Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

The Big Themes: • Hyper focused on the four markets in regulated industries: Healthcare, telecommunications, financial services and government. • IBM's heritage is in the mid office and the back office: Our mainframe runs the systems of records in the back office. That essentially is the sun in our solar system. • We're an open company that provides choice: As we go through the next transformation...

The Big Themes: Public cloud operating model: Maybe there was more governance requirements, more security. We are seeing now customers becoming more thoughtful. Endless pots of gold: The one big thing on their mind is, “How can I do more with less money.” First-party data, on-premises data: But at the same time having the same self-service model, the speed, the agility, the security, the performan...

The Big Themes: • The Baby Boomers are retiring: Further accelerating the need to deal with mainframes. • FinTech as an example: Old brick and mortar banks and investment firms have had mainframes for 40 years, but those workhorses can’t handle fast-changing world of digital finance. • You’d better get that project right: We always tell our CIOs, "When you successfully move your mainframe to the c...

The Big Themes: • The great resignation is effecting projects: What are some of the key findings or trends about these transformations? What was different in Q3? • What are the biggest reasons projects fail to deliver results? So many companies in the middle of digital transformation. • What are some of the pain points: That's actually a little bit higher than we've seen in the past. • What should...

The Big Themes: • Facebook is evil: It’s a lot like going to work for Philip Morris 30 years ago. We should continue to invest in solving the world’s problems. • Tesla is undervalued: Tesla is a software company. Tesla is an automaker – and in five years we’ll see who’s right. • An interesting and kind of fun way: How can you make these companies more software companies over the next few years? •...

The Big Themes: • We just launched a new channel: Reflecting this global business phenomenon, it’s called the data revolution—and it’s turning the business world upside-down. • Mining for gold: Gathering as much customer data as possible and then using mining algorithms to gain insights and opportunities. • Aggregated, integrated, and transformed: Data transformation is the term that is used rou d...

The Big Themes: • The real story behind the supply chain: There are not enough skilled workers in manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and trucking. • Combination of technology and innovative programs: Like apprenticeships, primary school education programs, and recruiting people from other industries. • Geo-political dynamics: LinkedIn pulling out of China, recent investments by the US governm...

The Big Themes: • The solution is a production database: So there’s a big period of time when I have two different data sources. And you run the report off that database. • We learned about Chesterton's fence: It didn't grow like a weed – somebody put it there. They spent time and money and energy. I say to CEOs boards and my customers ask yourself, why did we do it that way? • Very worried about...

The Big Themes: • We're not loyal to each other: I think you've got to breathe almost our hearts back into our organizations. • Competitors are very aggressive: And they're enticing them with new programs at 20% rates. The salaries are getting kicked up just because they're paying more. • Blindingly obvious: When we’re in the four walls, we forget the simple things. It’s really a clear and present...

The Big Themes: • “Scaling Up” – by Verne Harnish: The four Ds: drivers, demands, discipline, and decisions. • Growth doesn’t always equal success: For each organization, defining what success means is really important to defining how you can make a decision and make those executions a reality. • The Acceleration Economy Analyst Network: This is a new venture from Acceleration Economy Media, a gro...

The Big Themes: • Your data pipeline is key: A strong data pipeline with a decent model is better than an awesome model with a weak data pipeline • Sit down with the executives: It's relevant at the executive level as well. Guys at the CEO level like Cloud Wars All-Star Tony Uphoff are pushing the envelope through data. • In data analysis, there’s a war for high quality talent: Figure out how to g...

The Big Themes: • Young kids don’t have any money: After spending a hundred thousand dollars on a four year education I’d like to see the universities at least provide a one day seminar and teach them personal skills. • A lot of brilliant minds: Talented people that are in the middle of their career have no idea how to navigate to the next level. • They have to do their homework: I find it very sa...

The Big Themes: • Operating solutions to hotels, casinos, and cruise ships: It’s been a brutal 18 months for hospitality – the industry did a very good job early on of shoring up liquidity. • We did quite well during COVID: The vast majority of the partner technologies that were deployed I'd say in the first 12 months of the pandemic were largely focused around mobility. • These are huge numbers:...

The Big Themes: • Setting clear project goals and timelines: This will help you measure your progress. Without clear goals and success metrics, it will be difficult to understand if you are on right track. • Make sure you have leadership buy-in: It’s important to get these individuals on board. Leadership support can also ensure you have the right resources. • Select the right consulting partner:...

The Big Themes: • They're looking to modernize everything they do: And whether that's the infrastructure, whether that's how they operate the infrastructure, but it's such a key priority. • I look at this as two layers of that cake: If we go back to the pillars of a modernization, infrastructure, operations, and applications. • And I think there's really three pillars to that: One is certainly mod...

The Big Themes: • You may be hearing about it: The Buy American Act, The Infrastructure Bill, The United States Innovation, and Competition Act. • Based on our Thomas data: We have a few predictions of supply chain disruptions that will impact the consumer economy over the next 12 months. • The woman that created a billion dollar brand called Spanx: She was pretty savvy about design and had at lea...

The Big Themes: • Every industry: Think about how each one of them accelerated or propelled what they would have taken years to get to in a very, very short period of time. • Some businesses have opened, some have closed: But one thing it's really taught us is we're able to touch billions of people in meaningful ways, across a broad spectrum. • Constantly engaging with your customers: And the more...

The Big Themes: • IBM support is a differentiator: Upstart cloud vendors are in an IaaS arms race. Legacy enterprise IT clients have been with IBM clients for 50+ years. • Board of duty of care: The board’s overarching mandate is to protect shareholders over the long term. Boards have two main fiduciary duties: Loyalty and care. • Cybersecurity and obsolescence risk: What is the age of IT componen...

The Big Themes: • This thing called fog of war: And the fog of war is you don't know everything. And then as soon as the bullets start flying, you actually know less because it's like this aperture shrinks. • Half the Fortune 500 will be replaced by other companies: We have the highest churn rate in the history of the list. • Most of our corporations are run by terrible leaders: They have the tech...

The Big Themes: • The Ambassador: Excited about the project and are telling everyone about it. They’ll be the first ones that post their go-live badge on LinkedIn. They’re also rolling-up their sleeves to contribute. • The up-and-comer: Might not have previous experience but see the project as an opportunity to grow in their career and add a successful digital transformation to their resume. Great...

The Big Themes: • It just doesn’t magically happen: It’s not the data you already have, this is one of the hard lessons that lot of folks think. • DataStax fits into that equation: And this is one of the things that I think goes back to what you talked about in terms of agility. • Everybody has S3 compatible APIs: You've got your storage now that is just scale out via very simple APIs. You've got...

The Big Themes: • You've got great leaders at the top of the house: In both those companies you really understand innovation. • One of our venture companies: We sold a company to a publicly traded company that when that transaction happened, I got a lot of congratulations. • That ship has sailed: I also think though that speaks to another thing that we expected to happen when you plug into an orga...

The Big Themes: • A fascinating cultural shift: The millennial generation’s increasing dissatisfaction with “knowledge work” and the increasing interest in wanting to make things. • The cultural legacies of the US manufacturing industry: This is why so many industries are disrupted by outsiders. • Technology continues to advance dramatically: It’s time to transform and upgrade how technology is po...

The Big Themes: Accenture ransomware: Accenture’s response – they quickly detected, defended, and repaired. So far, it appears to be only a low-value material leaked. The New Digital Edge: McKinsey article rethinking strategy for the post-pandemic era. “By 2023, most companies will need to build new digital businesses to stay economically viable.” Talking to CFOs: After talking with several CFOs s...

The Big Themes: The “T” in Teamwork: Why employees with breadth and depth are imperative for harmonizing organizational goals and culture. We call this the acceleration economy. We are launching a brand-new program: August 19th to be exact, and it's all content driven to what is the future role of the office of the CFO. Tie in the future effects of the office: What’s the difference between data di...