Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

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.

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.”  Visit Cloud Wars for more.

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.   Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Microsoft has said that for every $1 of software they sell, partners make $9: The opportunity for channel partners in this time of cloud growth is huge.It should mirror the customer base: Software vendors should make it easy for customers to know who their partners are.Effective onboarding and training programs: These ensure that partners have the domain expertise to work any given software and ongoing programs.A level playing field: Not cherry-picking partners for customers based upon name brand or because they fund the top sponsorships.The Big Quotes:“This is really a summary of the last three years of research.”“Just because somebody was great one year doesn't mean that they're going to be great the following year.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The Big Themes:Taking a victory lap: When you look at those lists, these are technology companies that have figured out how to partner and work within the industry.New Carnegie Mellon masters program: I believe the first masters level joint business degree is to help students prepare to be a product manager.The enemy of my enemy is my friend: But the other part of that is true as well. There’s a lot of moving pieces on the chess board right now.Rockefeller breaking up Standard Oil: After the breakup, he got significantly wealthier. Could the same happen with Amazon and AWS? The Big Quotes:“I think that the other thing that's going to be interesting as I kind of look into the back half of 2021 and 2022 is I do think we're going to start to actually see a lot more innovation around healthcare.” “The vaccine rollout is nothing short of a miracle.” This episode is brought to you by BMC Software.  Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Oliver Bussmann is a world-renowned expert specializing on the intersection of technology and business with particular expertise in financial services, and is now CEO of Bussmann Advisory AG. Having been both a CIO and a COO, Oliver has held senior positions at UBS, SAP, Allianz, Deutsche Bank and IBM.I had a great chat with Oliver Bussmann, who's a strategic advisor and board member for corporations and software companies, as well as startups in fintech, payments, and blockchain. Having been CIO at not only one of the world's top software companies – SAP –but also at some leading financial institutions – UBS and Allianz – Oliver shares compelling insights on digital transformation, new business models, the impact of technology on strategy, and the ongoing battle for talent.The Big Themes:State-of-the-art technology: How they connect to the ecosystem, so there are two worlds coming together.Bringing data into the cloud: There’s a price tag to that too. It’s not only an efficiency play, by the way, meaning which application you want to test drive.It’s a never-ending story: The next one is already waiting around the corner. You have to adjust how you work together, and the level of collaboration has changed dramatically over the couple of years.My weekly newsletter: In total almost 40,000 subscribers. I have a huge community of a hundred thousand followers on LinkedIn.The Big Quotes:“The most important asset that you have is your people. And how you take your people, your organization on that journey, get them excited, motivated, help them to learn more new skills and capabilities.”“And we are at the beginning of a marathon. It's not a sprint.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software. Visit Cloud Wars for more.