skills, e.g. a DBA, are no longer required. This is great news because these are the skills many organisations struggled most to fulfil.
  • Changed: Although the application changes, there is still a need for application support: a team supporting users’ day-to-day system usage, answering questions, fixing issues and able to make configuration changes. The nature of customisations also changes, e.g. how they are built and hosted, but they must still be supported.
  • New: Oracle’s software as a service delivery means they determine the cycle of upgrades and patching. This will almost certainly be more frequent than customers previously managed, which brings significant new benefits but also challenges. Those changes and associated systems testing must be managed such that new versions don’t adversely impact the business.

• That’s best understood by looking at what changes Cloud Applications bring to support:

  • Gone: The obvious, fundamental change is that hosting & technology support is no longer required. Specialist technical skills, e.g. a DBA, are no longer required. This is great news because these are the skills many organisations struggled most to fulfil.
  • Changed: Although the application changes, there is still a need for application support: a team supporting users’ day-to-day system usage, answering questions, fixing issues and able to make configuration changes. The nature of customisations also changes, e.g. how they are built and hosted, but they must still be supported.
  • New: Oracle’s software as a service delivery means they determine the cycle of upgrades and patching. This will almost certainly be more frequent than customers previously managed, which brings significant new benefits but also challenges. Those changes and associated systems testing must be managed such that new versions don’t adversely impact the business.

DSP's Managed Services for Oracle Cloud Applications addresses the support challenges our customers face in the new world. This remains a fixed-price support service delivered within a professional Service Management framework. Old-school rigour and processes are no less required in the new world, and these are built into our services. Our Cloud support is flexible, and customers can pick the services they require, ensuring a perfect fit with their needs:

• Application Support: The application has changed, but business-as-usual support is still required to fix incidents and problems and answer users’ questions.
• Customisations Support: A Cloud system should have far fewer customisations than a traditional ERP or HCM. However, some customisations may be unavoidable, and these are often business-critical, e.g., interfaces. DSP supports all customisations, fixing issues and making changes to prevent their reoccurrence.
• Change, Release and Test Management: A benefit of Cloud Applications is that upgrades are included in the subscription; gone are the days of out-of-date systems. But this introduces challenges as well as opportunities. DSP's support ensures customers understand the changes introduced by upgrades and patching. New functionality can be adopted where this brings benefits, and we will manage the associated analysis, implementation, and training. We also help customers target regression testing in the areas affected by updates, minimising test effort and business disruption.
• Strategic Roadmap: Cloud Applications are evolving rapidly with Oracle delivering frequent enhancements. we  ensures customers understand Oracle’s roadmap and how to take advantage of future Cloud opportunities.
• Pod (environment) and SR Management: We act as your interface with Oracle Support. Managing pods and progressing Service Requests (SRs) with Oracle.