Moving an organization’s HR and Finance branches to the cloud can bring many benefits to an organization, including the benefits of leveraging their two best assets: people and money. By using Oracle’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Cloud and Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud, allow organizations to drive major operational change, remove barriers, and increase financial results. As your organization begins to move toward a fully integrated digital transformation, it should abide by Oracle’s 6 rules to ensure a smooth transition and position the business for success.  

1. Launch Your Digital Transformation

Both Oracle ERP and HCM provide enhanced security and consistent data governance, allow for shared workflow processes and allow for deeper analytics and better reporting. In fact, according to a survey conducted by Oracle and MIT Technology Review Custom, respondents found that Finance and HR collaborations in the cloud was not just helpful, but rather it was a strategic necessity that promotes operational excellence and encourages innovation.

1. Tear Down Functional Silos

In the same study, 46% of respondents that have fully migrated to the cloud found that migrating significantly improved their ability to reshape and resize the organization as needed compared to the 33% that hadn’t fully moved to the cloud. Thus, moving to the cloud allows organizations to become more flexible and adaptable, which is beneficial, especially in the long run.

1. Let Stakeholders Know What’s In It for Them

Through a full migration of HR and Finance to the cloud, stakeholders can enjoy easier communication through data sharing, reduced time spent on routine tasks, more self-service capabilities, a lower reliance on IT, and more time allotted for strategic planning and thinking. Continually communicating these benefits, such as greater efficiency, savings, and standardization, to stakeholders while your organization migrates to the cloud will be helpful in reducing resistance to change and ensuring a smooth and successful migration.  

1. Build Support by Emphasizing the Extraordinary Success Rate of Migration Initiatives

According to Oracle’s study, approximately 90% of Finance and HR executives say the cost and timeframe were either lower than or in line with estimates and expectations. More specifically, approximately 50-51% of IT respondents and Finance and HR functions said that the timeframe was better than they expected. These findings help mitigate resistance to change and help provide comfort to the organization that the migration will be smooth and beneficial.

1. Turn IT into a Strategic Partner

Additionally, 44% of Finance and HR executives at organizations with full cloud migration stated that IT’s role as a strategic partner improved. In comparison, only 20% of organizations without a full cloud migration could say the same. For example, Australian Finance Group (AG), Australia’s biggest mortgage broker and a leading financial services company, migrated to Oracle ERP Cloud. Before, they found that 80% of their IT budget was dedicated to operations. However, once they migrate to Oracle ERP Cloud, they found that the digital transformation allowed 60% of the budget to now go to innovation.

1. Develop Employees Skills

Lastly, moving to the cloud will encourage higher skill development for employees. As the technology continues to automate administrative and low-skilled roles, employees will be have more time to practice more high-level skills, such as time management, active learning, problem solving, mathematical reasoning, analytics skills, commercial awareness, and business acumen. Thus, not only is moving to the cloud good for the organization, but also for employees by encouraging personal growth and development.   Encouraging a cloud migration with Finance and HR is the best way to encourage success as they are closely intertwined and provide the main resources – people and money – needed for the organization to operate and succeed. Additionally, HR can utilize its people-centric expertise to help shift the organization culturally towards success. Overall, moving to the cloud will bring a digital transformation to any organization. It will require careful management, but will bring great benefits for the organization, stakeholders, and employees.