The Cloud Consulting Journal

Meet Jeff Douglas: Army veteran, parent to an army of children, RV wanderer, the original Salesforce MVP, beer magnate, and an all-around fantastic guy. In this discussion, we talk about how Jeff got into cloud computing, some of the inside baseball of the Trailhead platform, and specific examples of how Trailhead has changed lives. 

Vanessa Grant is one of the coolest cats in the Salesforce Consulting world.  She is a 6x Certified Salesforce Business Analyst & Consultant at Simplus Consulting .  Vanessa has had an amazing career, going from the radio industry to cloud consulting. Enjoy!

In this episode, I speak with Charlie Cowan about his new book , "How To Sell Tech: A step-by-step guide to hitting your target in your first technology sales role." We discuss how Charlie got into tech sales and some of the concepts from his book, including how to run an effective meeting.  

Tiffany Spencer is the COO of Esor Consulting and is involved with Tech Forward ,  Black Orlando Tech ,  and the upcoming Dreamin' in Color conference. In this episode, we discuss her career, all her activities,  and what black tech professionals face in the workplace. Tiffany is an inspiring person and I think you will enjoy this conversation.

Emma Jacobs and Galvin Olsen-Smith are consultants on the Strategy Team at Atrium AI . Both were recruited directly out of college into Atrium's Luminate program . In this podcast, we discuss their transition from college to a career in consulting, what excites them about technology, and how to cope with the stresses of a career. Enjoy!

Garry Polmateer is the CEO of Red Argyle , a friendly Salesforce consulting firm based in upstate New York. We discuss how Garry connected his art background with technology, the strategy and culture of Red Argyle, and his advice for CEOs. Garry is a multi-talented artist, technologist, parent, husband, and person, and I think you'll enjoy his wisdom.

Brian Reynolds is a Senior Partner at Salesforce working with Slack system integrator alliances.  We discuss Brian's struggle getting into the professional services sales business, how he learned to be a great sales rep, the differences between selling products and services, and Brian's current role in building a consulting ecosystem around Slack. We share many great memories, and Brian...

Michelle Swan is a partner at  Tercera.io , a firm that invests in services companies in what they describe as the Cloud's 3rd Wave . Michelle is an expert in all things marketing. In this podcast, we discuss how Michelle got into the world of cloud computing consulting, what exactly is the Cloud's 3rd wave, and what her advice is for service companies building go-to-market plans. Enjoy!

 Mike Martin is the Chief Customer Officer of 10K Advisors , a firm that connects people talented in Salesforce with customers that need solutions. Mike is a  Salesforce MVP , a beer connoisseur, a Lego enthusiast, and an all-around great guy. In this episode, we discuss how Mike got into the consulting world, what 10K Advisors does, and some of the issues in the market for Salesforce talent. We a...

Tere Traub  is an Associate Partner in the Public Sector for 7Summits (now IBM).  Tere has extensive international experience and has deep knowledge of the world of Higher Education, having worked at Kaplan University and the University of Texas system. In this episode, we discuss how Tere got into Salesforce consulting and the state of Higher Education. We also discuss food and the differences be...

Shoby Abdi is the Director of Architect Success at Salesforce. Before his current role, Shoby worked for several consulting firms in the Salesforce partner ecosystem, including Model Metrics, Mavens Consulting, 7Summits, Wave6, and West Monroe Partners. In this episode we discuss the history of the ecosystem, how firms maintain or lose their culture, and Shoby gives the inside story of the B2B and...

Aaron Crear is the founder of Hat-Trick Consulting , a small firm in the Northeast US. In this episode, we discuss his journey from being an end-user of Salesforce to owning his own small consulting firm. We discuss his journey, as well as Salesforce User Groups, Northeast Dreamin', Dreamforce, Salesforce Flow, and beer. 

Suzanne Sherlock is a Principal in the Columbus, Ohio office of Slalom Consulting . Suzanne's journey to consulting started with on-campus interviews with Anderson Consulting (a firm that later became Accenture.)  Since those early beginnings, Suzanne has become an outstanding consultant, and even more importantly, an adoptive mom. In this episode, we discuss Suzanne's path to consulting...

In this episode, I speak with two-time colleague Kyle Bowerman of Atrium AI . Kyle is the Director of Enterprise Architecture, a team that works as "data plumbers."  We discuss what got Kyle into consulting, and Kyle shares some of his wisdom for new consultants.  Kyle also shares his experiences with crowdsourcing, and we talk about Appirio's journey with the crowdsourcing platform...

The inaugural episode of the Cloud Consulting Journal features the incomparable Jenevieve Arrigan of Escapist Reality , a small consulting firm based in Portland, Maine. We discuss our time at Appirio, how to maintain a good culture, her motorcycle ride across America and back, and all the lessons she's learned in running a firm for five years. The consulting business is a long journey, and J...