Vodafone Fiji is trying to make it easier for local businesses to access, analyse, understand and act on information.

The mobile giant has struck a partnership with leading multinational tech firm Oracle.

Together, they hope to encourage businesses to adopt cloud computing in their operations, which is a system of using computer services over the internet.

This includes access to the services at any time and from anywhere to complete designated tasks.

The two companies invited local businesses to an interactive session yesterday at Suva’s Grand Pacific Hotel to discuss the technology.

Vodafone acting chief executive officer Ronald Prasad said at the conference that many large businesses had already shown an interest moving towards cloud computing.

“Cloud offers a lot of options and benefits to businesses,” said acting Vodafone Fiji chief executive officer Ronald Prasad.

“A typical business setup in Fiji would normally invest in skilled and specialised IT staff and infrastructure; but what happens is that over a period of time that infrastructure or equipment reaches the end of its life.

“Businesses save a lot of money because they don’t have to own the hardware and deal with its related costs.”

Mr Prasad said that one of the major benefits of moving to cloud was mobility.

The technology will also allow employers to monitor their business more effectively, he said.

“Another major benefit is that it can provide a single pane of glass view for all your systems, so when you open the link it tells you about the health and hygiene of your systems,” Mr Prasad said.

Oracle’s digital director Michael Scheelhardt says business using services on the cloud could spend more times on completing their core objectives and hence boost revenue.

According to the Oracle’s statistics, 93 per cent of executive worldwide believe their organisation is losing revenue because they are unable to fully leverage information.

“The benefits of the cloud is that you no longer need to maintain or operate your systems,” Mr Scheelhardt said.

“Also, for instance, some companies which are looked after by a group of skilled workers, but what happens if they leave the business?”

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