Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

By Bob EvansBusiness News Technology

Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans episodes

March 17 Hypergrowth Returns!! Palantir 70%, Google Cloud 48%, Oracle 44%
In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I look at why the AI economy is fueling unprecedented demand for cloud services and pushing the world’s top vendors into hypergrowth again.
Highlights
00:03 — Things are off to a hot start here in early 2026 with the growth rates for the world's top cloud and AI vendors within the Cloud Wars Top 10 growing nicely across the board here because of the demand from customers for AI and cloud services. In fact, we're seeing the return of hypergrowth, 40% or higher growth rates.
00:27 — Hadn't seen that for a while, and this installment of the Cloud Wars Growth Chart we've got three vendors in that category: Palantir at 70%, Google Cloud at 48%, Oracle at 44%. Behind this all is massive customer demand for cloud and AI services, data, agents, and insights as companies prepare themselves for the rapidly approaching AI economy.
01:47 — Palantir, as I said, was number one, 70%, just over $1.4 billion in revenue last quarter. Google Cloud: 48% to $17.7 billion. Oracle: 44%, $8.9 billion in cloud revenue in its most recent quarter. Microsoft: 26% growth rate on $51.5 billion — by far the largest cloud and AI services vendor.
02:41 — And then SAP in a tie with Microsoft here for fourth place: 26% growth, $6.6 billion in revenue. Across the board for all of the Top 10 companies, we saw an increase in the growth rate from the last time I did the Cloud Wars Growth Chart, which was in mid-December.
03:47 — Businesses are expressing and showing enormous demand for these AI and cloud services. And I think in that context it's important to remember we're just at the beginning of this. As customers see what can be done with AI and advanced cloud services, there's going to be more demand.
04:19 — Because of the incredible competitive dynamics among the Cloud Wars Top 10 companies, the pace of innovation from the vendors is rising. We can expect continued remarkable demand feeding into the Cloud Wars Top 10 — what may be the greatest growth market the world has ever known.
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6 min
March 16Verifiable Intent and the Race for a Universal Protocol in Commerce
Key Takeaways
Agent transactions: With models like the Universal Commerce Protocol, Google aims to control global agent transactions, relying on Mastercard’s verifiable financial infrastructure to make it viable.

Filling voids: Similar to how MCP secures agent access to internal systems, verifiable intent enables agents to securely transact on behalf of humans by closing three gaps in the purchase flow; it secures transactions by validating agent identity, ensures strict adherence to user instructions, and confirms the transaction occurred.

Big picture: Google and Mastercard are racing to lay the foundation for agentic commerce, but if no single standard wins, fragmented protocols could recreate the same consumer confusion seen in past payment wars—all hinging on the assumption that agents will define the future of commerce.
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4 min
March 16 Oracle Pumps Up Apps w/ 1,000+ Agents to Automate Industries
In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how Oracle is embedding more than 1,000 AI agents into its applications to transform entire industry ecosystems.
Highlights
01:18 — I think what we're seeing now here at the cusp of the agentic AI boom is the opportunity for modern technology to transform not just individual companies but entire industries and ecosystems. Oracle said it's now got more than 1,000 agents embedded within and working inside Oracle's applications.
02:21 — This is a big effort that goes beyond just what a specific company is doing, and to do that in an industry-specific, targeted way, thus slashing the time to value for customers. This is the sort of automation, insight, transparency, and visibility that many businesses are eager to have.
03:01 — CEO Mike Sicilia said, we've got a few hundred agents up and operating. The customers have been very eager to use this. They're not buying the whole “SaaSpocalypse” nonsense, and instead they've been eager to say, we're currently using some Oracle apps and we'd like to use more, especially the ones that have the agents in there driving new capabilities.
04:02 — They're seeing what he called a halo effect from this, allowing customers to take on more aggressive and ambitious transformations. Innovation, growth, and acceleration are the key things that are happening across these industry layers.
04:48 — What used to be the enterprise apps business is now apps plus agents plus AI plus data. And Oracle says it wants to use this combination of agent-powered applications so that it and its customers can be the disruptors rather than becoming the disrupted.
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6 min
March 13AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Gina Montgomery on Designing Trusted Copilot, Agent Experiences
Key Takeaways
Shift in AI focus: As Director of AI at Armanino, Montgomery explains that organizations are shifting from last year’s AI experimentation and demos toward defining real business use cases and operationalizing AI; embedding it into processes, insights, governance, and workforce interactions to transform how the business runs.

Session overview: One of her sessions, "From Insight to Intuition: Designing Copilot Experiences that Understand People," will provide “a practical blueprint for designing Copilot and agent experiences that people can trust and use,” addressing the gap between building AI systems and thoughtfully designing how employees interact with them.

Learning objectives: Turning on Copilot often leads to early experimentation but a dip in trust as users encounter vague outputs, prompt fatigue, and unclear accountability because the experience wasn’t intentionally designed. Montgomery's masterclass introduces an “agent experience” framework called CARE — context, awareness, relationships, and empathy — to help organizations design AI systems that are trustworthy, accountable, and effective in business workflows.

Event relevance: The event, explains Montgomery, comes at “an inflection point with AI adoption across businesses,” bringing together technical and business leaders to help organizations move from exploring AI’s possibilities to deploying it responsibly and at scale across their operations.
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10 min
March 13How 'Smart Friction' in Grocery Drives Stronger Returns, Enhances Customer Experience
Key Takeaways
Smart friction: AI prioritizes speed and efficiency, but in retail experiences where shoppers value engagement, intentional friction can enhance customer satisfaction and ultimately drive better returns, giving rise to the idea of "smart friction."

Use case: Trader Joe’s, for example, deliberately avoids self-checkout to create smart friction, using wait time to immerse customers in design, promote product discovery, and foster interactions with staff that enhance the overall brand experience. By preserving the elements that make its brand special rather than blindly automating for speed, the grocery retailer has been able to stay competitive despite having fewer locations than many rivals.

Don't over-automate: While many AI solutions will benefit enterprises, organizations should be careful not to automate away the core elements that define and differentiate their brand.
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3 min
March 13AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Microsoft’s Andrea Pinillos Shares Governance Strategies for AI Agents
In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, Giuseppe Ianni, host of the show, is joined by Andrea Pinillos, Senior Technical Program Manager at Microsoft, to discuss practical strategies for enterprise adoption of AI agents and copilots. Pinillos shares insights from her work leading internal Microsoft tooling and previews her upcoming session at the 2026 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA.
Key Takeaways
Democratizing AI with Simple Tools: Pinillos emphasizes that organizations don’t need complex infrastructure to begin using AI agents. By combining tools like Excel and Copilot Studio, teams can quickly prototype useful solutions such as employee directories. Her goal is to lower barriers to adoption so more teams can experiment safely.

Governance Must Come First: One of Pinillos’ strongest recommendations is to establish governance before deploying AI agents at scale. Organizations often rush into building tools without clear rules about ownership, permissions, or oversight. According to Pinillos, responsible adoption starts with planning. She stresses the importance of “making sure that your organization is making [this] an important factor."

Real-World Demonstrations Accelerate Adoption: Pinillos’ summit session focuses heavily on practical learning through demonstration. Rather than discussing theory, she will show attendees exactly how to connect Copilot Studio to an Excel data source, build actions, and enable conversational interaction with data. She believes hands-on demonstrations help organizations move from curiosity to implementation.
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10 min
March 13 Microsoft Copilot Studio Case Study Shows 61% Faster AI Support With Multi-Agent Architecture
In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how Microsoft is using Copilot Studio and multi-agent orchestration to dramatically improve customer support performance.
Highlights
00:09 — Now, one of the best ways to assess the impact of Microsoft Copilot is to examine case studies of the technology in action. Microsoft has announced details of a recent project delivered through Copilot Studio, aimed at enhancing the customer support experience on microsoft.com, building on the Ask Microsoft web agent created using Microsoft Copilot Studio.
00:51 — This new approach resulted in a 61% reduction in latency and up to 70% fewer human escalations. The Microsoft team tested and refined the original web assistant, getting it live within just a few weeks using Copilot Studio tools.
01:11 — However, it was the facilities multi-agent orchestration feature that truly enhanced this project, enabling the team to connect the main agent to sub-agents with domain-specific knowledge in areas such as Azure or Microsoft 365 .
01:34 — Firstly, Microsoft is presenting a very tangible use case for Copilot Studio here. Secondly, it highlights the speed at which Copilot Studio can be used to rapidly deploy and easily edit agentic workflows. And finally, it serves as a really good advertisement for multi-agent architecture and orchestration, which I believe unlocks the most capable AI performance.
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3 min
March 12AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Mark Polino on Closing the AI Security Gap
Key Takeaways
Session overview: AI is a transformative technology where security is lagging dangerously behind. Polino's session, "A Guide to Security Roles in AI Transformation (Implementation)," will explore why it's critical for organizations to reassess current roles, controls, and systems and proactively design security strategies specifically for an AI-driven environment.

Guardrails: AI systems can be easily manipulated through indirect prompts or parameter framing, making it essential to enforce extremely strict guidelines and access controls to prevent unintended exposure of sensitive data.

Exploring security with leaders: Organizations must proactively define security policies and controls for AI now to prevent users from going rogue or turning to shadow IT, because inaction will only amplify risk as sensitive data inevitably leaks into unsecured public AI tools.

Event takeaways: Polino notes the importance of events like this because they bridge the knowledge gap between AI leaders and everyday business users by equipping them to understand AI early and effectively transfer that knowledge across their organizations. "AI is coming, whether you want it or not. The goal here is to figure out how to use it appropriately, how to make it as safe as you possibly can, and mitigate those risks inside your organization."
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12 min
March 12How Companies Should Actually Deploy AI Today | Tinder on Customers
In this episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans speaks with Bonnie Tinder, founder and CEO of Raven Intelligence, about the surge of hype, confusion, and opportunity surrounding AI in enterprise technology. As headlines claim AI could replace traditional software and “vibe coding” threatens SaaS vendors, Tinder brings a grounded perspective from years of advising organizations on enterprise systems like Salesforce, Workday, and SAP. Their conversation explores what AI can realistically do today, why enterprise software remains critical, and how companies can move forward without falling for hype.
Episode 58: AI Hype vs. Reality
The Big Themes:
Why “Vibe Coding” Won’t Replace ERP: The idea that AI-powered “vibe coding” could replace enterprise applications is a popular narrative, but both Evans and Tinder challenge its practicality. Even companies developing cutting-edge AI models are still relying on traditional enterprise systems. For example, Tinder notes that AI companies themselves are hiring administrators for established software platforms rather than replacing them.

Leadership Must Guide AI Adoption: The discussion also emphasizes that AI adoption cannot be left solely to technology teams. According to Evans, the entire executive leadership team, especially the CEO, needs to be actively involved in defining how AI will shape the organization. AI initiatives affect workflows, job roles, data governance, and competitive strategy. Without clear leadership alignment, different departments may pursue conflicting approaches, slowing progress or introducing risk.

Fear and FUD Are Slowing Progress: Ironically, the greatest threat from AI hype may be paralysis. Tinder argues that fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the market are causing many companies to delay decisions altogether. Organizations worry about choosing the wrong tools, implementing technology too early, or missing the next wave of innovation. This hesitation can prevent companies from making meaningful progress. Instead of waiting for perfect clarity, organizations should take practical steps.
The Big Quote: “You can vibe code your way around [a] notion or a content system, that's way different though, than having an in-house solution for an enterprise software."
More from Bonnie Tinder:
Connect with Bonnie on LinkedIn.
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25 min
March 12 Oracle Q3 Boom: RPO +325%, Cloud +44% as Skeptics Shut Pie-Holes
In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explain why Oracle’s massive RPO growth proves demand for AI infrastructure is real, not a bubble.
Highlights
00:00 — For the last several weeks, we've all been hearing gloom and doom, there's going to be AI overcapacity for data centers, and then talking about all these things that Oracle can't do. I want to talk about this in the context of Oracle's terrific Q3 numbers that came out earlier this week. I hope what they'll do as a residual effect is shut the pie holes of some of these just lame-brain skeptics .
01:15 — So I hope some of those people either be quiet, get off to the sidelines, or maybe think a little bit more about how the world is changing, and the tech vendors, especially the ones in the Cloud Wars Top 10, have to change to meet these new times. So let me describe some of what's behind that in these big numbers from Oracle.
01:38 — Like I said, there is RPO, remaining performance obligation, up 325%. It added $29 billion of new RPO in the quarter. The cloud business, 44%. It's $8.9 billion, very, very strong there. Inside some of those numbers, its multicloud database up 531%. It's a huge jump. That's where Microsoft, Amazon, and Google Cloud all sell the Oracle database to their customers.
02:22 — So a big, big business there, the AI infrastructure business overall up 243%, and the RPO is now up $553 billion, well over half a trillion dollars of contracted business that Oracle has not yet recognized as revenue. So it shows enormous growth for the future. Yet in spite of all these things, we've heard relentlessly from these Chicken Little types.
03:04 — First, that there's an AI data center buildout. This is all a bubble. It's going to explode. There's all these hundreds of millions of dollars in CapEx chasing a dream that will never happen. We've heard a lot about that Oracle, which earlier this year said it's going to use debt financing to fund its data center expansion. That that's terrible.
04:18 — Oracle's wildly profitable. It's in great shape on this. There are still other cry babies who are running around saying that the new CEOs aren't ready to handle this. They were supremely in charge on this earnings call, very, very clear, concise descriptions of the strategy and what's going forward.
05:02 — Now, looking ahead this fiscal year, which ends May 31, Oracle's projecting total revenue $67 billion. A year out from that, fiscal 27, it's projecting total revenue for the company of $90 billion. So the whole company growing 34%, turbocharged by what it's doing in the cloud and AI. This is an extraordinary time to be alive. Don't listen to the doom and doomsday folks.
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7 min

About Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

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Cloud Wars analyzes the major cloud vendors from the perspective of business customers. In Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans talks with both sides about these profoundly transformative technologies, and with…