Last week’s Oracle OpenWorld brought the usual pomp and circumstance with a few hyperbolic claims that ruffled a few feathers in the tech sector. It was easy to be distracted. Hidden beneath the spectacle were updates that will transform the day-to-day workings of corporations building their businesses on Oracle’s many pieces of technology.

Oracle continues to evolve its cloud offerings, “an inevitable destination," as described by its CEO, Mark Hurd (and don’t forget that includes its NetSuite services, which it acquired in the summer of 2016). So it’s no surprise that OpenWorld continued to stress the importance of businesses getting going on their move to the cloud.

Security was also at the forefront of conversation as businesses look to shore up their tech and data, especially in light of recent high-profile breaches (Equifax) and outages (AWS). From AI (adaptive intelligence in this case), to automation to financial upgrades, we’ve unpacked the top news that you need to know from this year’s Oracle OpenWorld.

A “Self-Driving” Autonomous Database Cloud

Automation and Oracle’s vision for its role in cybersecurity was a theme throughout OpenWorld. "The biggest theft by far in cybersecurity is data theft, and the safest place to store your data is in an Oracle database," said Oracle CTO Larry Ellison during his opening keynote. Nowhere was that message quite as profound as with the launch of 18c, Oracle’s autonomous database.

This latest innovation was enabled by machine learning and aims to “avoid human intervention.” The autonomous database should run automatically without the need of a database administrator, including self-tuning, self-provisioning and self-patching. Ellison made sure to point out, that this technology won’t replace the DBA, but instead free them up for more strategic work.

A Touch of AI

The automation continued with the introduction of new artificial intelligence-based apps for finance, human resources, supply chain, manufacturing, commerce, customer service, marketing, and sales professionals. These new Oracle Adaptive Intelligent Apps are built into the existing Oracle Cloud Applications and powered by insights from the Oracle Data Cloud.

Blockchain

Blockchain has been a buzzword for a few years now and Oracle is now enabling its customers to leverage this disruptive, emerging technology. Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service helps customers increase business velocity, create new revenue streams, and reduce cost and risk by securely extending ERP, supply chain, and other enterprise SaaS and on-premises applications to drive tamper-resistant transactions on a trusted business network.

NetSuite Gets a Lift

Day four of OpenWorld focused on NetSuite, which of course Oracle acquired just over a year ago. NetSuite founder Evan Goldberg explained how, with help from Oracle, the SuiteCloud Platform is penetrating new markets and regions, calling the pace of growth, “blistering.” NetSuite has also been working on integrations with Oracle’s products, like its new blockchain service, which can run through SuiteCloud. According to Goldberg, NetSuite has achieved "more scalability, more performance by integrating with these Oracle technologies." And that’s good news for those implementing the cloud-native NetSuite as their business technology solution. 

Whatever your cloud solution, the importance of keeping your databases and other business critical technology running smoothly cannot be overstated. The fact is, as we saw at OpenWorld last week, the speed of technological change is accelerating every day. Keeping up with the changes in processes and strategies is nearly impossible. We’ve curated the top changes happening in database strategies to help you navigate the ever-evolving terrain in this complimentary eBook: