Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

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.

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.

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.” 

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.  

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. 

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.”

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. 

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. 

The Big Themes:That’s what Silk helps with: We’re helping customers take those applications, and more importantly the databases underneath them – and successfully deploy them to the public cloud.Performance and cost: We always describe it as two sides of the same coin. You can have all that performance, but it’s going to cost you the world.The platform works as a very clever system: It uses a two-tier architecture that splits performance and capacity into independent dimensions.The crown jewels of the database space: When it comes to moving it and putting it into someone else’s cloud, you really need to be absolutely sure that you’re going to get everything you need. The Big Quotes:“I'm in a very privileged position to be able to talk to lots of CEOs and CTOs of very large companies.” “It's essentially like a t-shirt size methodology, but most real life work clothes don't fit into the easy small, medium, or large categories.” “I just think that everyone needs to keep an eye on what's happening in this database space.” 

The Big Themes:They want a player that’s crushing their quota year-after-year: Everybody’s going after that person. To get a search agency that’s going to make you a priority and only recruit for you is not realistic.They’re experts in their field: They’re sales recruiters, and that’s all they do. They’re engineering recruiters – and that’s all they do.Equity is always going to be a big issue: I think we’ll continue to be a driving force for change in the future.Candidates are just getting multiple offers, multiple calls: They’re getting tired of getting all the recruiting phone calls and interviews. The Big Quotes:“Did that person resonate with me? Do we share common values? You know, are they going to help me get to that next level?” “They’re going to have more resources. They’re going to have more tools. They’re going to have more investment put into making that organization or that team successful because that’s their business.” “They want to be with companies that are going to make their job easier.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software.