Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

Each month, “Ammirati on Innovation” episodes will look at ways that the disruptive-startup mentality is spreading beyond young entrepreneurs to big established corporations. Serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and Carnegie Mellon B-school professor Sean Ammirati, who sits at the intersection of these high-change dynamics, provides insight. In this episode, Sean and I talk about business model transformation and how Microsoft and FedEx are reimagining the world.Episode 13Sean talks about how we’ve gotten to a point where companies have made 80% of the investment they needed to in digital transformation (but he thinks they’ve gotten about 20% of the value from that investment). Business model transformation is not just making experiences more efficient and making your supply chain run a little smoother, but actually completely turning your businesses into digital-first models.Taking a turn, Microsoft and FedEx are partnering to combine the scale of the global digital logistics network of FedEx with the power of Microsoft’s intelligent cloud. Businesses will have an unprecedented level of control into the global movement of goods.Concluding, Sean says that we need to start looking at how do we take this situation that we're all in and use it to make our companies better, stronger, and more vibrant. We owe it to our employees, we owe it to our customers, and we owe it to our shareholders.Also in this episode:· The hen and the pig – no such thing as a merger of equals· Joint AI innovation between Microsoft and Novartis· Workday and Salesforce: Perfect together· Is it a V-shaped recession, or a U-shaped recession? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Each month, Charles Araujo joins Cloud Wars Live for a recurring segment known as “Araujo on Transformation.” Charlie is a bestselling author who has three books to his name: “The Quantum Age of IT,” “The Ecosystem Advantage,” and “Performance-driven IT.” He is also an engaging speaker who will entertain and challenge your audience. Charlie has a website called www.charlesaraujo.com, and another called “The Institute for Digital Transformation.” In this episode, we talk about how senior management has to step up to the plate and solve the customer experience.Episode 3:Charlie has been a fan of design thinking for years. It’s putting the customer at the center of everything you do. It’s about solving problems – and solving them empathetically from the perspective of your customer. He names companies that have some arcane backend processes that have him hanging up the phone and canceling his trip. How many times have we been frustrated because we’re pulling our hair out? (Although he’s bald.) Concluding, he talks about how it’s going to fundamentally change the way we experience design thinking. If you’re a leader of an organization, or a leader of a tech company, you need to come to this with a degree of humility. Also in this episode:· Design thinking vs. systems thinking· Working permanently from home· People love and need connection· A futurist is someone who has seen the world turned upside down See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Each month, Tony Uphoff, visionary CEO of Thomasnet.com, joins Cloud Wars Live for a recurring segment. “Uphoff on Industry” will explore the innovations, upheavals, and breakthroughs reshaping the world of manufacturing and industrial markets. In this episode, we’re discussing how this is going to impact your business big-time – but maybe you can pivot to something else and become more agile.Episode 14Going into our 12th week of the pandemic (seems like forever), 33 million Americans have lost their jobs – and there is more hardship to come. Tony says there are entire segments of industries going away overnight, but the rollercoaster ride – and the emotional impact of that – is maybe getting a little less scary.Convention centers aren’t opening up anytime soon. The core value of a trade show is connecting buyer and seller, meeting prospects, and spending time with customers. What can replace that experience? He gives an answer (hint: nobody needs to fly, and nobody gets too drunk the night before).The Grateful Dead is on Tony’s mind, and he quotes the lyrics by the late, great Robert Hunter. “Sometimes the light’s all shining on me. Other times I can barely see. Lately, occurs to me, what a long strange trip it’s been.” That’s the era we’re living in right now.Also in this episode:· 75% of critical medications are not made in this country· The best data analytics package is not going to give you the answer· Titles and certifications are meaningless· Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow says, “We’re going to come out of this stronger.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Peter Steube, managing director of Enterprise Technology Research (ETR), will join us each month to discuss enterprise-IT buying trends among big-company CIOs and IT decision-makers around the world. ETR (www.etr.plus) has developed an extensive database of IT buying tendencies over the past 10 years, and tracks whether those buyers are likely to buy more, hold steady, or buy less from specific IT vendors. In this episode, Peter and I discuss how cybersecurity is increasingly top of mind for enterprises globally.Episode 3:It’s very important to stay protected from cybersecurity threats when you’re moving from a work at home environment or a remote infrastructure environment. Many companies are increasing their spend on Azure, AWS, and Google – which are the three primary public cloud providers.Citing other cybersecurity vendors, like SailPoint, Okta, and CyberArk, he also includes a few companies called CloudFlare, Fastly, and Zscaler.Finally, Peter talks about the three uncertainties in life, death, taxes – and fourth, good spending data on Microsoft. He thinks that Microsoft Azure is going to continue to win over AWS and Google.Also in this episode:· Company CEOs are holding their spend steady· Salesforce strengthened its overall spending intentions· Digital transformation initiatives have become a part of life· Zoom vs. Microsoft Teams vs. Slack See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Each month, “Lochhead on Different” episodes explore the need to differentiate people, products, and services in a world that encourages a lot of imitation. Christopher Lochhead is a best-selling author, top podcaster, and former tech-industry CMO. In this episode, we delve into human agency and the people who created the future – including the woman who created the wheel.Episode 13Chris and I discuss how in December a lot of companies had just completed their best year, and were heading into what they thought was even a better year. In January, the economy was on fire – near record lows in unemployment. Then February starts getting a little spooky, and when March hits, BAM! everything changes.Restaurants, bars, airlines, hotels, etc. are going to open back up, but the question is how do we do it safely? Chris thinks the agenda is very clear right now. How do we save the maximum lives and protect people as effectively as we know how, and how do we build a strong America and strong global economy?Concluding, Chris says the future is ours to choose. Get involved in your communities, and get involved in the trajectory of your company.Also in this episode:· Nine percent of companies didn’t simply recover three years after a recession – they flourished· Human beings have agency, and can create the future· He quotes the Dude in the “Big Lebowski,” “This aggression (recession) will not stand, man”· The real heroes are the healthcare workers, retail workers, and supply chain workers See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is brought to you by RSA Security.For this sponsored Cloud Wars Live conversation, I speak with Mignonette Silot-Chang, VP of Human Resources for RSA Security. Mignonette and I talk about how we are under unprecedented times, and how her employees across the globe have displayed incredible resiliency, and have been able to adapt very quickly. In Silot-Chang’s opinion, this crisis presents leaders a great opportunity to demonstrate empathy, patience, and understanding.Companies are going to come out of this in two ways – those who embraced the new norm will come out closer and more collaborative – and others will be more fractured because they didn’t lean into the opportunity.The days of traveling week after week for in-person meetings or conferences may be a thing of the past – although there is always a need for face-to-face interaction. Mignonette sees more companies embracing the notion of a flexible workplace – and how video conferencing might be the go-to plan in the future.RSA Security belongs to the family of Dell Technologies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“Sadin on Digital” episodes explore the fast-changing and high-stakes world of digital business. Wayne Sadin and I focus on digital transformation, and what it means to put technology first. Today, we look at Wayne’s suggestions across various industries of what it means to put your product, your culture, and your market – and what your business is going to look like.In this episode, Wayne and I discuss how “horizontal” subways and “vertical” elevators are going to fall from favor. It’s a lot easier and for some, less stressful to take a bus, a private car – or even a bicycle. Wayne predicts that people are going to move away from big cities like New York, San Francisco, Paris, London – and move into the suburbs and exurbs.Most of Wayne’s clients have worked from the home environment pretty seamlessly; business as usual. A lot of executives who said, “Never, I’m not going to put up with it,” are now realizing it may not be so bad.We also explore how telemedicine is revolutionizing the industry. You can sit in front of a screen and a doctor is monitoring your smartwatch, smart ring, arm sensor, implanted insulin device – and all that telemetry and edge computing and IoT is now feeding back to a sensor suite.Also in this episode:· Why are we running out of toilet paper?· We have more sensors, IoT, edge computing, and robotics, than there ever were before· Why a doctor in Texas can’t treat a patient in Oklahoma· People dying of COVID-19 also have heart problems, obesity, smoking, and other comorbidities See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is brought to you by Oracle.For this sponsored Cloud Wars Live conversation, I talk with Bruno Aziza, Group Vice President, AI Data Analytics Cloud at Oracle. Bruno takes us through his conversations with customers. He asks a very simple question: What can we do to help customers innovate at scale?The Oracle Analytics Summit will kick off on May 12th. This is a free event and Oracle has designed the experience without a registration password, and without a paywall.Schneider Electric, FedEx, GE, Outfront Media are all part of the summit. Bruno says last year the Oracle Analytics Summit had three keynote speakers – and this time Oracle has six.Finally, Bruno says, the Oracle Analytics Summit is not the beginning; it goes on forever until Oracle has really solved all the problems related to analytics. So, he says, customers should participate, engage, and provide his team with feedback. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Each month, “Ammirati on Innovation” episodes will look at ways that the disruptive-startup mentality is spreading beyond young entrepreneurs to big established corporations. Serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and Carnegie Mellon B-school professor Sean Ammirati, who sits at the intersection of these high-change dynamics, provides insight.Episode 12In this episode: Sean says founders are some of the most creative and innovative people. They have a combination of intellectual courage that makes them pretty remarkable. He says Larry Ellison of Oracle, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, and Mark Zuckerberg are the Mellons and Carnegies of this generation. Sean says a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. He says he’s seeing it across his companies. These are businesses that he has investments in and it’s created real tailwinds. Sean says Disney+ had a great quarter – and now they are catching up to Netflix. But Disney’s core theme parks are another issue. Sean says airline companies have taken all of their profits and plowed them into stock buybacks. He says that puts them in a very weak position. Sean thinks that transportation is less important than it was before – and we’ll figure out a way to do it remotely. He says SurfAir is a great example. They flew from regional airports, and he had a number of colleagues who were just fanatics about the SurfAir experience. But, he says, are we going to travel on airplanes are some point? He suspects they will. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Each month, Tony Uphoff, visionary CEO of Thomasnet.com, joins Cloud Wars Live for a recurring segment. “Uphoff on Industry” will explore the innovations, upheavals, and breakthroughs reshaping the world of manufacturing and industrial markets. Join Tony and me as we discuss disruptive new trends in the digital-industrial world. These include how we design, source and manufacture products. And also the new ways in which industrial companies are getting up to speed on marketing, sales and customer experience.Episode 13In this episode, Tony says Thomas made a full pivot for about 350 employees spread across two locations – one in New York City, and one in Horsham, PA. He says the first step was how smoothly it all went, and how prepared Thomas was to go remote.Tony says he has so many suppliers that just bring tears to his eyes. He says they have to shut down for the foreseeable future. Although, he says he’s heard from hospitals, organizations, city and state governments that found incremental suppliers. And he says you can use it on ThomasNet.com – and he says Thomas did it in 48 hours, not nine to 10 months.He says Mark Andreesen of Andreesen Horowitz – who created the modern web browser called Netscape – wrote a post recently that says it’s time to build. He called out in a positive way that US manufacturing has never had a higher output.Tony says ThomasNet rolled out a new badging system, rolled out version 5.0, rolled out business unit called Thomas Industrial Data, rewired all our financial systems, rolled out a new order entry system, and 450 seats of Salesforce – all in 30 days.He says we are going to have a little turbulence here, but he thinks we’re going to get through this, and for many companies, they can come out of this stronger than before. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.