Oracle ERP vs. Oracle EBS: What’s the Difference?

Oracle ERP and Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) are closely tied, and many businesses are migrating from EBS to ERP. The migration is a result of ERP following the SaaS model, so there’s no need to spend money on the following:

• Hardware
• Initial setup
• Maintenance

In fact, E-Business Suite lowers the cost of ownership by as much as 50%.

What is Oracle EBS?

Business is evolving. Oracle EBS is designed to meet the needs of businesses today and in the future. The suite of tools helps meet the demands of mobile users while also exceeding the productivity demands of business owners.

Cutting-edge features and functionality from EBS help businesses grow and are the result of over 30 years of innovation.

However, EBS requires on-premises infrastructure to run on local networks, meaning internal teams will need to manage the suite’s:

• Applications
• Databases
• Servers
• Storage

Oracle ERP Cloud runs in a SaaS environment, allowing businesses to offload the management of the EBS environment, servers and databases to Oracle.

What are the Advantages of EBS/Cloud ERP?

Choosing between EBS or ERP is a difficult choice for businesses. Each solution has its own advantages:

Advantages of Oracle EBS

EBS consists of three main application groups that work to automate a business’s backend, including:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Supply Chain Management (SCM)

The Suite of tools has become integral to many business operations, including customer service and financial and human resource management. Companies maintain full control and management of the servers required for running EBS.

Internet outages or internal Oracle Cloud issues will not impact EBS users.

All data points in EBS flow into your business’s database, allowing for a complete, single data source that makes it easy to manage reports and gain insight into the business. One internal data source allows for advanced analytic and business intelligence capabilities.

Advantages of Oracle Cloud ERP

Oracle’s Cloud ERP runs on the cloud as a SaaS solution, meaning that Oracle is responsible for:

• Security
• Updates
• Upgrades
• Replacing hardware

Users can access Cloud ERP from anywhere with an Internet connection, allowing for continuity between offices. Overhead costs are reduced with Cloud ERP, making it a cost-friendly option for businesses.

Which is Best? Why Move from Oracle EBS to Oracle Cloud ERP?

Oracle’s push to Cloud ERP is the next logical step for E-Business Suite customers who focus on digital transformation. Moving to Cloud ERP allows businesses to enhance the results and success that they found with EBS in new, exciting ways.

Migrating to Oracle Cloud ERP puts businesses in command with:

• One Solution for All Features: One single solution with ERP allows for a single data source, lower ownership costs and easy deployment.
• Supercharged Cloud Platform: A supercharged cloud platform from Oracle allows for real-time reporting, top-tier user experience and automatic updates each quarter.
• Intelligence: Oracle ERP offers built-in intelligence to help workers work smarter and faster. The platform’s digital assistants, machine learning, artificial intelligence and prescriptive analytics improve business performance while offering valuable insights into operations.
• Automation: Advanced configurations and artificial intelligence help businesses automate up to 96% of transactions. Teams gain time to spend on work that matters and spend less time on time-consuming transaction inputs.

EBS remains a powerful tool for businesses that need access to CRM, ERP and SCM features. However, moving into the digital age means more businesses prefer SaaS because it offloads much of their IT requirements.

A lower cost of entry is another reason to consider Oracle ERP because there are no upfront license requirements. As a business grows or contracts, ERP can adjust to meet the business’s needs without an upfront license payment that may or may not be utilized.

Does Oracle EBS have a Future?

Oracle EBS users that do not migrate to Cloud ERP can remain confident that Oracle will honor their commitment to support EBS. However, past the commitment timeline, no one knows for sure whether Oracle with abandon EBS completely or not.

In 2018, Oracle announced its commitment to Oracle E-Business with the following key points:

1. Oracle Premier Support for EBS 12.x is expected to last through 2030 – at a minimum
2. Annual commitment reviews and updates are to be made, with Premier Support being extended for 10 years for EBS 12.x, as recently as 2019
3. EBS 12.x is planned to be a continuous release, allowing for the latest tech with major upgrades by the user

Currently, businesses can continue to rely on Oracle EBS with no change in operations or disruptions. Version 12.2 is being supported through September 23 and future releases currently have an end-of-support date of, at minimum, 2030.

Depending on future announcements, businesses that already use EBS in their day-to-day operations will be clear to use the software and receive support for another eight years. However, in the meantime, many businesses are migrating to Cloud ERP to avoid potential disruptions in the future.

Thousands of organizations and enterprises still use E-Business Suite. Oracle remains committed to the suite, offering new updates, modern UI advancements and mobility. However, with the reliance moving to the cloud and Oracle’s major investment in cloud infrastructure, moving to the cloud makes sense for many organizations.

You can leverage the power of EBS on the cloud while saving money and enhancing your business’s agility to respond to ever-changing industry demands. As your entity grows, you can scale ERP up and down to match your budget and current demand, making it a truly effective solution for your business needs.