The energy in the room at The Oval was palpable as the Oracle community shared their thoughts on building for the future and modernizing their Oracle Applications. 

Understanding the Macro Landscape - Survey of European IT Landscape

To set the scene for the day, a leading analyst from IDC shared results and insights from IDC's extensive surveys of key European IT decision makers. The findings highlighted a set of universal challenges that resonate across industries and company sizes:

• Embracing Transformative Technologies like AI: The imperative to understand and strategically implement Artificial Intelligence is no longer a future consideration, but a present-day necessity.
• Adapting to Evolving Business Models: Technology innovation, particularly the rapid advancements in AI, is driving the emergence of entirely new business models, which demand agility and foresight.
• Navigating a Complex Regulatory Environment: The ever-shifting landscape of regulations requires constant vigilance and proactive adaptation.
• Addressing Growing ESG Scrutiny: Environmental, Social, and Governance factors are increasingly critical drivers of business strategy and IT infrastructure decisions.
• Mitigating Geopolitical Uncertainty: The current global climate necessitates resilient and adaptable IT systems.
• Responding to the Rise of Digital Sovereignty: Data governance and localization are becoming increasingly important considerations for organizations.

For the JD Edwards community, an additional significant challenge is the difficulty in recruiting and retaining skilled JD Edwards resources. This underscores the importance of optimizing existing systems and exploring solutions that can enhance team productivity and reduce reliance on highly specialized roles. In fact, this is one of the primary reasons our customers subscribe to our JD Edwards Managed Services.

The Cost of Inaction: Why "Wait and See" is a High-Risk Strategy 

The prevailing message from IDC was clear: in today's volatile operating environment, a passive "wait and see" approach is fraught with risk.

Like a slow puncture, neglecting necessary IT evolution might seem manageable in the short term, but the medium and long-term consequences can be detrimental. Choosing inaction means not only missing out on the significant benefits of digital transformation but also witnessing a gradual erosion of business value. IDC outlined several key consequences of this approach:

• Rising Operational Costs: Outdated systems become increasingly expensive to maintain and support.
• Escalating Skills Shortages: Difficulty in finding and retaining talent to manage legacy systems intensifies.
• Increased Operational Fragility: Aging infrastructure is more susceptible to disruptions and failures.
• Heightened Security Risks: Legacy systems often lack the robust security features required to combat modern threats.
• Growing Complexity and Fragmentation: Maintaining disparate and outdated systems leads to inefficiencies and data silos.

JD Edwards: A Robust Digital Platform for Future Growth

The good news is that IDC found that Oracle customers are more likely than non-Oracle customers to feel that their applications are mostly adequate to meet future challenges  (EMEA Enterprise Applications Survey, 2024).
According to IDC almost all companies surveyed are planning some enterprise application modernization. The priorities driving these plans are: 

1. Improving Operational Efficiency
2. Increasing Productivity
3. Reducing Costs

Unsurprisingly, Cloud technology is identified as a critical enabler for technology modernization over the next 12-24 months. With Oracle's commitment to JD Edwards Premier Support extending to at least 2036, JDE clients have a stable foundation and a multitude of modernization pathways to explore. 

Redfaire, Guiding Your JD Edwards Modernization Journey

As you know, digital transformation doesn't always require a complete overhaul. The Redfaire Team delivered two insightful sessions at the Oval showcasing both the immediate benefits of adopting the latest features and more strategic, long-term JD Edwards modernization journeys.

JD Edwards Quick Wins – Optimizing New Features & Functionality 

JD Edwards continues to deliver powerful new features and functionalities designed to optimize and streamline existing processes. JD Edwards Orchestrator stands out as a transformative tool, empowering users to design their own automated workflows and drive digital transformation from the ground up.
Two of the most recent impactful features are:
•    Stateful Orchestrations 
•    Process modeler - Enterprise Automation

Another timely feature announced with Release 25 is the JD Edwards Sustainability framework. 

JD Edwards – Extending with Cloud & AI 

With over 50+ JDE to OCI migrations, Redfaire has been at the forefront of helping JD Edwards clients harness the power of Oracle Cloud. Moving JDE from on-premises to the Cloud delivers cost and operational benefits. Our presentation also highlighted how being on OCI can help you develop a robust Disaster Recovery solution to ensure business continuity. Read this blog on how we helped a JD Edwards client develop their Automated Full Stack Disaster Recovery Solution. 

The team also presented other use cases of how you can extend and optimize JD Edwards with Cloud. Some of the topics covered included:

• Oracle Integration Cloud: Seamlessly connecting JD Edwards with other enterprise applications and data sources.
  Learn More about OIC & JDE
• Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service (VBCS): Building low-code/no-code applications and mobile extensions to enhance JD Edwards functionality.
  Learn More about VBCS
• Oracle Supply Chain Planning (SCP) Cloud: Boosting the capabilities of JD Edwards Supply Chain Planning with advanced cloud-based solutions.
  Learn More about Extending JD Edwards with SaaS
• The Synergistic Power of JD Edwards & AI: Exploring practical applications of Artificial Intelligence to enhance JD Edwards processes and gain valuable insights.
  Learn more about JD Edwards & AI 

Charting Your Next Steps: Strengthen the Core, Build for the Future

The discussions at Applications Focus underscored the critical need for Senior IT Managers to proactively address the evolving IT landscape. Whether you are looking for immediate efficiency gains or embarking on a more comprehensive modernization journey, understanding your options is paramount.

We encourage you to explore the following resources to help inform your strategy:

• The Official JD Edwards Product Roadmap
• Deep Dive into JD Edwards Orchestrator
• Explore the Enhancements in Release 25
• Stay Informed with Redfaire's AI Webinars

This collaborative event, organised by Redfaire, DSP and  AMOSCA  with the support of the Oracle Applications Unlimited team, ensured the valuable participation and diverse perspectives of CIOs from across the Oracle Applications ecosystem, including JD Edwards, E-Business Suite, and EPM. It led to rich, insightful discussions on common challenges and exciting opportunities. 

By embracing innovation, strategically leveraging cloud technologies, and focusing on continuous improvement, Senior IT Managers can ensure their organizations not only navigate the present but also build a resilient and future-ready IT foundation. 

Get in touch, we'd be delighted to share the day's presentation and the various JDE modernisation journeys we've helped clients implement. 

Book a Meeting with Our JD Edwards Digital Transformation Team