The Long View

 “History is repeating itself,” says longtime DBA Dan Morgan. Having seen the DBA role evolve over the years as database technology advances, Morgan now sees Oracle Autonomous Database—which will automatically and continuously patch, tune, back up, and upgrade the database without manual intervention—as a leap forward that DBAs will eventually embrace. 

But, he says, DBAs like him “need to step back from our keyboard” and think about the (considerable) business value they can provide beyond more-routine activities. Reading 3 Essential DBA Career Priorities for 2018 will get you started in the right direction.

 

—Jeff Erickson, Oracle Content Central editor

Five Crucial Tech Priorities for CFOs in 2018

Topping the list for CFOs this year: start deploying emerging technologies. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools will enable finance organizations to eliminate many routine tasks, which will change the skill sets that finance organizations should pursue. What’s next on the list?

The Future Is Open

“When we say Oracle is open…we mean that we support non-Oracle technologies as well as the ability to work in an ecosystem that is broader than Oracle,” says Oracle’s Amit Zavery. Indeed, the cloud-native application stack designed by Oracle has open elements at every layer from containers to orchestration—and one of the newest pieces, serverless development, only reinforces that commitment. Being open powers innovation.

People Data Central

Health benefits company Anthem has created a People Data Central portal, which has a “workforce intelligence” dashboard that lets HR staff and other Anthem users ask questions of internal and third-party data: Are we differentiating rewards for our top performers? How many of our nurses might retire within the next couple of years? One data view.

Shifting to Subscription Models: 4 Things That Must Change

The shift from buying physical products to subscribing to digital services is happening across our economy, from buying cosmetics to renting 3D printing capabilities. Here are four parts of your business that must change if you’re going to succeed with this new business model. Start with the commerce process.