The idea of autonomous technologies
has spiked over the past few years with a wide range of different industries
incorporating the term in different products, such as vehicles. However, what does 'Autonomous’ really mean? What kind of impact
will it have, and what kind of benefits can we glean from it?
As is tradition in the new year, we often
reflect internally, assessing how much we’ve
grown over the past 12 months. From
there, we form our resolutions – goals
we set for ourselves in the days ahead.
Driving New Goals with Automation
Similarly, ASEAN organisations and
businesses looking to succeed in the digital economy are recommended to do the
same – review their current performance by
looking at areas for growth and improvement. This provides a foundation from
which to craft actionable plans that will help us achieve our fresh ambitions. This plan of action is becoming even
more crucial now that organisations are facing a new set of challenges.
In this new age, consumers require
on-demand services and solutions
tailored to their specific needs. In
order to create that gold-class
customer experience to meet these demands, organisations need constant
accessibility to all of their data throughout the
business, to enable employees to make faster and better data-driven decisions.
A rocky road ahead
However, there are a number of
challenges companies face when seeking to move into this new data-driven world.
Today’s organisations are faced with an
unprecedented volume of data being generated every day and coming in forms and from
external sources that organisations are just not used to harnessing.
In addition, enterprise data, which you might have thought would be the
easiest to leverage, is often stored in multiple, separate locations, with only
a small proportion being used. Leveraging
both this new and existing data is
complex, and requires solutions that far outpace human capabilities.
Additionally, the implementation of
innovative new applications and business solutions that are needed to make
experiences, information, goods and services more accessible by bringing data
to life, are starting to hit a roadblock. Indeed, the 2019 Oracle Innovation
Report found that in Asia Pacific, fewer than 20 percent of innovation-focused projects are coming to life despite there being a clear link
between growth and innovation [1] . A key reason for this was businesses
lack the right technology to enable them to execute and deliver their
innovation projects.
Data security is another major pain
point enterprises face. As businesses practice data
agility, there is a risk of them neglecting data security and this will likely
impact the quality of insights derived from data made available.
Creating new possibilities in the new decade
Fortunately, new emerging
technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are helping reduce
the degree of human intervention needed to achieve the necessary agility and
security.
They have also given rise to a
revolutionary new approach to data management through the advent of Oracle Autonomous
Database. With AI and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities at its core, this new
portfolio comprising Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse and Oracle Autonomous
Transaction Processing Database, automates tedious and mundane tasks that would
have previously consumed a large amount of work-hours from memory management to workload
monitoring and tuning enabling them to be self-driving and self-repairing. These autonomous capabilities also apply to the
security of the database as well as enabling it to self-secure by autonomously being able to detect, respond to and prevent
internal and external threats.
As a result, the Autonomous Database
frees up IT teams to focus on tasks that will bring value to the business, but
its impact doesn’t stop there. In fact, the effects of implementing
the Autonomous Database reaches further
across other parts of an organisation than just IT to include finance,
operations, and marketing.
Again, using AI and ML, these
offerings can also bring data-driven
insights to the fingertips of the employees who need it quickly and simply,
revolutionising how they access and use data.
Creating real impact
PTG Energy, a leading full-service
provider with the second largest retail gas business in Thailand, is an example
of an organisation who has benefited from Oracle Autonomous Database.
As a large enterprise with operations that cover renewable
energy, retail, F&B, convenience stores and more, PTG needed to make sure
its workforce was up to speed to be able to perform efficiently and make better
business decisions through a single source of truth.
However, the business was relying on a previous database
that did not have the capabilities to meet their growing business, resulting in
slow reporting and decision making.
Tapping
into Oracle Autonomous Database, PTG was able to efficiently identify new and
emerging customer behaviours for the company to target, a new-found
opportunity that enables PTG to enhance their overall customer service
experience.
Another example is financial service
provider Forth Smart, which operates over 120,000
vending machines in Thailand that allow customers to top up their mobile
phones and transfer money, generating approximately two million transactions
per day. With the Autonomous Database, Forth
Smart was able to gain real-time
insight into its network of vending machines – a task which previously took up to
three days to consolidate the same information. This has had a significant impact
across the company’s financial reporting abilities and
enabled it to undertake complex segmentation and predictive analytics, allowing
for a greater focus on innovation.
Ushering in an era of autonomous
Every organisation needs a great
enabler to maximise, and realise the value of all its data to thrive in an
economy where disruption is common and innovation mandatory for success.
The benefits these two examples illustrate why I believe that having an
Autonomous Database is vital to the foundation of every modern business.
With its self-driving, self-repairing and self-securing capabilities, the
Autonomous Database enables businesses to operate in a much more agile fashion. It allows the reallocation of IT resources to value added
activities, and gives employees data at their fingertips with the absolute
minimal level of intervention required.
In combination, these two results
mean that companies can step more deeply into the realm of innovation, edging out competitors as they have
the ability and insight to offer unique
value propositions to their customers and better fulfil their needs. This holds true be it in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Fintech, or other industries
across the ASEAN region.
So as they say, “out with the old and in with the
new,” so this new year, let us welcome the
Autonomous Database.
[1] https://www.oracle.com/sg/corporate/pressrelease/oow-sg-oracle-innovation-report-asia-2019-03-26.html