We had the opportunity to attend Oracle’s HCM World conference, held from March 20th till 22nd in Dallas. Held in the busiest week of the spring conference circuit, the conference had good analyst and influencer representation and was overall well attended (Oracle claimed 2200+).
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Prefer to watch – here is my event video … (if the video doesn’t’ show up – check here)
Here is the 1 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here):
Want to read on? Here you go:
Oracle keeps delivering in HCM– Since its early beginning the Oracle HCM product, has done well and is growing at an almost metronomic takt rate. New capabilities are created in the product, and Oracle delivers customer adoption of them in the following 6-12 months. Customers, partners and the overall ecosystem is now on the by-yearly announcement schedule of HCM World in Spring and OpenWorld in Fall, and in between customer adoption manifests themselves in go lives. The result is likely the most comprehensive singe platform HCM Suite in the market.
Good DNA in Spring 2018 Release– Along the same lines the 2018 Spring release of Oracle HCM Cloud is a rich release that pushes the boundaries. Oracle replaced and strengthened the Onboarding capabilities in the suite. Given the best practice uncertainty that at the moment plagues Performance Management, Oracle has (wisely) opted for a suite of performance management tools. People leaders can choose from four different approaches to address performance management in their enterprise. The good news is that they can even choose to use different best practices / flavors of performance management across the enterprise – slice and dice by operating company, division, people type etc. The right approach and it will be interesting to see adoption. And last but not least more AI, no conference without AI in 2018… Oracle pointed out that it always has had some form of ‘intelligence’ but no the offerings are serious and it’s good to see Oracle speak of AI (vs the a tad misaligned ‘adaptive intelligence’ term of the past.
A new UX - Having been a critic of the Oracle HCM UI for a long time, the new UX is a welcome first step in the right direction to improve this situation. Not surprisingly Oracle opts for the mobile focus of the largest user population, and for the high volume transaction. The new UX looks modern, easy to use and has some of the key inner workings a UX in 2017 should have – it’s responsive and can be used across devices and form factors as well takes an aggressive stance on defaulting, suggesting entries. At the core is a newsfeed paradigm, that users are familiar with from consumer websites. The newsfeed manages to collapse menu structures and to surface the relevant information at the right time. Not easy to get right - think of the challenges Facebook has had getting this UX right, but from what we saw about the Oracle HCM newsfeed, it's a well working first implementation in an Oracle enterprise application. All welcome by busy enterprise users, who have to do a real job and can’t afford to be held up too long by administrative systems (like any HCM system). Next step is to check in on customer feedback, roll out plans and roadmap.
On the concern side the event seemed smaller than last years events. Maybe the timing and the location in Dallas did not help. But in general you expect a growing attendee number. Equally in the ecosystem we saw less partner activity... it looks like Deloitte (for NA SIs) and Infosys (for the Indian SIs) seem to have capture the pool position. Next year's HCM World will be a data point on how much Oracle can activate users and prospects to come to an event like this on. For the record, happy users do not need to travel to user conferences as much, as they know what's coming and are busy implementing and using the software.
But overall a good event for Oracle customers and prospects. Oracle HCM Cloud is probably the most complete, single platform, single code base HCM Suite out there. Stay tuned.
More on Oracle:
Future of Work / HCM / SaaS research:
Also worth a look for the full picture
And if you want to read more of my findings on Oracle technology - I suggest:Want to learn more? Checkout the Storify collection below (if it doesn’t show up – check here).
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.
Prefer to watch – here is my event video … (if the video doesn’t’ show up – check here)
):
Here is the 1 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here):
Want to read on? Here you go:
Oracle keeps delivering in HCM– Since its early beginning the Oracle HCM product, has done well and is growing at an almost metronomic takt rate. New capabilities are created in the product, and Oracle delivers customer adoption of them in the following 6-12 months. Customers, partners and the overall ecosystem is now on the by-yearly announcement schedule of HCM World in Spring and OpenWorld in Fall, and in between customer adoption manifests themselves in go lives. The result is likely the most comprehensive singe platform HCM Suite in the market.
 |
| Oracle HCM Cloud Spring 2018 Release Highlights |
Good DNA in Spring 2018 Release– Along the same lines the 2018 Spring release of Oracle HCM Cloud is a rich release that pushes the boundaries. Oracle replaced and strengthened the Onboarding capabilities in the suite. Given the best practice uncertainty that at the moment plagues Performance Management, Oracle has (wisely) opted for a suite of performance management tools. People leaders can choose from four different approaches to address performance management in their enterprise. The good news is that they can even choose to use different best practices / flavors of performance management across the enterprise – slice and dice by operating company, division, people type etc. The right approach and it will be interesting to see adoption. And last but not least more AI, no conference without AI in 2018… Oracle pointed out that it always has had some form of ‘intelligence’ but no the offerings are serious and it’s good to see Oracle speak of AI (vs the a tad misaligned ‘adaptive intelligence’ term of the past.
 |
| The new Oracle HCM Cloud UX paradigm |
A new UX - Having been a critic of the Oracle HCM UI for a long time, the new UX is a welcome first step in the right direction to improve this situation. Not surprisingly Oracle opts for the mobile focus of the largest user population, and for the high volume transaction. The new UX looks modern, easy to use and has some of the key inner workings a UX in 2017 should have – it’s responsive and can be used across devices and form factors as well takes an aggressive stance on defaulting, suggesting entries. At the core is a newsfeed paradigm, that users are familiar with from consumer websites. The newsfeed manages to collapse menu structures and to surface the relevant information at the right time. Not easy to get right - think of the challenges Facebook has had getting this UX right, but from what we saw about the Oracle HCM newsfeed, it's a well working first implementation in an Oracle enterprise application. All welcome by busy enterprise users, who have to do a real job and can’t afford to be held up too long by administrative systems (like any HCM system). Next step is to check in on customer feedback, roll out plans and roadmap.
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| Oracle has invested to get the Newsfeed right |
MyPOV
A good HCM World for Oracle, the product keeps progressing and customers and ecosystem are positive. Customers tap more and more into the suite benefits, adding modules after originally going live on more administrative functions as ESS / MSS and Payroll. Needless from the start though, suite level benefits are tangible and create productivity for users as well as HR departments, all leading to a more positive stance towards the product, in this case Oracle HCM Cloud.On the concern side the event seemed smaller than last years events. Maybe the timing and the location in Dallas did not help. But in general you expect a growing attendee number. Equally in the ecosystem we saw less partner activity... it looks like Deloitte (for NA SIs) and Infosys (for the Indian SIs) seem to have capture the pool position. Next year's HCM World will be a data point on how much Oracle can activate users and prospects to come to an event like this on. For the record, happy users do not need to travel to user conferences as much, as they know what's coming and are busy implementing and using the software.
But overall a good event for Oracle customers and prospects. Oracle HCM Cloud is probably the most complete, single platform, single code base HCM Suite out there. Stay tuned.
More on Oracle:
- Event Report - Oracle Open World 2017 - Top 3 Positives / Top 3 Concerns - Overall good - read here
- News Analysis - Oracle Unveils New Programs that Transform how Customers Buy and Consume Cloud – Gloves Off - read here
- Summer 2017 News Analysis - Oracle invests in IaaS (or at least CAPEX) - read here
- News Analysis - Oracle empties the barrel - Revolver style (6) Cloud News Analyses - read here
- Musings - Does Oracle and Accenture make sense - or never ever! - read here
- Progress Report - Oracle HCM Analyst Summit 2017 - Oracle HCM stronger and stronger - read here
- Event Report - Oracle OpenWorld - the HCM perspective - Almost no news, but wait... - read here.
- First Take - Early Oracle OpenWorld 2016 Keynotes - read here
- Event Preview - Oracle OpenWorld 2016 - What to expect, what to watch for ... will IaaS start Clicking? - read here
- Market Move - Oracle acquires NetSuite - Oddly consolidation means more options for customers - read here
- News Analysis - Oracle Unveils Suite of Breakthrough Services.. or short: Oracle Cloud Machine - read here
- Progress Report - Oracle Cloud - More ready than ever, now needs adoption - read here
- Event Report - Oracle Openworld 2015 - Top 3 Takeaways, Top 3 Positives & Concerns - read here
- News Analysis - Quick Take on all 22 press releases of Oracle OpenWorld Day #1 - #3 - read here
- First Take - Oracle OpenWorld - Day 1 Keynote - Top 3 Takeaways - read here
- Event Preview - Oracle Openworld - watch here
Future of Work / HCM / SaaS research:
- Event Report - Oracle HCM World - Innovation around the Core - read here
- Event Report - Oracle HCM World - Full Steam ahead, a Learning surprise and potential growth challenges - read here
- First Take - Oracle HCM World Day #1 Keynote - off to a good start - read here
- Progress Report - Oracle HCM gathers momentum - now it needs to build on that - read here
- Oracle pushes modern HR - there is more than technology - read here. (Takeaways from the recent HCMWorld conference).
- Why Applications Unlimited is good a good strategy for Oracle customers and Oracle - read here.
Also worth a look for the full picture
- Event Report - Oracle PaaS Event - 6 PaaS Services become available, many more announced - read here
- Progress Report - Oracle Cloud makes progress - but key work remains in the cellar - read here
- News Analysis - Oracle discovers the power of the two socket server - or: A pivot that wasn't one - TCO still rules - read here
- Market Move - Oracle buys Datalogix - moves more into DaaS - read here
- Event Report - Oracle Openworld - Oracle's vision and remaining work become clear - they are both big - read here
- Constellation Research Video Takeaways of Oracle Openworld 2014 - watch here
- Is it all coming together for Oracle in 2014? Read here.
- From the fences - Oracle AR Meeting takeaways - read here (this was the last analyst meeting in spring 2013)
- Takeaways from Oracle CloudWorld LA - read here (this was one of the first cloud world events overall, in January 2013)
And if you want to read more of my findings on Oracle technology - I suggest:
- Progress Report - Good cloud progress at Oracle and a two step program - read here.
- Oracle integrates products to create its Foundation for Cloud Applications - read here.
- Java grows up to the enterprise - read here.
- 1st take - Oracle in memory option for its database - very organic - read here.
- Oracle 12c makes the database elastic - read here.
- How the cloud can make the unlikeliest bedfellows - read here.
- Act I - Oracle and Microsoft partner for the cloud - read here.
- Act II - The cloud changes everything - Oracle and Salesforce.com - read here.
- Act III - The cloud changes everything - Oracle and Netsuite with a touch of Deloitte - read here.
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.