Big Orange Energy and AI Innovation: Highlights from the Oracle Higher Ed Summit in Knoxville

What an incredible week it has been in Knoxville! As the Oracle Higher Ed Summit wraps up today, the team at Astute Business Solutions is heading home energized, inspired, and perhaps still a little breathless from the view at mid-field in Neyland Stadium.

Knoxville provided the perfect backdrop for this gathering of the brightest minds in academia. As the host, the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) was the ultimate example of modern transformation. We were particularly proud to be there as a partner that has seen UTK’s journey firsthand. Not only is UTK a major Oracle Fusion SaaS and OCI customer, but Astute successfully migrated their Ellucian Banner application to OCI in 2025. Seeing that partnership thrive on their home turf was a true highlight.

Winning Plays at Neyland Stadium

You can’t visit Knoxville without feeling the pulse of the Vols. On Tuesday, we traded our laptops for a tour of the legendary Neyland Stadium. Walking through the dressing rooms and the media center,

you could feel the history of a program with six national titles.

Standing on the field, it wasn’t hard to imagine 100,000 fans roaring in support. We even walked the street named after the "Sheriff" himself, Peyton Manning, and saw his locker room. It was a reminder that whether it’s SEC football or cloud transformation, success comes down to a great playbook and a dedicated team.

Three Tracks, One Future: The Summit Breakdown

1. Oracle Fusion SaaS: The ERP Roadmap

Enda Hu (GVP of Applications) kicked things off by unveiling Oracle’s vision for the future of higher education finance. The latest ERP roadmap is all about AI-driven enhancements that advance process automation and deliver actionable insights.

Building on this, Maz Dangerwala (SVP of Fusion Development) delivered a powerhouse session on "Agentic Applications." * Command Centers: Oracle is reinventing work through outcome-driven "Command Centers" (like the new Sales Order Management CC).

• AI Agent Studio: Maz emphasized that AI adoption is a strategic leadership choice, not just an IT decision. The new Studio allows institutions to build hundreds of AI agents using multi-modal capabilities and document intelligence.

2. PeopleSoft Campus Solutions: The "AI Bridge"

While SaaS was the main feature, the love for PeopleSoft was palpable. Many institutions are looking to get more ROI from their years of investment, and the summit provided a clear path forward.

Sasank Vemula (Director of PeopleTools Strategy), drawing on his deep Higher Ed roots at FSU, demonstrated how AI is being woven into the very fabric of PeopleSoft.

• PeopleTools 8.62 & 8.63: Sasank showcased how the new landing page in 8.62 integrates with agentic AI, with even deeper AI integration capabilities coming in 8.63.
• Unlocking Potential: Kevin Connor led a session on "bringing underutilized features to the forefront," reminding us that Campus Solutions is already a comprehensive platform—we just need to help users tap into its full power.

At Astute, we believe adding AI to PeopleSoft is the perfect "bridge." You keep the proven core, data models, and integrations that work, while adding a next-gen experience for students and staff.

3. OCI & Oracle AI Data Platform: The Engine Room

On Day 3, the Oracle Cloud Engineering team—led by Scott Howe, Shoba Ramdas, Greg Girard, and Mohab Ally—hosted a high-octane hands-on workshop. Attendees got a first-hand look at the Oracle 26ai Database, Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC), and the AI Data Platform (AIDP).

The First Step: Migration as Transformation

Before you can run with AI, you have to walk in the cloud. At Astute, we are helping customers realize that Cloud Migration to OCI is the essential first step of transformation.

Whether the trigger is a hardware refresh, performance bottlenecks, or the need for a stronger security posture, the move to OCI is easily justified. By modernizing your infrastructure today, you create the scalable, secure environment necessary to run the AI solutions of tomorrow.

How Astute is Leading the Charge

Between sponsoring the Monday night reception and networking in the vibrant Market Square, the Astute team was busy demonstrating our own AI innovations:

• AI for Class Search and Registration: Making enrollment conversational and intuitive.
• AI Student Assistant: Providing 24/7 support for the next generation of students.
• AI for Research: Using OCI to accelerate data processing for faculty and researchers.

Ready to Draft Your Strategy?

As we leave "The Hill," we are more committed than ever to helping you navigate the shift to AI and OCI. Whether you are looking to migrate a legacy system (like we did for UTK) or build an AI bridge for PeopleSoft, Astute has the playbook to get you there.

Thank you to Oracle and UTK for a fantastic summit! If you missed our demos or want to discuss how to start your OCI journey, reach out to Astute Business Solutions today. Go Vols!