I have had the pleasure to work with a variety of organizations across a multitude of industries. One thing I’ve learned is that no matter how different each industry and business is, it’s likely they share similar problems, challenges, and opportunities in many ways. One common theme I’ve found with many clients I serve is that they don’t understand exactly what they’re buy when they purchase “cloud”.
You’re probably thinking “that is a ridiculous statement” since “cloud” has been around for something like 20 years now. In general, that’s fair, but where I’m going is somewhat specific. I’m talking about Oracle SaaS applications (sometimes referred to as Fusion Apps). When your organization procures and starts using Oracle SaaS, there is a certain amount of beauty in not having to worry about the underlying technology. It just works.
The tricky part is when you want to start doing anything special, such as advanced data integrations or application extensions. Oracle has a wonderful platform that allows you to actually do these things. For example, a tool called Visual Builder Cloud Service (VBCS) lets you create custom pages that look just like the pages in the SaaS app. What’s more it takes advantage of the SaaS security framework and, in many cases, you can actually “embed” that page in your instances of the application. Let’s face it, that’s pretty cool and pretty darn unique to Oracle.
Here’s where organizations get stuck. What they don’t realize is that tools like VBCS or Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) are PaaS (Platform as a Service) tools. Even then, people don’t realize that PaaS needs to be properly architected and secured. Sure, you can just go in, turn it on, and start using it. But in that case, you will likely end up with a platform (and very likely) a database that are exposed to the internet. I’m guessing your CISO would not be happy about that.
You’re now running a full cloud platform
So suddenly you went from a fully managed SaaS application to a full blown platform and infrastructure cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). What’s more, you probably didn’t even realize it. Don’t feel bad at all. This is really common. The key is architecting your solution correctly and catching it as early as possible.
It might suddenly feel like everything just got infinitely more complicated. It got more complicated, but certainly not infinitely. The good news is that you probably already have cloud standards in your organization and you probably have people who know those standards and how to apply them. There will likely be a learning curve to pick up the nuances of OCI, but many of the concepts across clouds hold true, such as governance, network security, and standards like tagging and naming.
So how do you cut this off at the pass?
- Be sure to ask about this very scenario when in the early stages of procurement. Make sure you have clarity into what you are buying.
- Bring in the right people. Whether you call on your internal cloud people or you bring in a system integrator, make sure you have the people with the technical chops who understand this stuff.
- Get your architecture defined early in the project. If you deploy these services without defining the proper architecture, it can get painful to move them around later.
- Incorporate your organization’s cloud standards. OCI is a cloud just like AWS or Azure. You need to have the right guardrails in place to protect your data.
What if you’re already down the path and can’t catch it early?
- Confirm your own situation? Are you using PaaS and, if so, how was it deployed?
- If you have services that weren’t deployed properly, engage with the people who understand this technology and make a plan to adjust.
- Start by getting the foundation of OCI in place with the proper guardrails and cloud standards.
- Once the foundation is set, move your PaaS elements into the proper landing spot within your foundation. Of course, start with non-production first.
Net-Net
In general, keep asking questions and talk to your friends and colleagues within your organization and from other organizations. Everybody has a story to tell.
Of course, much of this is my opinion based on my personal experience. There are as many opinions as there are people, so take the time to develop your own.
The OCI Tool 