Oracle JD Edwards Update - Collaborate Conference
As the sun sets on Collaborate 2017, the consensus is that this year’s global JD Edwards user group conference was one of Oracle’s most significant JDE events to date. It was a week packed full of insights on how Oracle’s long-term plans for JD Edwards will take us into the brave new digital world.
Coming into the event, the burning questions were: ‘will Oracle’s roadmap reveal how JDE is going to meet today’s ever-changing business demands and keep current on technology?’ and ‘how will JDE cater for our staff’s usability needs in today’s always-on internet and social world?’
The good news is that we got some definitive answers from Oracle!
JD Edwards Support until 2028
Arguably, the most important update coming out of Lyle Ekdahl’s keynote was on the change in JD Edwards’ support model.
Oracle now offers customers a 10-year support roadmap for JDE EnterpriseOne v9.2, and you can add another 3 years with extended life support. In Oracle’s view, version 9.2 is a major foundation code line for JD Edwards. Using this baseline release Oracle will drive continuous innovation, on-going usability improvements, industry-specific functionality, improved simplification tools, feature enhancements to functionality and more. Oracle has made a strong commitment to continuously extend the support horizon of the product well into the future.
JD Edwards and Continuous Digital Innovation
Oracle’s primary focus is to make JD Edwards a digital transformation tool for future businesses. Although this sounds like a bold statement with broad implications, what does it really mean for you and me?
Back in November 2015, Oracle released a broad footprint of new functionality for JD Edwards along with base software improvements around usability and productivity. This ranged from a breakthrough User Interface called UX One, to an improved EnterpriseOne Search facility, Mobile Apps for JDE, an Internet of Things (IoT) Orchestrator and One-Click Provisioning of JDE in the Cloud. New functionality covers advanced project forecasting, global revenue recognition and BI-styled reporting (OneView), for instance.
More recently Oracle has published a planned rollout map for their JDE E1 9.2 code line with extensive features included over the coming years. Built-in Social Collaboration for JD Edwards is being released soon. This will include document collaboration using social networking natively within the ERP application. JDE Enterprise Search 2.0 also brings an enterprise-wide search feature and improvements to the attachment preview. New functionality due out soon includes revenue recognition for real estate, basket pricing for procurement and lessor accounting.
Why is this such Big News for JD Edwards?
On the surface Oracle’s new strategy for JD Edwards may not appear that different from previous announcements. There is a clear product development and support roadmap proposed, with enhancements planned for existing functionality and new modules to be released. Oracle has extended their support by a further 5-year term.
While this adds more weight behind the product, what’s all the noise about?
Shannon Moir gets to the heart of this question in his recent blog post “JD Edwards 9/2 to live on… and on… and on..”. Is it possible that Oracle’s strategy is to squeeze the last life out of the product? Is there a question over Oracle’s commitment to the product? Shannon’s blog answers these hard questions. Shannon argues that, in fact, this strategy is a necessary move by Oracle for the sustainability of the JD Edwards product going forward. It is now a requirement for vendors to standardise long-term on a baseline ERP release and to ensure frequent on-going incremental value is delivered to that release. This is a necessity for customers to remain nimble in the new digital world.
This news is highly relevant to all of us
Committing to and supporting a key baseline release of JD Edwards for an extended period means that Oracle customers can focus their resources on quick innovation through continuous improvement. The need for big and costly upgrades cycle every 5 years has gone away! Customers can peg their future on version 9.2 and add new features, functions and improvements continuously and without any hurdles. This is an exciting time to be a JDE customer – the future is bright.
It is also an exciting time for us as a JD Edwards partner. We are able to support our customers in the Cloud or On Premise, leveraging “As-a-Service models” to add value to their businesses. Hurdles are removed for us too. It’s an innovative time all round.
A brave new Digital World
Collaborate 2017 was an opportunity for Oracle to show us how far they have come with JD Edwards, both strategically and operationally. We now understand their digital roadmap for JD Edwards. Oracle’s focus is on the mega trends affecting business today – mobile, big data, IoT, social and cognitive computing. We understand how their research and development is targeting product enhancements that prepare customers for the new digital world. This strategy permeates every discussion around JDE product development.
We look forward to working closely with our JD Edwards customers over the coming months. It is a great opportunity to extend what we currently do for you and add real value to your businesses. We will be running digital innovation workshops with each of our customers over the coming months to align your strategies with these advancements. Watch this space!
