Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

Episode 21 | Thriving in ChangeThe Big Themes:The power of curiosity: Follow your curiosity. It may not be readily apparent how one activity will connect to another, but you might find unexpected synergy. Christian had no idea that his interest in high-tech lavender farming would actually help his consulting business, but it has deepened his knowledge of ag-tech.Fear has multiple aspects: Fear is ever-present, but can be overcome. Fear may obviate curiosity and keep you on the known path. One aspect of fear is being worried about what other people will think, but this shouldn't dictate your behavior.The courage to say no: To say yes to something, you have to say no to something else. Companies dislike saying no, but it's essential to have the courage to say no to what's not working.The Big Quote: “We should embrace our curiosity, we should satisfy our curiosity, we should feel free to explore, to experience, to learn, and to understand. And that is about people. That is about ideas, that is about practices, that is about processes, that is about businesses, it's about relationships, it's about love... we should embrace our curiosity and never ever, ever... be ashamed of it or... try and squelch it." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:The current era could be compared to 1995, when there was a lot of hype around the internet. John Doerr said then that the internet was underhyped. Today, AI might be underhyped.In business, there are two types of people, those who are the stewards of the status quo and those who work on the exponential different. The exponential different break the status quo and create new things. Now is the time for the exponential different: an example is Larry Ellison and Oracle.The traditional knowledge worker is in a lot of trouble due to AI, but there are new avenues available to them. They must become creators.The Big Quote: "If a robot can do your job, you need a new job . . . [as someone] who creates net new thinking, creates net new knowledge, who takes existing knowledge, stands on its shoulders, and bring[s] it forward." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Episode 46 | The Profile of the Modern CIOThe Big Themes:Co-creation and business relationships: The relationship between an IT function and a non-IT organization has to build on a foundation of co-creation; IT functions must engage with the business.CIOs are a part of the business: Gone are the days when the role of a CIO was to simply "support the business." The modern CIO is now part of the business and must build parallel connections across all business functions. "We engage at the bottom and we engage at the top," says Wayne.The mindset of the modern CIO: Wayne says he looks for two things in a CIO: ability to listen and curiosity. With the change in the tech landscape and business world, CIOs must not miss an opportunity to learn. Similarly, "if IT folks are talking about technology, versus listening for the business problems, the business opportunities, we're not getting the full value from IT."The Big Quote: "If the CIO cannot sit on the earnings call and explain the earnings to an analyst, if they can't go on a sales call and help the sales department close the deal, if they don't know how we make our money, if they don't know how we sell, and bill, and create and deliver and support, then the modern CIO is disconnected. And that doesn't work. You've got to be in the business. And I've got to be able to serve as a proxy for any other business executive, just like I'd like them to be able to serve as my proxy." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Episode 30 | Customer Learnings on Software Implementation ProjectsThe Big Themes:Oracle: As it relates to Oracle, customers have expressed on ravenintel.com that a particular challenge was around user acceptance testing (UAT). Specifically, one customer noted to "ensure ample time is built in for UAT and assume there will be errors and fixes that need to be done." Another customer noted that "it's essential that all key stakeholders at the operations level are included."SAP: A top challenge shared by customers who have implemented SAP software is to "challenge assumptions, and do not rely solely on your partner or vendors solution...don't assume the partner always has the right answer." It's critical that if customers don't feel confident in the assumptions being presented by the partner, they challenge it.Workday: Cusotmers have expressed that relating to implementing Workday software, a seasoned project manager is mandatory. From a project perspective, it is critical to have a system integrator (SI) involved who has "earned their stripes" with this specific implementation. Additionally, the leading SI/project manager should have the correct industry expertise, too.The Big Quote: "I think with these three softwares, the nature of them is that they offer a broad set of solutions. So we're not just looking at, you know, a single, you know, stream of implementation. Typically, these implementations are global rollouts with multiple different, you know, product functions, whether it's HCM, financials, supply chain, and things like that. So these are complex implementations that we're evaluating. They're not the, you know, 30 days up and running sort of rapid implementations that smaller software packages have. So I think there's a lot of lessons learned that we can glean from these." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

S/4HANA is a force multiplier: S/4HANA is part of the "next generation of ERP," meaning its intelligent, sustainable, and collaborative. The product is truly a "model A suite of applications," leveraging the best ERP systems have to offer. The company ensures the time-to-market for the product is quick, offers great value to users, and is an overall end-to-end product for customers.Industry-specific business networks: With the S/4HANA Cloud, SAP is able to go beyond helping individual companies adopt industry-specific solutions, and rather, extend these capabilities across entire industries. The notion of connectivity that is embedded in the product makes it a differentiator.Generative AI to enhance productivity: SAP systems are used for the most critical business decisions. When integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI into its products, SAP offers the highest level of trust, responsibility, and reliability in its outcomes. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

How Oracle Brings Horizontal, Vertical Solutions to Bear for Financial Services IndustryThe Big Themes:Shifting needs for financial services companies: Generational shifts are taking place, explains Sicilia. Traditionally, banks have "built a lot of it themselves on top of bespoke systems." As such, it can become expensive and "non-elastic" to maintain these systems. The combination of Oracle's ERP and its core banking system is something that big banks are leaning into very heavily.Fusing horizontal and vertical capabilities into one: In order to provide customers with the right "mix," Oracle is combining its vertical and horizontal capabilities into one for healthcare and financial services customers. "I think in every regulated industry that we operate in, you'll see a similar pattern follow, where we add vertical-specific technology that complements our vertical operating technologies into the horizontal applications as well," notes Sicilia.Legacy companies in the "New World": Oracle, considered a legacy company, is able to "play in the modern, New World," by bringing the best of traditional technology abilities forward along with its industry expertise. By applying cloud technologies, and a greater means of digital capabilities, Oracle is contributing a new level of intimacy between customers, partners, and businesses.The Big Quote: "One of the ones that makes a tremendous amount of sense that we're seeing great traction, and is the combination of ERP, plus our core banking system, right? I mean, really, if you think about ERP as the center of what you do in business, no matter what the business is that how do you integrate that with a vertical application, you know, in different verticals, or different touch points, but that core general ledger, right, that core ERP, and how do you integrate with that... you know, that's where we're seeing big banks lean in very heavily. And what they like is the fact that we can bring an entire solution to the market, right? Because what happens is that integration makes most sense, right? But if you have too many providers involved, the integration ends up becoming the problem for the customer... so that's been, that's been a pretty popular topic among our large banking customers, this integration between our core banking systems, cloud systems, and fusion ERP." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Innovation: Upwards of 70% of IT spend is dedicated to compliance, leaving only 30% of the budget for innovation. This is a tremendous drag on productivity, as organizations and business leaders want to be innovating. IBM partners with over 70 financial institutions to "put the industry muscle together."Global Financial Services Councils: In an effort to help mitigate the complexities associated with regulatory and compliance guidance which varies across both regions and industries, IBM has established a global Financial Services Council to help mitigate institutional risks and spread knowledge.The ripple effect: More room for innovation feeds back into the cycle, freeing up resources, expanding areas of business, and growing the customer base. The core framework that IBM is putting forth for financial services institutions enables users to see the "long-term value and benefit from all of this."The Big Quote: "So it's one thing to say you're compliant. It's another thing to be able to say 'I can prove I'm compliant.' And what IBM offers in this framework is IBM can work with regulators and compliance authorities and auditors in all of the jurisdictions and demonstrate that their system offers a compliant framework. Now all I have to do is prove I didn't break the framework, and a whole lot of my audit compliance and regulatory expenses just went down. So it's a tremendous saving for me, and for lots of people within the financial services world." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

VCU Health and Workday | A Unified PlatformThe Big Themes:Process improvements: In order to enable healthcare workers to perform to the highest degree of their license, VCU Health recognizes the importance of technologies that enable process improvements. By working with Workday, VCU Health is able to optimize its resources, and people, by leveraging Workday systems and technologies to the greatest degree.Cultural changes brought on by Workday: Change has taken place at VCU Health as a result of Workday technologies. Now, employees have access to information that enables them to do their jobs quicker, and more efficiently.Consolidating systems for better outcomes: The interconnectedness of Workday systems and technologies allows its partners and customers to harness a unified platform. Allen explains that this notion is something that led VCU Health to Workday, in addition to thinking about the future of technology.The Big Quote: "We never want to operate in a crisis mode where we don't need to. And so when we looked at Workday, we really appreciated the notion of it being a power of one, and it being a single system that worked together that worked. And so if we made a change in one, in the HR, it flowed through the system, and then we could manage it better. So that's really what brought us to Workday, is really being able to leverage that power of one, and really being able to think about the future of the technology. Workday is built in the cloud, that's where it was born, essentially. And so being able to leverage the technology that's already set in the technology that we use today, versus an older system using a different type of technology, we really are looking to really move the organization forward, not only with the technology, but with our culture and adopting change and really helping to be agile so that we can be better resources of our healthcare system." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Episode 45 | Infrastructure, Software, ApplicationsThe Big Themes:CIO "Lego blocks": CIOs in tech are looking for vendors to provide the "building blocks" that are necessary to develop applications. When CIOs approach the board, they are not looking to describe servers and storage, but rather, systems, or applications.Vendors compete on the strength of their products: Wayne praises Oracle for competing with the strength of its product(s). The company is not looking to lock customers in. He says that, as a customer, it makes him feel like [Oracle] has less to hide.Choices are evolving for customers: Customers are now faced with selecting a cloud provider whose cloud philosophy resonates with the type of work they are trying to do. Wayne and Bob explore various cloud vendors and their differentiated offerings. The Big Quote: "We're willing to pay for differentiated vertical software that solves our problem quicker. Companies don't mind making an investment in a quality product. What we've had to do up to now, as I say, "buy the Lego blocks and assemble our own solution." There are people who think that's great. I don't think manufacturing companies, supply chain companies, retail companies, hospitals should be in the software business. I think they should be in the business that's on the nameplate on the door. And so as a CIO, I'm encouraging vendors to give me more solutions that I can configure rather than customize, and that either fit together with other products in their app store or their infrastructure space, their partner space, or they just work out of the box from the vendor. Because then I do less integration and more solution. And that's what I think I want to do as a 21st-century CIO." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Episode 20 | Combatting Declining ProductivityThe Big Themes:Declining rates of productivity: For five consecutive quarters, productivity rates in the United States have been steadily declining. In the most recent quarter, it was down nearly 3%. "It's very clear worker productivity is in jeopardy, or so we say as corporations."Work from home may be a factor: Employers are facing economic and market pressures. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that remote work styles are contributing to the lack of productivity. Is this the case?Culture and engagement: What creates increased levels of productivity? Christian suggest that deep engagement and investment in employees can combat declining productivity rates. Bob and Christian emphasis the importance of culture, and note the ways in which a strong culture in the workforce can drive empathy, and yield better results.The Big Quote: "The number one thing that drives productivity is engagement. But why do we not have engagement? Now think about this... why do we not have engagement? Well, why don't we just back up a bit and say, what drives good engagement? Well, if you were to look at some of the studies out there, some of the studies would say, maybe there's three, four things, you know, that really drive engagement. One is a top-down dedicated effort to grow and develop your workforce. Hmm, that's interesting. So you, you're growing and developing, that's not paying a paycheck. That's not growing and developing, everybody that thinks you're doing that. This means developing, you are investing in time, you're investing money... but I can't do that they're already not productive enough. Oh, okay. You see when we get confused so easily? So one of the factors is invest and develop your people. Oh, here's another one. This is really weird. Teach your managers and leaders to manage and lead." Visit Cloud Wars for more.