Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

The Big Themes:·     The New York Times ad begins, “Dear Microsoft, big news and congratulations on today’s announcements. We’re genuinely excited to have some competition.”·     The ad reeks of arrogance. And Slack is saying to the European Union, “it’s just not fair the way Microsoft is treating us.”·     It’s time for Slack to be part of a different enterprise company, and maybe it’s Oracle, Salesforce – or maybe Microsoft will have pity on them and gobble them up.·     The cloud space is only going to get more interesting over the next 12 months, as we rush to reinvent these industries and businesses and reimagine them.·     Slack and Microsoft Teams are not anywhere near the same. Sean says, “when I get a link from a company that I’m working with, I grimace. It’s an absolutely terrible product.”The Big Quote:“The sad reality is Slack is worth more inside somebody else's enterprise today than it is alone.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Big Themes:·     It’s a great time to connect with your customers and employees. Try new ideas, try innovation, try creativity, and don’t waste these opportunities.·     Jamming 300 people into the same footprint is a myth. There’s not a shred of evidence that the open office makes people more productive.·     Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow said there will be times some people choose to work remotely – with childcare, parents, etc. – and sometimes you need to use the office as a “productivity tool.”·     Thomas.net is now in the fourth wave of a monthly survey, and a surprising number of manufacturers are reshoring back to North America.·     This is going to reshape global manufacturing for decades to come – and not just the areas we think about.The Big Quote: “What we're seeing is more robust hiring than we would have anticipated. Close to 40% of the companies are actually hiring right now.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Big Themes:·     Empathic design is creating a level of engagement for both your employees and your customers so that you are now listening to their needs.·     William Gibson wrote a book called “Neuromancer,” and was fond of saying, “The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed.”·     You may not have empathy, you may not be able to feel the emotions of people you’re serving, and you may not put yourselves in their shoes – but there are ways to solve that.·     A reporter said to Steve Jobs when the iPad came out, how did you know this? And he said, “Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”The Big Quote:"The rigidity of all this structure, which was vital in the industrial age, is becoming this albatross around our necks.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Big Themes:·     There are bottlenecks in the process, the wheels fall off, and the scope keeps changing – this is hard work!·     85% of the time you’re going to be working with the SI partner and not the software vendor themselves –as in SAP, Oracle, Workday, etc.·     With rapid deployment you’re not going to get an army of consultants. You’re going to get fewer people – and they’re going to be cross-functional.·     Bonnie answers a “Quick Quiz” on how the customer has to have the right expectations, and has to free up the resources to get the job done.·     She compares this to a marathon: If you hit a wall at mile 18 it will be bad. But if you’ve done the training ahead of time, it’s going to be amazing.The Big Quote:“You really want to have confidence that the people leading the process have been there, done that, and done it successfully.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Big Themes:·     A billion knowledge workers on the planet, and a quarter to half of us are working from home·     The future is not guaranteed to us, our innovations not guaranteed to us, human rights are not guaranteed to us. Our founders expected the citizenry would be much more involved.·     What happens to the travel industry, the leisure industry, and caterers, etc.? Where will they all go?·     Two million residents of New York City could permanently move out of the city – and they are moving to rural Colorado, Oregon, Maine, and Vermont·     Mark Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, has the tallest building in San Francisco – and he has been powerful, courageous, and a very visible leader·     Apple’s got the greatest UFO ever invented – what happens to it?The Big Quote: “Silicon Valley is no longer a place – it’s an idea.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

·     Who needs to wear a suit?·      Digital transformation is rethinking your products, your markets, your customer experience·     Why are you running a million row Excel spreadsheet?“The efficiency game is an anchor around your neck that's going to sink you.”This episode is brought to you by BMC Software 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. In this podcast, Sean and I talk about how long it will take until we get the economy back up and moving again.Episode 14Reimagining our companies is on Sean’s mind. We need to figure out what the right innovation strategy is. The world is going to be very different, and you need to build new products, new services, and new value to your customers. And companies need to do all that more rapidly and with more commitment than ever before.The notions of courage, commitment and vision in the face of daunting threats have been with us forever. I mention to Sean one of my favorite poems: “Horatius at the Bridge” by Thomas Babington Macaulay describes how Horatius steps forward to do what others believe is impossible as the Etruscan army is about to invade. The specific form of the challenges faced by people change over time, but the need for powerful and fearless leadership is a constant.Sean concludes with revisiting your operational plan, and how you’re investing in your assets this year. In this time of crazy transition and transformation, that’s all we have.Also in this episode:·     Steve Jobs and Corning Gorilla Glass·     Work from home forever!·     A magical time for your business·     The mirror is much closer than it appears See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bonnie Tinder is the founder and CEO of a company called Raven Intel (www.ravenintel.com), and it’s an independent B2B peer review site that is amplifying the voice of the customer. She focuses on software customers, consulting partners, and software vendors, and picks the best partners for their needs. In this new monthly series called “Tinder on Customers,” Bonnie and I talk about how not all partners are created equal, and choosing the right one is critical to a project’s success.Episode 1:Bonnie thinks that COVID-19 was a massive reset. The digital transformation projects that were happening prior to March were clipping along and life was good. And then wham! Big projects were taken down, and every single company changed their scope.I tell her that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has gone through two years of digital transformation in the past two months. Hear her answer.Bonnie concludes with the need to have a connection with customers and employees, and the necessity to reinvent yourself from the ground up. Businesses who were forward-thinking and had a presence were the ones who came out on top.Also in this episode:·      No industry has been immune to this disruption·      A curveball is okay – but when you’re expecting a fastball you’d better be resilient at the plate·      Marie Kondo – let’s get rid of the things that no longer serve us·      This is going to crush some businessesThis episode is brought to you by BMC Software. 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, Tony and I probe how it’s been like to be in a social media and pandemic world.Tony starts off with Facebook and the monetization of rage that you see on social platforms, and the systemic racism in the US. In the sixties, you had a print-based world, and a television-based world – and that’s it.Tony quotes Stephen Stills, “Something’s happening here.” I say, “What it is ain’t exactly clear.” These young people are going to grow up with a set of expectations – and some of the more seasoned folks think it’s almost an instant disruption.I joke with Tony that my black t-shirt is a 40-year-old vintage item. Tony says that my sartorial splendor and food choices are deeply troubling.We conclude with it’s a time for listening. Try to understand what is happening and don’t be too quick to volunteer opinions. It’s a very scary time and you see a lot of false positives and negatives.Also in this episode:·     Employees are saying, “I’m good thanks – I’ll stay right at home”·     Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella: two years of transformation crammed into two months·     Everyone in the world is paying attention to Zoom·     Email is the Rodney Dangerfield of digital platforms 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. In this discussion, Wayne and I talk about how modern ERP has changed, and if the board and C-Suite executives are not aligned with you through thick and thin, things will go badly.Wayne talks about how the scariest three letter word in the English language is ERP (enterprise resource planning). He talks to board members and C-Suite executives about ERP, and he listens to them when they say it’s going to cost more, it’s not going to work, and it’s going to take forever. But that’s not the case. You can get an ERP in the cloud for a fraction of the cost.In his final thoughts, Wayne discusses how if you’ve got a typical 20-year old software suite that’s discombobulated and disconnected – and half your business runs on Excel spreadsheets, you’ve got a problem. Modern ERP has all the resources for AI, IoT, mixed reality, drones, sensors, edge computing, and advanced analytics – and you should use them!Also in this episode:·     Chesterton’s Fence: Never take a fence down until you know why it was put up·     You want a person who has the scars and the gray hair·     IBM coined the term material requirements planning (MRP), which begat ERP 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, Charlie and I talk about the cataclysmic year we’ve been having, and the fact that the environment is constantly shifting.Episode 4:Charlie talks about how he wrote an article called the “Digital Enterprise Readiness Framework,” and it was tied to the idea of resiliency – and how pleased he was that there were a number of executives who had their business continuity plan (BCP) at the ready.He goes on to say that none of us are going to forget the year 2020. It has been a cataclysmic series of events. But a business continuity plan is designed to absorb the shock – be it pandemic, a terrorist attack, or a natural disaster.We conclude with what he calls the imagination gap – only it’s not just one thing, it’s two things. The first one is fear, and the second one is ignorance.Also in the episode: How to create a resilient organization Compensation models are still tied to the old world Creativity is from the top down The beatings will continue until morale improves 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, Chris and I talk about recent episodes of horrible violence exacting terrible tolls on families, communities, and this entire country.As always, Chris shares thoughtful and powerfully voiced views. In this episode, he weaves together the senseless murders of two Americans – George Floyd and Santa Cruz Sheriff's Dept. Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller – and the agony and anger each has triggered.Chris also relates a deeply personal story of the kidnapping and murder last year of his best friend – and of the relentless efforts of law enforcement to track down the 4 "unspeakably evil" killers. Echoing the view of most Americans, Chris says that while there are certainly some awful police officers, most law-enforcement officers perform an extremely difficult job in an honorable fashion.We discuss the separate but related tributes Chris participated in, and cried in, for George Floyd and for Sgt. Gutzwiller, and profess our belief that it is time for good people of all backgrounds to stand together. 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. 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.