UPDATED 17:34 EDT / MARCH 24 2016

NEWS

The digital integration problem: How Cloud can help | #CloudWorld

As clients begin making the move to digitization and on-prem cloud services, the Accenture Oracle Business Group is looking to help expedite the process for them.

In Washington, D.C., the Oracle CloudWorld 2016 event is drawing in a number of those existing and prospective clients, with announcements of Oracle’s new Oracle Cloud Machine serving to galvanize expectations and excitement among their ranks.

Present to discuss the partnership and its implications for clientele were Pat Sullivan, managing director at Accenture, PLC, and Cherie Gartner, VP of Global Accenture Alliance and the Accenture Oracle Business Group at Oracle. Dave Vellante, cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, interviewed the two to get their take on what might be in store for involved enterprises beyond the big announcements.

Working for clients

As the talk got underway, Gartner was upbeat on the atmosphere of CloudWorld, noting there was “definitely a lot of excitement, a lot of momentum … good energy, good vibe.” Sullivan was in agreement, noting the high activity at the event as a match to the energy of their enterprise clients. “We’re seeing a lot happen now around our client-base, specifically around cloud,” he said, though some difficulties in adoption were also discussed.

One of these issues on people’s minds, Sullivan said, is “that pivot of how to get to digital, and cloud’s a big part of that … There’s a big integration problem.” For most, he said, the issue runs along the lines of: “I’ve got all of this stuff across my enterprise; how do I put it together, stitch it together, and make it work?”

Services and synergy

While Accenture and Oracle have had positive business dealings for over two decades, the Accenture Oracle Business Group, formed about a year ago, is a “clear indicator” of how the partnership has grown, with many of Accenture’s innovations relying on Oracle services for development and implementation.

For clients, this results in Accenture providing industry expertise in the move to digitization. As Gartner pointed out, each of these clients has their own needs, and meeting them in a customized way is part of Accenture’s strongest selling-points. “I think cloud is one of the pieces that’s driving this digital disruption,” Sullivan said, though as many customers may have decades-old legacy hardware, which needs to be made to work in the digital era, the challenges are more than superficial.

Sullivan did feel that the ways to smooth and speed these upgrades was coming along well, though. “What Oracle’s brought to the table with the Oracle Cloud Machine, it’s targeting those restrictions that clients may have … I think our clients are going to like how this can work from a more on-premise perspective and give them more of that security that they’re looking for.”

Gartner provided some inside-Oracle perspective on the company’s change to more focus on cloud services: “Cloud is absolutely important to our whole mission and our strategy: Cloud is everything.” As a result of this internal shift, she felt that the company’s stand in the competitive business of cloud services and related hardware was a strong one: “We’ll take to market a very powerful and promising proposition.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Oracle CloudWorld 2016. And make sure to weigh in during theCUBE’s live coverage at the event by joining in on CrowdChat.

Photo by SiliconANGLE

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