Cloud computing: Oracle builds on its SaaS momentum in India

US-based enterprise software maker Oracle has announced that Oracle Cloud Applications is now live in its Gen 2 Cloud region in Mumbai. This means that the Redwood City, California-based firm’s cloud offering can now be leveraged by existing and new customers, including those operating in sectors that are bound by India’s regulatory environment such as public sector or banking and telecom companies.

For the uninitiated, Oracle Cloud enables customers to simply consume enterprise functionality as a cloud application, as well as to move existing applications and build new applications, all based on the same secure, reliable, and high-performance cloud infrastructure. Oracle Cloud’s strategy and integration of cloud services means that Oracle Cloud Applications can keep data within India, addressing some of the strictest data sovereignty regulations, said Sathya Prasad Rai, vice-president, Applications Business, Oracle India. “Now, with Oracle Cloud Applications available in our India cloud region, we are able to offer our customers the same industry-leading suite of SaaS applications with additional performance, security and scalability. This provides even more incentive for businesses to move their business to the cloud with Oracle.”

As per industry estimates, cloud application services (SaaS) is on pace to be the fastest-growing market segment in India in 2019, accounting for nearly half of total public cloud services revenue year over year. SaaS revenue is estimated to grow 23% in 2019 to reach $1.15 billion, followed by cloud system infrastructure services (IaaS) spending, estimated to grow 22% in 2019.

At an Oracle event in Mumbai, Rashesh Shah, chairman & CEO, Edelweiss, said, “We see great potential for SaaS and managed services in India; localising these offerings from India data centres, regulated under Indian regulations would enable Indian companies to take advantage of the latest technologies. At Edelweiss, we have actively moved our platform choices to SaaS, managed services and server less architecture so we can invest more on innovation and provide best-in-class products and services to our customers.”

According to Rai, Oracle Cloud Applications in India has been on a growth path. “Since four years the business has been experiencing double digit growth,” he said. JAPAC SaaS adoption rates for first half of 2019 (includes Oracle’s Q2 FY20) stands high for India at 38.7%. In terms of year-on-year growth, India was among the top contributing regions in JAPAC SaaS, growing at 36.5% in first half of 2019.

As hundreds of new features like AI/ML get added to Oracle Cloud Applications, more businesses in India are choosing Oracle to modernise and automate a wide spectrum of business functions including finance (ERP), human resources (HCM), supplychain (SCM), commerce, marketing, sales, and services (CX). New customers include Adani Group, Apollo Tyres, Aurobindo Pharma, Bajaj Electricals, Century Textiles, Dalmia Group, Edelweiss Financial Services, IDFC First Bank, Ola Cabs, Reliance Capital, Tata Sons, among others.

Oracle Cloud Applications is the world’s most complete and innovative suite of applications, said Alain Blanc, executive vice-president, Oracle International, Oracle Corp. “It is built on the very latest cloud platform and infrastructure and delivers proven, best-of-breed applications across every business function. With Oracle Cloud Applications, organisations of all sizes can take advantage of a complete and integrated suite of applications to break down silos, quickly and easily embrace the latest innovations, and improve user engagement, collaboration, and performance.”

To support its customers around the world, Oracle plans to launch 20 new Oracle Cloud regions by the end of 2020, for a total of 36 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure regions. Customers will now have access to all Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services including Oracle Autonomous Database; as well as Oracle Cloud Applications, in these regions. Oracle Cloud has opened 12 regions in the past year and currently operates 16 regions globally—11 commercial and five government—the fastest expansion by any major cloud provider.

Arun Khehar, senior vice president, Applications, Oracle ECMEA, said, “Oracle has more SaaS solutions than anyone in the industry and this is a strong attraction for our customers. Oracle Cloud Applications help customers add new capabilities like machine learning, Internet of Things  (IoT), digital assistants, analytics, blockchain, and other technologies to align with their core missions.”