So I'll continue now by trying to extensively talk about Business and Career opportunities in Cloud Platform Technology /1 https://twitter.com/OdeleyeWole/status/1245430463277273093

This is a follow-up to yesterday's session on Cloud Applications technology opportunities. For those who missed it , you can read it up here https://twitter.com/OdeleyeWole/status/1245772796673822721?s=19

Yesterday I mentioned that Cloud Applications (Software-as-a-Service) provide intelligent Business Applications that provide industry solutions to allow organisations run their entire Business processes on the cloud to drive strategic outcomes /3

These Cloud Applications typically cover:

Enterprise Resource Planning
Supply Chain Management
Human Capital Management
Customer relationship management

Addressing standard and functional needs of businesses in an Integrated manner /4

However there is still one fundamental truth: every single business on Earth is different as has unique ways they run their operations. No matter how extensive the Cloud Applications functionality is, you might find that they are still not enough /5

An organization might tell you that:

1) They have unique needs
2) Their systems are uniquely customised
3) They want more capabilities
4) They want more channels
5) They want to work with other apps
6) they want to embrace new technologies

/6

Clearly standard SaaS Applications will not be able to address these needs. Remember however that the Cloud has multiple layers providing diverse types of resources.

That is where the Cloud Platform (PaaS) comes in. /7

The Cloud Platform is the underlying layer where cloud Applications run. With apps and platform services, you can help organisations build, connect and extend their Applications in more complex ways, derive analytic insights and automate complicated business processes /8

Let me try and make this Abit simpler.

Look at Bolt as an example. Bolt is unique because of the kind of transportation service they provide. To build the Bolt Business, they needed to leverage the Google App Platform so as to utilize maps in their application /9

While it is possible they use Cloud Applications to run aspects of their business like their Financials, there is no cloud application on earth that can possibly provide the unique functionality Bolt requires. These clearly have to have been built from scratch /10

The challenge they would have had to explore is :

How can we, a start-up, cheaply build a complex car hailing app that is data Intensive without investing in expensive application development and data warehouse resources ?

The Cloud Platform is the answer /11

Cloud platforms provide platform services that allow organizations utilize and embrace advanced cloud technology as-a-Service in a way that uniquely addresses their business needs /12

The kind of Cloud Platform services differ from one cloud vendor to another, but some Platform services I've seen commonly are:

1) Database Services
2) App Development
3) Big Data
4) Business Analytics
5) Process and Integrations
6) Content Management
7) Identity management /13

8) Artificial Intelligence
9) Machine Learning & Data Science
10) Blockchain

Again these are not exhaustive. I have tried to group them into broad categories and I will now explain what each one means /14

Database Services on the cloud allow organizations deploy new or move existing data marts, data lakes and data warehouses to the cloud. One reason they do this is eliminate the huge amount of time spent in maintaining and scaling their data Infrastructure on local servers /15

Another reason is so that businesses can build scalable and secure enterprise apps that run on high-performance and scalable database services .

By utilising Database on Cloud Platforms, Database administrators don't have to worry about common admin tasks /16

The next Cloud Platform Service is App Development. This one is the one we are most familiar with. Oracle, Google, Microsoft and Amazon have large communities of developers who build consumer facing and Enterprise Applications on their App Development Cloud Platforms /17

Using Oracle Cloud Platform as an example, they provide a portfolio of Application development services that allow developers build modern, cloud native applications using languages and tools of their choice, and support them with various tools. /18

These tools span across:

App Engines- to rapidly build applications,
Mobile Hubs- to build and deploy mobile apps,
Functions- to deploy code without having to provision servers,
Events- to track changes to cloud resources,
Visual builders- to create business applications /19

Containers- to run application clusters with control and security,
Data science- to leverage machine learning and spatial tools in their apps,
Developer tools- for issue tracking, code versioning , and code delivery,
Web servers- for Enterprise Applications deployment /20

Google has an equivalent called the Google App Platform while the Microsoft Equivalent is the Microsoft Developer Studio (on Azure)

/21

Before I confuse you any further, remember that the purpose of all these tools is to enable organizations build custom applications whose functions cannot be accommodated within traditional Business applications. These tools are used largely by Developers

/22

The next Cloud Platform Service is is Business Analytics. This is a personal favorite of mine because is started off my career as a Data Analyst.

Every organization requires business analytics to have visibility into their performance and operations to drive strategy /23

Business Analytics on Cloud Platforms like Oracle provide:

Self Service data discovery,
Dashboards,
Mobile Access,
Data Connectors,
Collaboration and publishing,
Embedded analytics,
Predictive Analytics,
Data Security,
Natural language processing

/24

Together, these capabilities allow executives in organisations harness the power of rich data insights without incurring the huge expenses associated with Enterprise Business Intelligence projects /25

Other Business Analytics Cloud Platforms you may be aware of are Microsoft Power BI, SAS, IBM Cloud Analytics /26

Business Analytics on the Cloud allows data analysts use capabilities for data preparation, visualization, reporting, analysis and machine learning in a self service manner.

They can quickly build data models to forecast scenarios and generate insight /27

The next and final Cloud Platform Service I'll talk about is Process and Integration. Some people refer to this as "Middleware"

/28

Process and Integration tools provide organizations with the ability to build customised business flows as well integrate with diverse applications using adapters

(An adapter is an interface that allows one application talk to another one.

Just like your wall socket ) /29

Let's use an example.

Covid-19 hit many organisations suddenly and they had to quickly make Internal adjustments to accommodate this.

This clearly had impact on the kind of IT investments they had already made.

So.../30

What some multinationals did, were to build custom employee health and safety apps using Cloud Platform App development tools, build new controlled processes on Process and Integration tools to plug into their exhausting HR Applications /31

That way employees could ask for help, and the HR could immediately pull out employee location data , act on it, and finally visualize their organizations management of the Covid-19 situation on Business Analytics dashboards

All on Cloud Platforms.

Does this make sense now? /32

In my Consulting work with organisations that have complex requirements, I often find myself designing Hybrid IT Architectures that utilitize a mix of Cloud Applications, Cloud Platforms and Traditional Onpremise systems. /34

You can find a Telco that runs their core operations in their data centers, run their back office Financial, HR and Corporate services on the Oracle Application Cloud, and build Custom customer facing apps and tools on the Oracle Cloud Platform.

All working together /35

Now if you are an employee, IT Administrator, IT Consultant or Business executive, you need to recognize the impact cloud platform services have in your industry so as to properly harness their power to deliver value to your organisation or your customers /36

This starts by first recognizing that Cloud Platforms give you the opportunity to truly think out-of-the-box and innovate your functions beyond they you thought possible in the boundaries traditional information systems /37

So if you're an executive, you can insist that you want to utilize Business Analytics on the cloud to support your existing business systems instead of paying for huge BI projects /38

As a HR Manager you can request that digital assistants on Cloud Platforms be deployed to support your HR system and make employee Experience more seamless /39

As a Customer Service Director you can request for Chatbots empowered with AI and machine learning to be Integrated into all your customer channels including social media to proactively respond to customers efficiently /40

As a Finance manager or accountant, you can request for Process and Integration tools on the Cloud to Integrate all business applications so that all transactions automatically flow into your General Ledger without manual intervention from you /41

If you're in an IT Function it's important to upskill. I remember years ago I was certified as an Enterprise Administrator on Microsoft servers. I had to upgrade to the MCSE Cloud Platform certifications. /42

If you're a database administrator, your need to upskill to Cloud Data Platforms .

Same goes for traditional Java and Visual Studio developers.
Upgrading means you can properly utilize the wide variety Cloud Platform services to deliver value to your employer or Customers /43

There are countless scenarios where you can use Cloud Platform technology (PaaS) to transform how organizations work.

Remember Cloud Platforms help you to achieve disruptive ideas and create a world without boundaries.

And that's the end of today's session.

If you need more clarity please feel free to ask or message me, I'll be happy to assist you.

Thanks for your time. Do have a great evening