Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

The Big Themes:Embracing opportunities created through change: The pandemic obviously disrupted how Sarah and her team collaborated with each other and with other parts of the business. Sarah says that it gave the finance team opportunities to think differently and learn new skills.The new role of a modern finance leader: rather than always responding to events, end-of-quarter requests, emails, etc. Sarah says that she is looking to unearth insights and action items in a proactive way, to help make the whole business better.AI's impact on planning and budgets: KAH has more than 40,000 associates and lots of physical locations, so using AI to analyze large amounts of data from lots of different sources in Adaptive Insights has been a game-changer.The Big Quote: "There's not a one size fits all approach. And you really need to have a discussion with your entire team to understand what works for them, what motivates them—and really, you know, how can you help me be productive during these uncertain times?"-- This episode is brought to you by Workday. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Acceleration as key to digital transformation: Ajay says acceleration is about getting rid of constraints, hurdles, and manual processes within the business.Data democratization is nuanced: before pursuing "democratization," companies must make sure they're generating the proper transactional data, that it's readily available for people to consume, and that there's a shared language.The modern CIO role: it's about so much more than technology. The new CIO has to drive strategic thinking, by being joined at the hip with the business.The Big Quote: Workday Adaptive Insights "is how we stay proactive, right? This is how we are able to weather these marketplace storms, and the roller coaster ups and downs, and just make sure that we continue to stay ahead."--This episode is brought to you by Workday. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Oracle runs its end-to-end business on Oracle Cloud, which Doug says enables them to deliver improved experiences to customers and its own employees.• The key outcome of the shift to a services-based business: As a cloud provider, Oracle’s culture has become one where everyone is expected to ask, ‘how can I help?’• Doug is focused on removing friction points between the customer and achieving business value. For example, today, about 90% of Oracle’s customer contracts are executed through a fully-automated system, giving customers quicker access to its cloud services and a path to faster business outcomes.Doug says it’s critical to have a “Relentless focus on continuously evaluating how you’re doing.” He emphasizes that transformation is never finished, and Oracle’s own cloud journey has given its people unique insight into customers’ challenges that they can use to help other companies achieve the same. --This episode is brought to you by Oracle. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:The lessons of the pandemic response - Stacy says she and her colleagues discovered that WSU as an institution could be much more nimble and fast-moving than they might have thought beforeChange management when moving to the cloud - Workday's systems revolutionized the employee experience at WSU, which involved some challenges but mostly major benefitsEvolution in the CFO role and in higher ed in general - a need for flexibility and the breaking down of silos are key themes prompting change in both areasThe Big Quote: "Everything's going to involve money. It's all going to involve technology, high-level decisions about impacts, the need for data analysis and all of that... I think it's a welcomed change that those silos will be broken down, not just for the CFO, but for other leaders at the campuses."--This episode is brought to you by Workday. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The Web3 breakthrough: basically anything that is built on the blockchain is considered Web3, and Chris believes that it represents a bit of a return to idealism in tech.• Data is under hyped: it might sound crazy, but Chris says that the vast potential of data is still expanding and being discovered.• Native Digitals vs. Native Analogs: the fact that people under 35 grew up with technology represents perhaps the largest change in the definition of what it means to be human, ever.The Big Quote: "I don't know why this isn't being reported widely—in 2021 venture investors invested 15 billion into Web3 / blockchain."This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• What is talent intelligence? The application of data relating to people, skills, jobs, functions, competitors, geographies, to drive business decisions.• What are the core data sets used for TI? The bread and butter data sets are demand, supply, and cost.• Beyond the job title: TI can be used to source candidates based on skillsets that a company is looking for, not just specific titles.The Big Quote: "If you ask any CEO, what's their biggest asset? It's their people. What's their biggest risk for the future? It's access to the right people."This episode is sponsored by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:CFOs looking beyond financial data - interconnected parts of the business like HR are equally important to understanding performanceData access is a game-changer for quick decision-making - the disruptions caused by Covid-19 forced WestMed to make huge calls about the business without delay Taking your time when setting up cloud-based systems - Anthony explains why he was so hands-on and methodical when implementing Workday systemsThe Big Quote: "Workday was really the first big investment into a cloud-based offering that we had. It was definitely new to us, there was a lot of things we needed to understand about it. But once you're operating on it, you wonder why we hadn't done this sooner."--This episode is brought to you by Workday. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Three tenets of data: (1) data volumes keep growing in size and complexity, (2) business leaders are always looking for new ways to extract value from data, and (3) it's all about data security and governance.• John's predictions fall into two buckets: (1) the competitive landscape, and (2) the technology innovation and architecture• Overall, customers are becoming a top priority when it comes to data, both in terms of understanding customers thru data and empowering customers thru new data-driven capabilitiesThe Big Quote: "The immovable objects are meeting irresistible forces, and by immovable objects, I mean, the incumbents, and by irresistible forces, I mean, the startups."--This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The power of relationships: The deal between Thomas and Xometry probably wouldn’t have happened without a trusting relationship.• Helping small and medium-sized companies grow: Xometry developed a way for smaller manufacturers to be able to take on bigger projects and grow their businesses.• Digital transformation inevitably leads to business model transformation: For business leaders it's an important time to find ways to look at your business differently.The Big Quotes:• “We announced yesterday that Thomas has been acquired by Xometry, an on-demand manufacturing marketplace.”• “The exciting union of these two companies will help accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing.”• “If you embrace the idea that you could do things differently, or do things that you didn't before, I find that that pace of change is less frightening.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Vendors did a great job: But played to type.• Work From Home/Work From Anywhere culture: Omicron delaying return to the office again. Employment market and stock market point at even more.• Workplace culture evolves: The ‘Screen-ish generation’ (Millennials) doesn’t see f2f as the ideal. The ‘Screen Generation’ (GenZ) lives on screens/games/async comm.• Reminiscent of RPA market: Start with workflow, BPM, doc management. Add scripting and interfaces and templates. Voila! Huge multiples.The Big Quotes:“I want my electricity to come from a socket in the wall. And so it's changing the way we operate.”“We'll all have a Hollywood Squares box like you and I are in.”“Why are we making office workers – who are in theory the force multipliers of the company, the analysts, the managers, the thinkers, the changers.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Good scope = good outcome. And the opposite is almost always true!• Massive personnel turnover. Services firms and their clients need to find new ways to minimize disruptions caused by job changes.• A very clear timeline: Those simple sort of project hygiene type of things really make a big difference in the success of the project.• Software vendors have their own issues: Partners and customers are changing rapidly, and those changes are not limited to personnel.The Big Quotes:“They felt like it made their job 10 times more difficult because of the lack of travel they enjoy as part of being a consultant.”“It was actually a refreshing experience especially with little face-to-face interaction due to the pandemic.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Well-represented by this flag: We hope other countries have organizations that feel that way about their flags.• Someone's putting on space helmet: They're talking about the paradigm shift from big conventional wars and theaters.• A winning mindset: There is a standard of behavior that says we are going to act this way, and we are going to behave within structure within this mindset.• Not about the money: There's lots of job opportunities – and going to go where they can be the most happy.The Big Quotes:“They're going to stop working there. They're going to somewhere else.”This episode is brought to by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The ability to tailor applications: A top CFO concern is tax management, and must be addressed on an end-to-end basis.• The right foundation: It's been a big change from when we relied on it to give us reports and manage the data model.• Transforming and enriching data: How a single, unified data model can turn operational data into accounting entries posted into the general ledger.• CEOs are demanding cloud-based ERP: An end-to-end solution breaks down silos, accelerates insights, and drives better and faster decisions.The Big Quotes:“It's really an exciting time right now to be in finance.”“For us adding or changing a legal entity or a business unit, maybe a division or even a currency is quick and easy.”“I like to think about it as the two T's--technology and talent--and talent is definitely on everyone's mind today.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• It’s important to pick the right horse: In terms of transformation, in terms of collaboration, communication culture, in terms of DevOps and engineering culture, in the spirit of becoming a digital company.• Can do a lift and shift: Choosing a path now with our entire executive team and over 500 people and 3,000 – 4,000 customers.• The model would guide us eventually: To land in a place where we can definitively prove that we continue to deliver value because if we don't they'll stop spending and then we're out of business.• People want to do impactful work: This is the place where you're going to be on the leading edge of what's possible because you're literally using a platform which is limited only by your imagination in terms of what you can achieve.The Big Quotes:“And it takes a significant amount of effort, but we love playing that role specifically because we're so passionate about the outcome.”“We've got more than 28 regions. We've got plans for 10 more. We've got the largest network with the lowest latency of any cloud provider.”“I loved the library when I was a kid and I love it even more now because now the library is the world.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Every industry has gone through some profound changes: But when you shift online, there are significant challenges in understanding where do you position inventory?• There are breaches all the time: Because almost every cyber breach is like a black swan event. Before the breach, the organization thought it was secure.• Building large scale consumer services: We now want all our clients to be able to stand on our shoulders as we support them on what they're trying to do.• Look in the rear view mirror: Our goals are to help organizations. We truly believe the important challenges and our mission is to help clients with their most important challenges.The Big Quotes:“How do you broaden the nature of the products and services, as well as how do you broaden the reach of the financial market?”“But working with Ikea, we learned a lot from them on how to make such an experience possible.”“And so people will want to cherish some aspects of how they work with that along with obviously being in the office, ideating with their colleagues and working.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Now you can put your own paint on it: That's going to be a terrific thing for the clients, the buyers into next year and the year after.• It's a mindset change: Message for the board and for the CEO is to think about whether you're really changing the nature of the business.• The secret sauce for the vertical: We have to work in the wider ecosystem of that industry, whether it's healthcare, retail, manufacturing, or financial services.The Big Quotes:“I've got an article coming out later this week or next week on Acceleration Economy where I define the term digital transformation – and the opposite.”“Downside of this you got to get on this bandwagon, or the acceleration is going to flatten you like roadkill.”“We don't have to worry about things like servers and storage and networks anymore as ITP, and neither do the vendors.”This episode is brought to by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Hyper focused on the four markets in regulated industries: Healthcare, telecommunications, financial services and government.• IBM's heritage is in the mid office and the back office: Our mainframe runs the systems of records in the back office. That essentially is the sun in our solar system.• We're an open company that provides choice: As we go through the next transformation of which IBM's been through many in its hundred plus years.• Working within the wisdom of clouds: We de-risk cloud consumption as variants, infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and also software as a service.The Big Quotes:“So actually I'll put it into the context of the three-legged stool which is what all of those three groups will think about.”“If you think about the steps to that journey, IBM has always been very active in open source.”“And that has resonated really well with the policy makers and the actual regulators as with three central banks and the European central banks last week.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Public cloud operating model: Maybe there was more governance requirements, more security. We are seeing now customers becoming more thoughtful.Endless pots of gold: The one big thing on their mind is, “How can I do more with less money.”First-party data, on-premises data: But at the same time having the same self-service model, the speed, the agility, the security, the performance that you need via applications and the access.That technology is a means to an end: It’s really connecting with the people that we do business with. People are the most important – our customers, our employees, and our partners.The Big Quotes:“According to Gartner, about 75% of the people they surveyed revealed that midsize and large enterprises are moving to hybrid and multi-cloud and 81% of public cloud users are using more than two clouds.”“Our Nutanix cloud platform is built for that kind of portability across environments to begin with.”“So we are integrating with AWS, with Azure, with other cloud providers, with managed service cloud providers to deliver that functionality to our customers in a really simplified manner.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The Baby Boomers are retiring: Further accelerating the need to deal with mainframes.• FinTech as an example: Old brick and mortar banks and investment firms have had mainframes for 40 years, but those workhorses can’t handle fast-changing world of digital finance.• You’d better get that project right: We always tell our CIOs, "When you successfully move your mainframe to the cloud, you're going to end up in the CEO's office." Unfortunately, the opposite is also true!The Big Quotes:“I would think there's about 20,000 mainframes left in existence spread over 5,500 customers.”“We call them unicorns—the COBOL, CICS, DB2, deep technical experts—and they will retire before the mainframes are migrated.”“So, we want to pass that comfort level on and share it with our new customers to say, ‘Yeah, there are going to be things that'll be difficult. We'll get there together.’” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The great resignation is effecting projects: What are some of the key findings or trends about these transformations? What was different in Q3?• What are the biggest reasons projects fail to deliver results? So many companies in the middle of digital transformation.• What are some of the pain points: That's actually a little bit higher than we've seen in the past.• What should customers be prepared for: Our survey results point the way forward for businesses.The Big Quotes:“So many of these digital transformations are dependent upon a third-party professional services firm.”“This is almost going contrary to this idea of working remotely. But their main complaint was the fact that they were not able to travel anymore, it was actually something that they missed.”“So the fewer integrations that you have and the less spaghetti, the less mess.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Facebook is evil: It’s a lot like going to work for Philip Morris 30 years ago. We should continue to invest in solving the world’s problems.• Tesla is undervalued: Tesla is a software company. Tesla is an automaker – and in five years we’ll see who’s right.• An interesting and kind of fun way: How can you make these companies more software companies over the next few years?• The faster we can get there: When we’re taking shots at social media – there’s big problems that need to be addressed.The Big Quotes:“And frankly, every time I think, okay we've hit rock bottom. It's like they figured out a way to drill further into the rock and look worse.”“And so we need to be really careful that we don't I think that we don't paint with too broad a brush there.”“Do you work digital or not? It's just like, so are you going to work or you're going to retire?”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• We just launched a new channel: Reflecting this global business phenomenon, it’s called the data revolution—and it’s turning the business world upside-down.• Mining for gold: Gathering as much customer data as possible and then using mining algorithms to gain insights and opportunities.• Aggregated, integrated, and transformed: Data transformation is the term that is used rou describes the modern digital recipe for turning to turn raw data into business data.• What can and should they do differently? Companies are interacting with their customers online and in unprecedented digital ways.The Big Quotes:“Gartner predicts that 75% of all databases will either be created in the cloud or move to the cloud by the end of next year.”“And they're like, how did they know that about me? It's a little unsettling.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The real story behind the supply chain: There are not enough skilled workers in manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and trucking.• Combination of technology and innovative programs: Like apprenticeships, primary school education programs, and recruiting people from other industries.• Geo-political dynamics: LinkedIn pulling out of China, recent investments by the US government to stimulate American ships manufacturing, and 5G development.• Google is an example of a broader trend: This is a deceptively simple observation and one that holds insights for business leaders.The Big Quotes:“It's clearly starting to have an impact as we get a little closer to the holiday season.”“Boy, we had that all wrong. What were we thinking? We're rethinking our strategy but trust me, they are.”“We might break that into four or five that have proximity to final assembly, proximity to customers, proximity to talent, proximity to energy grids.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The solution is a production database: So there’s a big period of time when I have two different data sources. And you run the report off that database.• We learned about Chesterton's fence: It didn't grow like a weed – somebody put it there. They spent time and money and energy. I say to CEOs boards and my customers ask yourself, why did we do it that way?• Very worried about shadow IT: The CEO and the CIO will come to tell you one thing: this is bad.• Keep the lemmings from running over the cliff: Traditionally, the board of directors and the business people were talking about the same thing – and so were the vendors. Giving them the benefit of our advice.The Big Quotes:“Oracle got it. IBM got it. Microsoft gets it. Some of the other vendors that were more product focused, kind of looked at their product from the wrong end of the telescope.”“They don't want to buy a vendor's product. They want to buy a process solution.”“Do analytics, look at dashboards. They've already seen it 20 times.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• We're not loyal to each other: I think you've got to breathe almost our hearts back into our organizations.• Competitors are very aggressive: And they're enticing them with new programs at 20% rates. The salaries are getting kicked up just because they're paying more.• Blindingly obvious: When we’re in the four walls, we forget the simple things. It’s really a clear and present demonstration of what your values and beliefs are.• Empowerment is about decision rights: I don't feel like I'm making impact. I'm not trusted to do my job.The Big Quotes:“I'm not an Elon Musk fan boy, I think he has good qualities and bad qualities.”“This is how we're enabling you to have more fun.”“Are we so dumb as to think that people can't sense that?”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• “Scaling Up” – by Verne Harnish: The four Ds: drivers, demands, discipline, and decisions.• Growth doesn’t always equal success: For each organization, defining what success means is really important to defining how you can make a decision and make those executions a reality.• The Acceleration Economy Analyst Network: This is a new venture from Acceleration Economy Media, a group of experts creating content from different points of view.• The Acceleration Economy Conference: This will be happening in Arizona in March, as a face-to-face event.The Big Quote:“I personally love that we're able to take some time and recognize those points of view, recognize what others have been doing.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Your data pipeline is key: A strong data pipeline with a decent model is better than an awesome model with a weak data pipeline• Sit down with the executives: It's relevant at the executive level as well. Guys at the CEO level like Cloud Wars All-Star Tony Uphoff are pushing the envelope through data.• In data analysis, there’s a war for high quality talent: Figure out how to get better candidates into the top of your funnel and move the right candidates through that funnel faster.The Big Quote:“I think this concept of just digital twins in general is something that you're going to see start to radiate across more and more of complex systems.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Young kids don’t have any money: After spending a hundred thousand dollars on a four year education I’d like to see the universities at least provide a one day seminar and teach them personal skills.• A lot of brilliant minds: Talented people that are in the middle of their career have no idea how to navigate to the next level.• They have to do their homework: I find it very sad that these young people don’t recognize that they have to present themselves.• The video conference is a challenge: If you're feeling stressed take a breath, have fun, enjoy yourself, try really hard to make it a conversation. It’s not always about your skills or abilities. It’s about the personality contest.The Big Quotes:“Look online. Every company has hundreds of openings and there's so many people that are interviewing.”“You need to also recognize that your hope is that you're going to gain one or two advocates out of the interviewers.”“It's hugely important to recognize that you really want to connect with these people that are on the interview cycle.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Operating solutions to hotels, casinos, and cruise ships: It’s been a brutal 18 months for hospitality – the industry did a very good job early on of shoring up liquidity.• We did quite well during COVID: The vast majority of the partner technologies that were deployed I'd say in the first 12 months of the pandemic were largely focused around mobility.• These are huge numbers: We're talking IT staffs that numbered in the thousands pre-pandemic. I don't see those IT organizations returning to pre-pandemic numbers.• It was hard to get a hotel room: I think the industry's going to have a gangbuster holiday season.The Big Quotes:• “I can tell you in the immediate timeframe, because of the staffing shortages, there's a heavy reliance on technology as an intermediary to facilitate that guest experience.”• “I hope you stayed at a property that leverages our Oracle hospitality technology.”• “It's a really great win-win product, because the traveler is always getting a better product and the hotel's getting more money.”--This episode is brought to you by Oracle. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Setting clear project goals and timelines: This will help you measure your progress. Without clear goals and success metrics, it will be difficult to understand if you are on right track.• Make sure you have leadership buy-in: It’s important to get these individuals on board. Leadership support can also ensure you have the right resources.• Select the right consulting partner: They wish they did more research on their consulting partner instead of simply using the first partner that their software vendor recommended.• How to recover: Identify what is happening in real-time and isolate the specific points of failure. Assess the impact on your project and organization.The Big Quotes:“So who knows where the next wave of technology will take us.”“Well, like the age old question, how do you eat an elephant? It's like one bite at a time.”“You want a partner who's not going to bait and switch you and give you wrong the team during the selection process.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• They're looking to modernize everything they do: And whether that's the infrastructure, whether that's how they operate the infrastructure, but it's such a key priority.• I look at this as two layers of that cake: If we go back to the pillars of a modernization, infrastructure, operations, and applications.• And I think there's really three pillars to that: One is certainly modernizing their infrastructure. Two is their operations and how they're interacting with their data. And then three is empowering their modern applications.• If you look at our core storage products: They're designed from day one to be very elastically scalable, non-disruptively so that they can easily be expanded in terms of performance, in terms of capacity.The Big Quotes:“All of a sudden your entire workforce is working from home and there's IT demands that come out of that.”“Maybe there's a hurricane, a data center goes offline. How do I bridge that gap? How do I survive that couple of weeks before I can get back to normal?"“And so I think that's going to continue to increase. And again, that's something that we've invested heavily here at Pure. Because it just fits so well with the core principles of our technology.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• You may be hearing about it: The Buy American Act, The Infrastructure Bill, The United States Innovation, and Competition Act.• Based on our Thomas data: We have a few predictions of supply chain disruptions that will impact the consumer economy over the next 12 months.• The woman that created a billion dollar brand called Spanx: She was pretty savvy about design and had at least a functional understanding of some of the engineering requirements.• These key pieces of legislation: Are accelerating the US manufacturing economy and will play significant roles in driving the overall US economy and global security.The Big Quotes:“And all these things arrived for the first time in history, that generation is being hit with product shortages and problems of supply chain, disruption, and ships backed up in harbors.”“If you can, I would wait at least six to 12 months to buy your next car.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• Every industry: Think about how each one of them accelerated or propelled what they would have taken years to get to in a very, very short period of time.• Some businesses have opened, some have closed: But one thing it's really taught us is we're able to touch billions of people in meaningful ways, across a broad spectrum.• Constantly engaging with your customers: And the more you own your customer’s success, the more rewards you will see for your engagement.• That's what you purchased: Today, you purchase a car that's convenient and that meets your sustainability, and is the next generation and it's driven through software.The Big Quotes:“But it's incredible how human beings have been able to cope with this and continue to cope with the scenarios around it in every place around the world.”“And so we have to work every day, really hard to make our customers successful.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• IBM support is a differentiator: Upstart cloud vendors are in an IaaS arms race. Legacy enterprise IT clients have been with IBM clients for 50+ years.• Board of duty of care: The board’s overarching mandate is to protect shareholders over the long term. Boards have two main fiduciary duties: Loyalty and care.• Cybersecurity and obsolescence risk: What is the age of IT components vs. current – years matter less than generations.• The right CIO: The CEO gets the CIO they settle for. And CEOs should lobby for QTE—qualified technology expert—on the board.The Big Quotes:“We can't get people. We can't get stuff. We can't get network capabilities added because everybody's out of everything.”“We are now 20 months into a pandemic where we sent the office workers home. Microsoft just the other day said, ‘We're not coming back for a while.’ ““So you can be a higher margin, higher stickiness, higher customer satisfaction in a company and survive for the long run.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• This thing called fog of war: And the fog of war is you don't know everything. And then as soon as the bullets start flying, you actually know less because it's like this aperture shrinks.• Half the Fortune 500 will be replaced by other companies: We have the highest churn rate in the history of the list.• Most of our corporations are run by terrible leaders: They have the technical background, but just look at our firms, look at how tone deaf they are.• It's a fantastic world: It's the standards that you have to live up to. And in the exploration of this conversation, we can get to the heart of why leadership is so difficult.The Big Quotes:“I think we've lost the societal grit to do good leadership to the extent that we need to, because it's so freaking hard.”“When you learn leadership, there's fundamental principles that are at play here, and sometimes they're in conflict.”“Not the placards that the typical HR department puts on the walls, which are meaningless and senseless. A waste of print dollars.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• The Ambassador: Excited about the project and are telling everyone about it. They’ll be the first ones that post their go-live badge on LinkedIn. They’re also rolling-up their sleeves to contribute.• The up-and-comer: Might not have previous experience but see the project as an opportunity to grow in their career and add a successful digital transformation to their resume. Great attitude.• Debbie Downer/Don Downer: “We’ve always done it this way” is their MO. They have a problem for every solution.• I’m only here for the snacks: Quiet and non-participatory in meetings and email. Demotivate the team and get credit where credit is not due.The Big Quotes:“The success of a project is going to boil down to good people management.”“You want to make sure that you're hand picking the team.”“A lot of these problems can be solved through good documentation and a good project blueprint where people have known exactly what they're needing to contribute and buy one.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• It just doesn’t magically happen: It’s not the data you already have, this is one of the hard lessons that lot of folks think.• DataStax fits into that equation: And this is one of the things that I think goes back to what you talked about in terms of agility.• Everybody has S3 compatible APIs: You've got your storage now that is just scale out via very simple APIs. You've got your compute now that's been standardized on top of Kubernetes.• You may have some rock stars: But majority of code written even at these internet companies is written by good developers. And I guarantee you, you've got good developers.The Big Quotes:“And so Cassandra was what enabled a number of retailers, many of the major retailers in operation today built critical parts of their e-commerce stack on top of Cassandra.”“The starting point for most folks is you start talking about saying, ‘Okay, you need to collect and log and interpret all of these streams of data.’”“And so the open data stack is about trying to make data catch up to where Kubernetes is in terms of giving you that agility.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• You've got great leaders at the top of the house: In both those companies you really understand innovation.• One of our venture companies: We sold a company to a publicly traded company that when that transaction happened, I got a lot of congratulations.• That ship has sailed: I also think though that speaks to another thing that we expected to happen when you plug into an organization – like in this case of Salesforce or Oracle.• Very fast moving dynamic: So we need to keep in mind not to get locked into an idea that will surely be obsolete in a matter of weeks or months.The Big Quotes:“But that doesn't mean that the $27 billion was a fair price. I think it probably was not unfortunately for the shareholders.”“The game was how many times could you say synergy in a windowless conference room for 30 minutes?”“I think in enterprise tech you're really seeing something of this happening now in Slack.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:• A fascinating cultural shift: The millennial generation’s increasing dissatisfaction with “knowledge work” and the increasing interest in wanting to make things.• The cultural legacies of the US manufacturing industry: This is why so many industries are disrupted by outsiders.• Technology continues to advance dramatically: It’s time to transform and upgrade how technology is positioned, explained, and sold.• Many scheduled office re-openings have been pushed back: We’re seeing some companies announce full remote plans in perpetuity. What will this push-back do to the tentative office re-opening plans?The Big Quotes:“I think I shared with you in New York City that there's over 8,000 small manufacturers that are generating over $7 billion a year in revenue in New York City.”“We hit a really interesting inflection point where the number of millennial managers were in the workforce and at the same size as the Baby Boom managers.”“The US manufacturing industry is close to a $3 trillion industry—there are not of industries of that size walking around.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Accenture ransomware: Accenture’s response – they quickly detected, defended, and repaired. So far, it appears to be only a low-value material leaked.The New Digital Edge: McKinsey article rethinking strategy for the post-pandemic era. “By 2023, most companies will need to build new digital businesses to stay economically viable.”Talking to CFOs: After talking with several CFOs since the last episode, I think it’s time for some changes. Why does IT report to the CFO at so many companies?What should happen: CFO should tell the CEO, ‘no thanks!’ CFOs and the CIOs make a more powerful team – even better as peers. The Big Quotes:“Accenture also said none of our confidential material was leaked.” “And you know that whole 19th century model of the green eyeshades and the rolled-up sleeves at the desk – that world has changed, and we've got to recognize it.” “So go back 50, 60 years, the first people that put technology and the first computers went in the 1950s – that's 70 years ago.” “Walter Wriston, the founder of the organizer of Citibank, said information about money is as valuable as money itself.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:The “T” in Teamwork: Why employees with breadth and depth are imperative for harmonizing organizational goals and culture. We call this the acceleration economy.We are launching a brand-new program: August 19th to be exact, and it's all content driven to what is the future role of the office of the CFO.Tie in the future effects of the office: What’s the difference between data digitization – and why organizations should care.I think develops a richer culture: It also helps for those people who are in those decision-making roles to better understand what you're doing.The Big Quotes:“A lot of organizations are needing to be adaptive and changing on a dime.”“I think more roles are going to be a little less tactical – a little more visionary and strategic.”“Check out our podcasts, The Wrap, that is one of my highlights of the week, and it's a time that we can share what we've heard through the week.This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

As President of SAP S/4HANA, Jan Gilg oversees development of SAP's flagship ERP product, digital supply chain, and industry solutions. In this conversation, Jan discusses how the shift to a digital economy is driving unprecedented changes in how businesses operate, and the new types of software solutions businesses require to thrive in such an environment. In the midst of all that upheaval, SAP itself has changed in significant ways, and Gilg shares his perspectives on the benefits those changes are driving for customers. The Big Themes:Across all 25 industries: Now moving into the cloud we are really following the old modularization strategy on the one hand side – and blurring much, much more.Much better visibility: I probably want to have more visibility into multiple tiers of my supply chain. The Big Quotes:“This will be a steering dimension for every company in every industry.” “And we capture the data from the sensors and feed it again into the context of the vehicles.” “The shift to Office 365 was massive from our perspective.” This episode is brought to by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Like Goldilocks' testing out the three different sized chairs: This one is too big, this one is too small—this one is JUST RIGHT. Mid-size businesses need solutions and partners that are "just right" for them.McKinsey has reported: What mid-size enterprises really need to realize their growth potential is "the ability to access foreign markets, increase operational efficiency and adopt growth-enabling technologies."Big idea: Businesses need to choose software that is flexible, agile, and facilitates collaboration – especially as businesses re-think in-person versus remote workspaces for their people.Perhaps most important of all: The midmarket needs software that's quick and less expensive to implement compared to big on-premise ERP systems. The Big Quotes:“So Goldilocks was sort of a modern software pioneer.” “This year we're upwards of 1,200 project reviews at this point.” “Because I'm thinking if it's too hot and you get a blob of that on your tongue, it's not going to be a good experience.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:You must preserve the core of your business: Leadership is about to make the investments, provide the autonomy, create the innovation culture and align it to your overall strategy.The four freedoms: An organization that allows for innovation, capability to really thrive, grow, and affect the future of your business.What I call the beacon model: You create a capability that is related – but separate from the core of your business.These are courageous innovators: They have to be able to frame and form their own culture. There is a certain amount of operational form of freedom. The Big Quotes:“So the relationship between leadership and courage – and then the ability to be an innovator.” “Jeff Bezos he has a bunch of them, but one of my favorites is he says something to the extent of, ‘You cannot be afraid of being misunderstood.’” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:We went all in with Google Cloud: Most of our peers were actually going in the other direction. They wanted to be multicloud, making acquisitions in adjacent ecosystems.Return to work shouldn’t mean return to normal: If I talk to our software developers, who were already remote before the pandemic.This is the future of our business: We are about to make an investment that will change the trajectory of the company forever, and we have very high expectations. The Big Quotes:“There's no customer that adopts the Google platform stack without taking on some bit of change.” “We serve all the traditional enterprises that are fighting for relevance and survival, and we're serving all the startups that are actively disrupting them.” “We've attracted some of the most talented, and amazing – like Miles – executives in the world to come join us on this journey, and so, I think our customers feel that.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Will business travel come back? There is a lot of conjecture about business travel being forever changed by the forced online interaction of the pandemic. Our sense is it already has been but not in the way many people think.Thomas Q2 Sourcing Report is out: And reflects strong demand across a wide range of categories, with significant implications for technology markets. We nailed a few of our Q2 predictions and have several for Q3.Higher Ed and Healthcare: Two massive markets that many people feel have been ripe for technology disruption for years but they remain unchanged. Will this time be different?The increase in demand for PCB boards: It’s not solely coming from the traditional consumer electronics. It's really coming from the auto industry. The Big Quotes:“I think for a lot of your listeners, you're seeing the major cloud vendors are all in on the top two or three focus of vertical cloud.” “I think we're witnessing a whole new era of how products are conceived, how they're designed, how they're built, how they're manufactured, how they're distributed.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Returning to the office: This isn’t really what native digitals want. Apple employees revolted, as did Google’s, prompting one of the largest technology companies in the world to backtrack.The result of this macro trend: If you are 35 years old or younger you will progressively spend time, energy, and money improving and enhancing your digital life, not your physical life.The stuff business: 140 million native digital Americans and Millennials and Gen Z grew up in an era where they watched how their parents pursuit of “stuff” didn't really lead to anything meaningful.A diamond is forever: This campaign eventually evolved into commercials in the late 1970’s where DeBeers quite literally defines how much a man should spend on an engagement ring. The Big Quotes:“So what's going on here when you're native analog, your primary reality is a physical or analog reality.” “This has profound implications for the way we work, but it's a lot more than just that.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Offer customers the best in breed solutions: The pace that we see in the Middle East is a very hungry market for technology and knowledge.The best way to accelerate: We have done a rollout in 20 countries using that template in a very short period of time. I think this is a big change from the past.A very quick return on their investments: So it’s very important to understand the quick wins from these types of projects.A journey with our customers: We believe that if they grow, their business grows, we will grow with them. That’s our culture. The Big Quotes:"What's your business strategy in the next three to five years?" “People want to grow. They want to grow quickly. They want to expand.” “And then I think it's more about focusing on the people.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Cloud repatriation: Techies and investors are buzzing about a recent articlethat seems to argue, “start in the cloud, then move back in-house.”BoD and CIO/CISO gap: Most CIOs/CISOs have limited BoD interaction, and most board directors know far too little about technology. They need to talk!Last week I became a NACD ‘Certified Director’: After lots of study and a grueling exam! So BoDs are on my mind more than usual.Pat Fitzgerald about hiring and retaining workers: Shakespeare, “Glendower: I can call the spirits from the vasty deep.” “Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can anyone – but will they come when you call them?” The Big Quotes:“And right now there is not a single restaurant that doesn't have a help wanted sign the size of their window.” “Now it's 2021. Ransomware is in the news. Cybersecurity is in the news. Digital transformation is in the news I contend.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:The creativity that each one of them had: Telling their own story – and a lot of them used real-life stories and data, and so much more.They’re very polarizing: You can’t really put human management together and feel that’s a warm environment – that definitely has a lot of tone to it.More companies are trying to be strategic: In order to be competitive and to meet customer expectations, they’re having this drive to be from the customer’s point of view.There’s lots of ways to engage with us: We’ve been running this event for over 10 years, and it’s a fantastic way to network with the Microsoft ecosystem. The Big Quotes:“So how do you build those skillsets and some of those big questions of how you can become adaptable.” “I think they are going to move up to the top of the list and compete higher.” “As a young leader I guess is to lead with empathy, and lead with human awareness and kindness.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.