Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I examine how Business Central is transforming ERP with strong financial returns and AI-driven capabilities. Highlights 00:10 — A new Forrester report commissioned by Microsoft, entitled "The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central," has revealed some remarkable findings regarding the financial impact this standout cloud ERP is having on customers. 00:36 — And here's what it found: 209% ROI over three years, an estimated $464,000 net present value, and potential payback in just six months. The researchers aggregated the findings from interviewees and created a fictitious composite organization to develop this model. 00:58 — In their modeling, the researchers found that by year three, the composite company was experiencing a 30% reduction in monthly close time and up to 50% time savings for accounts payable, accounts receivable, and billing. It reduced audit preparation time by up to 30%. 01:19 — Consolidating outdated ERP products and systems led to more than a 10% reduction in total cost of ownership and over $170,000 in present value savings from withdrawn systems and decreased maintenance. 01:37 — Microsoft links these impressive results to how Business Central represents an AI-ready ERP foundation, enabling organizations to leverage Copilot, Power BI, and intelligent agents while emphasizing clean data, integrated systems, and standardized processes. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this AI Agent & Copilot Minute, Mason Siefert explores how Dynamics 365 is evolving into the agentic era — transforming financial reconciliation and accounts payable into continuous, intelligent processes, and previews what’s ahead at Summit North America 2026. Key Takeaways Agent Evolution: The journey from manual processes to copilots and now fully autonomous agents marks a fundamental shift in enterprise finance. While early tools accelerated workflows, today’s agents proactively execute tasks end-to-end, reducing human intervention and enabling finance professionals to focus on higher-value strategic work rather than repetitive operations. Continuous Finance: Financial reconciliation has transformed from a stressful, multi-day effort into an always-on background process. Autonomous agents continuously match and verify records across systems, eliminating bottlenecks and dramatically improving efficiency, accuracy, and consistency across financial operations without requiring manual initiation. Fraud Reduction: Accounts payable agents not only automate invoice matching but actively reduce fraud risk by cross-referencing invoices against purchase orders and learning from human corrections. With organizations facing high rates of fraud attempts, these adaptive systems provide a critical layer of intelligence and protection while minimizing costly manual errors. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I unpack how Oracle is redefining data activation with agentic AI capabilities. Highlights 00:03 — I recently talked about some big plans that Oracle has for fusing agentic AI into its applications and calling those Oracle agentic applications. Now it's extended its whole mantra from a couple of years ago that came from Chairman and Founder, Larry Ellison, where he said AI changes everything. 00:28 — Oracle's taken that very much to heart, and they're extending their agentic AI push deeply into their AI Database. There's a couple things I want to point out. In the larger sense, I think what's going on here is we're seeing the hunted turn into the hunter, right? 01:20 — I think in large part, not so much that the theory was wrong, although I do think it is wrong, but more because Oracle took the initiative, and instead, its pace of innovation and change and product development and customer-centric enhancements have been at a pace far beyond what any of these single-purpose competitors are doing. 02:12 — Now with AI, the point of Oracle's move here is to say we're going to bring AI to the data, instead of having to move all the data around here. And nobody's in a better position to be able to do that now than Oracle. 03:03 — [Oracle Executive Vice President Juan Loaiza] said, with the Oracle AI database, customers now, they don't just store data passively in a warehouse. Instead, he said, customers will be able to activate their data for AI and make decisions around data with stock-exchange-level robustness in every leading cloud. 04:00 — But the larger point here, too, is about, when Larry Ellison said publicly AI changes everything, that was a pretty clear indication that he was going to be leading this entire effort to go completely across the entire company, every facet of Oracle's massive portfolio is going to become AI-first. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans sits down with Bonnie Tinder, Founder and CEO of Raven Intelligence, to unpack a whirlwind week in enterprise software. As AI reshapes the landscape at breakneck speed, the two explore major announcements from Oracle and Workday. Bonnie offers sharp analysis on the strategic differences between Workday’s user-centric AI assistant approach and Oracle’s autonomous, end-to-end agentic applications. Episode 59: Enterprise AI Showdown The Big Themes: Oracle’s Autonomous AI Vision: Oracle is taking a more aggressive approach with its agentic AI applications, introducing 22 AI-driven tools that can execute entire business processes. Unlike assistive AI, Oracle’s agents can reason, decide, and act with minimal human intervention. This represents a shift toward AI as a “digital workforce,” capable of handling complex, cross-functional operations. End-to-End Business Process Automation: One of Oracle’s biggest differentiators is its ability to automate complete workflows across multiple business functions. For example, designing a product while simultaneously evaluating supply chain risks and costs. This eliminates the traditional handoffs between departments and enables a holistic, real-time view of operations. By integrating data across systems and processes, Oracle’s AI can deliver more comprehensive insights and faster execution — potentially transforming how enterprises manage complex workflows. ROI and Consumption-Based Models: AI is also changing pricing and operating models. Workday’s shift toward consumption-based pricing means customers pay based on usage rather than per-employee licensing. This can make adoption more flexible and cost-effective, but it also requires careful ROI analysis. Companies must consider not just technology costs, but also potential workforce changes, efficiency gains, and redeployment of employees. Understanding the financial impact of AI investments is critical for long-term success. The Big Quote: “The high-risk areas you don't want to touch necessarily. You want to look at the high volume potentially first, to fully automate." More from Bonnie Tinder: Connect with Bonnie on LinkedIn. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I review SAP’s move toward AI usage-based pricing and what it means for the future of SaaS, customer engagement, and enterprise software delivery. Highlights 00:04 — SAP CEO Christian Klein has announced the company intends to shift away from a traditional subscription model towards a pricing model based on AI usage. Klein stated that pricing must reflect the actual usage of AI by customers now. 00:23 — Ultimately, Klein recognizes that the existing subscription model, which is a traditional SaaS model charging per user, is not the right fit for an evolving landscape where AI agents are automating an increasing number of tasks. 00:40 — To support this shift, SAP will be launching forward-deployed engineering teams that include consultants and developers who will work directly with customers to build out dedicated AI applications. It's important to note that this will not be an immediate change, but rather a direction of travel. However, it does align with the company's AI ambitions. 01:22 — Not only is SAP reportedly changing its pricing model to align with the agentic AI Era, but it's also shifting its delivery methods with the proposed forward-deployed engineering teams. This approach feels more aligned with consulting than it does traditional SaaS support. 01:44 — This transformation will impact revenue streams, customer engagement, sales, and investor relations all at once. However, this is not only a necessary shift for SAP, but one that could help the company retain its position as a global tech leader and perhaps even surpass its competitors. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I review SAP's acquisition of Reltio to enhance the Business Data Cloud, expand opportunities for customers, and continue its transformation to being an AI-first, data-first company. Highlights 00:07 — SAP made a big move to deepen its capabilities around data to power what it's doing in AI, with plans to acquire Reltio. The real goal of this is to be able to fuel SAP's ambitions for agentic AI, particularly as it moves to convert its vast portfolio of enterprise applications to agentic AI applications. 00:58 — This move extends SAP's transformation that has been in-progress for several years now. It's working to shed its enterprise apps reputation and rather be recognized as an AI-first, data-first company. 02:27 — Customers will benefit from capabilities through Reltio to get clean, high-quality data that's fully harmonized, pulling from both SAP and non-SAP systems. 03:03 — SAP has been working hard, leading up to the launch of its data cloud, to bring in more capabilities. This acquisition demonstrates the strategic importance of the SAP Business Data Cloud and enhances what the company is doing with it. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans sits down with Pankaj Goel, CEO of Opkey, to explore how agentic AI is reshaping ERP implementations and the broader systems integrator landscape. Goel shares how Opkey’s platform automates the full lifecycle of enterprise applications — from design through testing and support — while addressing long-standing inefficiencies in implementation models. The discussion highlights the growing urgency for speed, cost efficiency, and business outcomes in the AI Era, and how digital workers are enabling organizations to rethink both delivery models and competitive positioning. AI Transforms ERP The Big Themes: AI Reshapes ERP Delivery Models: The conversation underscores a major disconnect between modern cloud ERP adoption and outdated implementation methodologies. While enterprises are rapidly shifting toward cloud-based systems like Oracle, SAP, and Workday, many systems integrators still rely on legacy approaches rooted in early-2000s practices. This mismatch results in inefficiencies, cost overruns, and delayed outcomes. Opkey addresses this gap by introducing AI-driven automation that aligns delivery models with the speed and flexibility required in today’s AI Economy. Massive Time and Cost Savings: The platform delivers measurable efficiency gains. Customers report up to 40% reductions in day-to-day operational time post-implementation, while testing cycles shrink from weeks to just a few days. For systems integrators, implementation costs have dropped by approximately 25% in early deployments. These improvements not only enhance productivity but also enable faster innovation cycles, allowing businesses to respond more quickly to market changes. A Win-Win Ecosystem Vision: Opkey’s strategy is built around creating value for all stakeholders: ERP vendors, systems integrators, and end customers. By improving implementation success rates, reducing costs, and accelerating time to value, the platform fosters a “win-win” ecosystem. This holistic approach ensures that innovation benefits the entire enterprise software value chain, rather than optimizing for one group at the expense of others. The Big Quote: “Copilots. . . help you understand your information better, whereas agents and agentic AI is a fundamentally different way of conceiving work. Think of an AI agent as a digital worker, just like you used to have Oracle administrators in past and your business analysts." More from Pankaj Goel and Opkey: Connect with Pankaj on LinkedIn or learn more about Opkey Release Advisor and CALM. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I unpack the convergence of tech and energy and what it means for the future of business leadership. Highlights 00:00 — We are seeing here in 2026 the collapsing of traditional industry boundaries. AI is helping to drive this. A whole new way of doing business is powering this. And mostly what's happening is we're seeing visionary leaders in the tech industry, energy, utilities, power, and other places realize the old story that what got us here won't get us there. 00:35 — So I wanted to talk a little bit today about a big new partnership between Google Cloud and a century-old industrial power company called Baker Hughes. And they're looking together to join forces to do things that neither could do individually, to juice up the AI Economy and address insatiable demand for power in AI data centers. 01:38 — So much growth here, and all this is forcing traditional industry boundaries to be reconsidered. These digital-native software companies are now worried about where electrons come from, and they’ve got to get upstream integrated into the power and energy industry to keep this going. 02:20 — Now you got these extremely capable companies like Baker Hughes that have never faced such an extraordinary spike in demand. This fusion or blurring of the lines between the tech industry and the energy/power industry is going to be enormously important. 03:01 — They’re looking at the possibility of fusion reactors. Fusion is one of the world’s most high-potential but difficult technologies, and if it works, energy problems are solved. The fusion of the tech industry into the energy industry will shorten that distance dramatically. 04:14 — Are you hung up on the traditions of the past? Or are you seeing a very different future where those boundaries don’t exist? Don’t be caught on the back edge of that. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how Oracle is redefining enterprise software by fusing AI agents directly into applications. Highlights 00:03 — Again, busy days here in the early part of 2026. I had a great video interview with Oracle Executive Vice President Steve Miranda. He's been in charge of applications development at Oracle for more than 20 years, and Steve made a few key points about these new agenetic applications. 00:56 — And his main point was, you take all the existing value that applications have had about governing processes being established, customers are comfortable with them, and then you enhance those with new agentic AI capabilities to allow those now, instead of just applications, these AI agentic applications, to do more than they had been able to do before. 01:59 — And at the same time, I think one of the big points here that Miranda said with these now is that business people are going to be able to spend less time managing their processes and more time devoting their efforts and energy and their technology to being drivers of business outcomes that they want: more growth, more innovation, better experiences for customers. 02:49 — This whole confusion, and in some ways this just crazy time we’ve been through, you know, where SaaS business applications are going to go away — I guess, you know, almost two and a half years ago, when Satya Nadella made this point — such an intelligent person. 04:07 — I think what Oracle is doing here, and especially in the words of Steve Miranda, is going to bring a lot of calm and assurance to people that it is not an either/or game: agents or business applications. Now it’s both. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans speaks with Steve Miranda, Executive Vice President of Applications Development at Oracle, about the company’s latest leap into AI-driven enterprise software. Miranda outlines Oracle’s introduction of “agentic applications,” a new category that blends AI agents, automation, and business workflows into outcome-driven systems. He explains how Oracle’s strategy has evolved from embedding AI into apps to building thousands of agents — and now to delivering fully agentic apps that transform how users interact with enterprise software. The conversation highlights both the opportunity and confusion customers face in this rapidly shifting AI landscape. Rise of Agentic AI The Big Themes: From Features to Outcomes: A major shift is the move from feature-based software to outcome-driven systems. Instead of executing predefined tasks, AI agents are now given business goals, such as optimizing supply chains or improving financial performance, and they generate multiple strategies to achieve them. Users then act as decision-makers, selecting preferred options. This represents a profound change in human-computer interaction, where software becomes a collaborative partner. Explosive Growth of AI Agents: Oracle’s rapid expansion from around 50–100 agents to over 1,000 demonstrates the accelerating pace of AI adoption. This growth reflects both customer demand and the scalability of AI-driven architectures. The agents are not limited to simple automation but are capable of reasoning, analyzing enterprise-wide data, and making recommendations. This scale also lays the foundation for agentic applications. Future of SaaS Reimagined: Miranda makes it clear that SaaS is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Traditional applications will coexist with agentic systems for now, but the long-term trajectory points toward AI-driven interfaces becoming dominant. Oracle plans to expand agentic capabilities across its entire application suite, from finance to supply chain to HR. As AI-to-AI interactions and data integration improve, these systems will become even more powerful. The Big Quote: “These are agents where you're giving the agent a business outcome and a goal, and the agents [are] recommending to you optimizations or how you get there. And then you, as a user or human in the middle of this process, actually instruct those agents on which of the plans to execute, and it goes ahead and automates and executes those transactions. So it's a fundamentally different way of presenting the applications." More from Steve Miranda: Connect with Steve on LinkedIn or learn more about AI agents for Fusion Applications. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how Oracle is using AI to unify and transform the fragmented healthcare ecosystem. Highlights 00:03 — Early in 2026, we're seeing big strides made across all industries with AI, but in particular, there's enormous promise for AI in healthcare. So, I had a chance recently to speak with Oracle Executive Vice President Seema Verma. She's in charge of healthcare and health and life sciences. 01:06 —And one of the things that Seema talked about here is that, for too long, every part of the healthcare industry has been caught up in these point solutions, which worked well for their very narrow slice. But in these days, that's just too much manual effort, too much time required, too much movement attempting to stitch together different data models. 01:33 — And especially now with AI coming, the data has to be centralized. It's got to be in one place, clean, secure, and ready to go. So in this video interview, Seema talks about some of the advances Oracle's making. She said, “We're addressing the big pain points.” 02:06 — She talked a lot about identity, authentication, the ability for doctors and offices to be able to listen and look directly at the patient instead of typing on the keyboard while the AI is recording and transcribing it and bringing up other relevant information. 04:05 — So I do love this big, sprawling effort here, the end-to-end initiative. I think more and more we're going to be seeing that the big application, slash agents, slash data, slash AI, companies like Oracle are going to go after this more on a big, comprehensive basis. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans speaks with Seema Verma, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Oracle Health and Life Sciences, about how AI is reshaping the healthcare industry. Drawing on her experience leading the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Verma explains how Oracle is tackling one of the world’s most complex sectors with an end-to-end, AI-driven approach. The conversation explores how automation, modern electronic health records, and intelligent agents can reduce administrative costs, improve patient care, and unify fragmented healthcare systems into a more efficient and responsive ecosystem. Oracle Healthcare Vision The Big Themes: AI as Healthcare Backbone: Oracle is not approaching healthcare transformation as a collection of isolated tools but as a unified, AI-driven ecosystem. Unlike past efforts that layered technology onto outdated systems, Oracle is rebuilding infrastructure from the ground up with AI at its core. This allows automation to flow across the entire system rather than remaining siloed. The result is a more cohesive healthcare environment where decisions, processes, and outcomes are interconnected, enabling true industry-wide transformation rather than incremental improvements. Clinical AI Agents in Action: One of the most compelling innovations discussed is Oracle’s clinical AI agent, which listens to doctor-patient interactions and automatically generates notes, recommendations, and workflows. This technology goes beyond documentation — it initiates next steps such as prescribing medications, ordering tests, and suggesting billing codes. Physicians benefit from reduced administrative workload, allowing them to focus on patient interaction. Clinical Trials Transformation: Clinical trials are another area ripe for disruption, with only 1–2% of eligible patients participating due to outdated recruitment methods. Oracle is addressing this by matching patients to trials using real-time health data. Instead of manual processes like bulletin board sign-ups, AI can identify eligible participants and notify both clinicians and patients. The Big Quote: “Fifty percent, sixty percent of the costs are labor-oriented. And if we look at the growth in healthcare, that's not changing, we see high prices in drugs, one of the fastest-growing areas. And so here's where AI has an incredible opportunity here to really transform the industry and get rid of a lot of that repetitive, manual work and increase efficiency." More from Seema Verma: Connect with Seema on LinkedIn or learn more about Oracle, health, and AI. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Key Takeaways Wellness-focused consumers are flooded with health data from wearable health tech and portals but lack the time and expertise to interpret what it actually means. To combat this, Copilot Health securely unifies data from hospitals, labs, and wearables to detect early health patterns and guide wellness decisions, making advanced medical insight accessible to everyone. Because hallucinations are dangerous in healthcare, Microsoft mitigated risk by embedding physician oversight into Copilot Health’s training and governance. Specifically, Microsoft's multi-agent orchestration layer of Copilot Health scored 85% when diagnosing 304 complex medical cases, four times better than experienced physicians did. At a broader level, AI-driven health systems promise enterprise cost savings and productivity gains while signaling a shift toward more human-like agents, making it paramount that innovation is matched with equally strong security. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans speaks with Nathan Thomas, Senior Vice President of Product Management for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, about the explosive growth and transformative potential of Oracle’s multi-cloud database strategy. Thomas explains how Oracle is enabling customers to run mission-critical databases across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud while unlocking new AI-driven innovation. Their discussion dives into how multi-cloud is reshaping enterprise mindsets, accelerating cloud migrations, and helping organizations fully leverage their data for next-generation applications and agentic AI. Multi-Cloud Momentum The Big Themes: Multi-Cloud Demand Explodes: Oracle’s multi-cloud database is seeing massive demand, driven by customers wanting to run Oracle workloads in the same cloud environments as their applications. This shift eliminates friction between systems. The surge is amplified by AI, as organizations look to connect their data with services like Gemini, Bedrock, and Copilot. The reported 500%+ growth reflects not just technical appeal but a fundamental change in how enterprises think about infrastructure. AI Is the Growth Catalyst: Artificial intelligence is accelerating multi-cloud adoption at an unprecedented pace. Customers want their data co-located with AI tools and pipelines, enabling faster insights and innovation. Instead of moving data across environments with latency constraints, multi-cloud lets organizations bring AI to their data. This creates a powerful feedback loop where better access drives more experimentation and faster results. New Builders, New Energy: The adoption of multi-cloud is bringing in a new generation of developers and AI-focused professionals. These users are actively engaging with enterprise data to build innovative applications and AI-driven solutions. This marks a shift from traditional, tightly controlled database environments to more dynamic, accessible platforms. Organizations are no longer treating their data as static assets, they’re using it as a foundation for continuous innovation and competitive advantage. The Big Quote: “We hear from customers a lot that they struggle with what I would call the tyranny of choice. There's just way too many options, way too complicated." More from Nathan Thomas and Oracle: Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn or learn more about Oracle and multi-cloud. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I examine how AI and data access are accelerating unprecedented cooperation among cloud leaders. Highlights 00:03 — It's been two and a half years now since that momentous interview featuring Satya Nadella and Larry Ellison talking about their partnership to do multi-cloud between Oracle and Microsoft. And in some ways, I regard this as the multi-cloud miracle, because we've accepted it. 01:10 — It's opening up more ways in which competing tech vendors are going to work together to drive better benefits, better outcomes for customers. So, I had a very interesting interview with Nathan Thomas, Senior Vice President for Product Marketing at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, where he heads up the multi-cloud effort. And I wanted to talk to him about the benefits. 02:24 — I want to also go back quickly and touch on what Nadella and Ellison talked about two and a half years ago. One of Ellison's first points, he said, this just makes it easier for customers, and they get the benefits of both Microsoft's top technology and Oracle's top technology optimized to work together. 03:36 — At the time, he said, OpenAI, take it to where the data is. So two and a half years ago, Nadella was very keen on this subject of how this multi-cloud partnership between Oracle and Microsoft would benefit the early days of the AI movement. 04:44 — And when you put it in terms of business outcomes, then these competitive things that are behind the scenes matter less and less. So this is an interesting time. I hope we'll see more of this. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss the significant leadership changes at Oracle and what they signal for the company’s future. Highlights 00:03 — One of the things that has become clear over the last several months is that there are big changes taking place at the top of Oracle. I wanted to go into that a little bit, particularly how this is all leading up to what is an excellent new adventure for company co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison. 00:21 — I think it's a remarkable time here. Now, clearly, I’m not saying that Larry Ellison is stepping aside. I mean, six months ago, we saw longtime CEO Safra Katz move from CEO. She elected to move to the new position of executive vice chairman. In those six months, we've also seen the ascendancy of new CEOs, Mike Sicilia and Clay Magouyrk. 01:09 — Again, this is not about Larry Ellison leaving. I think the new adventure he has was really brought into clear light on the March 10 fiscal Q3 earnings call for Oracle, when there was no opening statement by Larry Ellison. I mean, that's something he's done for the last 150, 160 earnings calls. 01:50 — Then, in the Q&A session on that March 10 earnings call, there were seven questions asked. None of them was aimed at Larry Ellison. They were all aimed at Magouyrk and Sicilia. After the final question, he added some thoughts to what Mike Sicilia had said. His point there is to say these are the new leaders of Oracle, the people helping now to set the direction, execute it, and make sure we're going in the right way. 02:40 — The new CEOs are doing a great job. In my estimation, the way they handled themselves in the answers on the March 10 earnings call was terrific. They were very, very, very persuasive, impressive, and compelling. So we can say this is the end of an era, but I think another way to look at it is that it's the beginning of a new era for Oracle. 04:05 — New ideas, speed, the ability to do things that customers haven't ever done before — and Sicilia and Magouyrk clearly have won the full confidence of Larry Ellison and Safra Catz, who believe now, as Ellison said on that March 10 earnings call, Oracle's future is bright. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I examine how Health 100 signals a major shift toward AI-powered, patient-centric healthcare ecosystems. Highlights 00:03 —Google Cloud has partnered with CVS Health to launch an AI-driven health data platform called Health 100. The platform unifies patient data from a variety of sources, enabling more streamlined health management. CVS Health, which operates both an insurer and a pharmacy retailer, is embracing the spirit of the AI revolutions. 00:36 — Health 100 will connect benefit managers, pharmacies, healthcare providers, and digital health systems into a single platform, regardless of the companies supplying them. And there's more details coming, but what we know so far is that Health 100 will tap built-in AI and generative AI to act as an always-on personal healthcare partner. 01:00 — It will deliver care options faster, be operated on mobile, and interact visually and through voice interactions. Patient data will be protected through Google Cloud security and compliance infrastructure. Now, this is just the latest in a series of partnerships through which Google Cloud is enabling companies to innovate in the healthcare space. 01:24 — Google Cloud is really standing out as a leader now, I think, in this area, focusing on agentic AI in the healthcare space. Now, while agents have been making significant strides in various business sectors and industries, it's really fascinating for me to see the momentum shifting into healthcare. 02:00 — Now we're talking about agentic workflows for patients driven by their own data. This progress is only possible with stringent governance and compliance, and as Google Cloud describes its infrastructure security as “secure by default,” companies are certainly supporting this new era of healthcare from solid foundations. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, Tom Smith is joined by Kieron Allen, an industry analyst and AI observer, who shares insights from the 2026 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA in San Diego. Together, they unpack major themes from the event, including agent orchestration, workforce reskilling, MCP’s enterprise impact, and the evolving human-AI partnership. Key Takeaways Human + AI Orchestration Is the New Core Skill: Allen underscores that orchestration is not just about technology—it’s about people managing AI systems effectively. Humans have to view agents as part of the workforce. This means employees must develop skills to coordinate, supervise, and optimize AI agents, treating them as collaborators rather than tools. The ability to orchestrate multiple agents will become a defining competency in modern organizations. Reskilling Must Address Culture and Collaboration One of Allen's strongest points is that reskilling goes beyond technical training. “We need to understand the AI… not just the tools, but also the cultural elements.” Organizations must prepare employees to work alongside AI, interpret outputs, and adapt workflows. This includes fostering trust in AI systems, redefining job roles, and building a culture that embraces continuous learning and collaboration with intelligent agents. MCP is Unlocking Massive Enterprise Efficiency: Smith highlights MCP as a breakthrough, describing it as a “USB-type connector” between AI and enterprise systems. With up to “650,000 actions” now automatable in Dynamics 365, MCP dramatically reduces manual effort. This standard simplifies integration across platforms, accelerates deployment, and enables scalable automation—making it a cornerstone for organizations looking to operationalize AI at scale. Customer-Centric AI Learning is Accelerating Adoption: Allen observes that many professionals are attending the conference not just for internal use, but because “they’re attending this conference… for their customers.” This reflects a shift where AI literacy is becoming essential for delivering value externally. Businesses are recognizing that understanding AI enables them to better anticipate client needs, create new offerings, and remain competitive. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I question whether OpenAI’s $140 billion enterprise revenue target is a realistic strategy or a speculative leap. Highlights 00:03 — It was announced recently, or revealed recently, that OpenAI expects that its revenue will hit about $280 billion by the year 2030, half of that enterprise, half of it consumer. So that would mean that by 2030, OpenAI, according to this CNBC report citing anonymous, confidential sources, will have its enterprise revenue be about $140 billion in five years, or less than five years now. 00:48 — As Larry Ellison said, “The baby could talk.” There has been a huge amount of interest around OpenAI. It has also stirred up considerable head-scratching with its agreements to purchase $300 billion of AI training and inferencing from Oracle, and about the same amount, maybe even a little more, from Microsoft. Now, all of this has people wondering, who is this company? What's it going to do? 01:47 — They said it's confidential, but they've seen information about OpenAI’s plans, so maybe we need to take this with a grain of salt. And I typically regard anonymous sourcing reports with about the same passion and love that I have for skin rashes. But I think because of the implications here for OpenAI and what it might mean, I thought this was at least worth mentioning. 02:26 — But they also said that, seeing that OpenAI has now changed its projections for how much compute or AI infrastructure spending it needs to do, Sam Altman had recently said it's going to be $1.4 trillion. Well now, according to the CNBC report, he's pulled that back to about $600 billion. That's a cut of $800 billion, or about 57% of the projections. 03:36 — So the more compute spending we do, the more revenue OpenAI is able to get—that is her premise. Now, if they are indeed cutting their compute and AI infrastructure spending by $800 billion, how then does that equate to this explosive revenue growth? And was that premise—that compute growth equals revenue growth—not true? 04:29 — Now, what about if key suppliers such as Oracle and Microsoft, perhaps Google Cloud, perhaps AWS, are also in this expansive scheme by OpenAI to reach $140 billion in enterprise revenue in four and a half years? What if they become competitors? How do they feel about continuing to be the suppliers of this engine of revenue growth? 05:26 — I don't mean in raising these questions to diminish the impact or the potential that OpenAI has. I think, like any fast-growing category creator as OpenAI has been, there's no roadmap, nobody's done this before, there's no playbook, and they've got to make this up as they go along. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Microsoft is redefining enterprise productivity by positioning Copilot, agents, and unified AI platforms as the operational backbone of next-generation “frontier firms.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.