Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

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 since the last episode, I think it’s time for some changes. Why does IT report to the CFO at so many companies?
• What should happen: CFO should tell the CEO, ‘no thanks!’ CFOs and the CIOs make a more powerful team – even better as peers.

The Big Quotes:

“Accenture also said none of our confidential material was leaked.”

“And you know that whole 19th century model of the green eyeshades and the rolled-up sleeves at the desk – that world has changed, and we've got to recognize it.”

“So go back 50, 60 years, the first people that put technology and the first computers went in the 1950s – that's 70 years ago.”

“Walter Wriston, the founder of the organizer of Citibank, said information about money is as valuable as money itself.”

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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 digitization – and why organizations should care.
• I think develops a richer culture: It also helps for those people who are in those decision-making roles to better understand what you're doing.

The Big Quotes:

“A lot of organizations are needing to be adaptive and changing on a dime.”

“I think more roles are going to be a little less tactical – a little more visionary and strategic.”

“Check out our podcasts, The Wrap, that is one of my highlights of the week, and it's a time that we can share what we've heard through the week.

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As President of SAP S/4HANA, Jan Gilg oversees development of SAP's flagship ERP product, digital supply chain, and industry solutions. In this conversation, Jan discusses how the shift to a digital economy is driving unprecedented changes in how businesses operate, and the new types of software solutions businesses require to thrive in such an environment. In the midst of all that upheaval, SAP itself has changed in significant ways, and Gilg shares his perspectives on the benefits those changes are driving for customers.

The Big Themes:

• Across all 25 industries: Now moving into the cloud we are really following the old modularization strategy on the one hand side – and blurring much, much more.
• Much better visibility: I probably want to have more visibility into multiple tiers of my supply chain.

The Big Quotes:

“This will be a steering dimension for every company in every industry.”

“And we capture the data from the sensors and feed it again into the context of the vehicles.”

“The shift to Office 365 was massive from our perspective.”

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The Big Themes:

• Like Goldilocks' testing out the three different sized chairs: This one is too big, this one is too small—this one is JUST RIGHT. Mid-size businesses need solutions and partners that are "just right" for them.
• McKinsey has reported: What mid-size enterprises really need to realize their growth potential is "the ability to access foreign markets, increase operational efficiency and adopt growth-enabling technologies."
• Big idea: Businesses need to choose software that is flexible, agile, and facilitates collaboration – especially as businesses re-think in-person versus remote workspaces for their people.
• Perhaps most important of all: The midmarket needs software that's quick and less expensive to implement compared to big on-premise ERP systems.

The Big Quotes:

“So Goldilocks was sort of a modern software pioneer.”

“This year we're upwards of 1,200 project reviews at this point.”

“Because I'm thinking if it's too hot and you get a blob of that on your tongue, it's not going to be a good experience.”

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The Big Themes:

• You must preserve the core of your business: Leadership is about to make the investments, provide the autonomy, create the innovation culture and align it to your overall strategy.
• The four freedoms: An organization that allows for innovation, capability to really thrive, grow, and affect the future of your business.
• What I call the beacon model: You create a capability that is related – but separate from the core of your business.
• These are courageous innovators: They have to be able to frame and form their own culture. There is a certain amount of operational form of freedom.

The Big Quotes:

“So the relationship between leadership and courage – and then the ability to be an innovator.”

“Jeff Bezos he has a bunch of them, but one of my favorites is he says something to the extent of, ‘You cannot be afraid of being misunderstood.’”

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The Big Themes:

• We went all in with Google Cloud: Most of our peers were actually going in the other direction. They wanted to be multicloud, making acquisitions in adjacent ecosystems.
• Return to work shouldn’t mean return to normal: If I talk to our software developers, who were already remote before the pandemic.
• This is the future of our business: We are about to make an investment that will change the trajectory of the company forever, and we have very high expectations.

The Big Quotes:

“There's no customer that adopts the Google platform stack without taking on some bit of change.”

“We serve all the traditional enterprises that are fighting for relevance and survival, and we're serving all the startups that are actively disrupting them.”

“We've attracted some of the most talented, and amazing – like Miles – executives in the world to come join us on this journey, and so, I think our customers feel that.”

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The Big Themes:

• Will business travel come back? There is a lot of conjecture about business travel being forever changed by the forced online interaction of the pandemic. Our sense is it already has been but not in the way many people think.
• Thomas Q2 Sourcing Report is out: And reflects strong demand across a wide range of categories, with significant implications for technology markets. We nailed a few of our Q2 predictions and have several for Q3.
• Higher Ed and Healthcare: Two massive markets that many people feel have been ripe for technology disruption for years but they remain unchanged. Will this time be different?
• The increase in demand for PCB boards: It’s not solely coming from the traditional consumer electronics. It's really coming from the auto industry.

The Big Quotes:

“I think for a lot of your listeners, you're seeing the major cloud vendors are all in on the top two or three focus of vertical cloud.”

“I think we're witnessing a whole new era of how products are conceived, how they're designed, how they're built, how they're manufactured, how they're distributed.”

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The Big Themes:

• Returning to the office: This isn’t really what native digitals want. Apple employees revolted, as did Google’s, prompting one of the largest technology companies in the world to backtrack.
• The result of this macro trend: If you are 35 years old or younger you will progressively spend time, energy, and money improving and enhancing your digital life, not your physical life.
• The stuff business: 140 million native digital Americans and Millennials and Gen Z grew up in an era where they watched how their parents pursuit of “stuff” didn't really lead to anything meaningful.
• A diamond is forever: This campaign eventually evolved into commercials in the late 1970’s where DeBeers quite literally defines how much a man should spend on an engagement ring.

The Big Quotes:

“So what's going on here when you're native analog, your primary reality is a physical or analog reality.”

“This has profound implications for the way we work, but it's a lot more than just that.”

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The Big Themes:

• Offer customers the best in breed solutions: The pace that we see in the Middle East is a very hungry market for technology and knowledge.
• The best way to accelerate: We have done a rollout in 20 countries using that template in a very short period of time. I think this is a big change from the past.
• A very quick return on their investments: So it’s very important to understand the quick wins from these types of projects.
• A journey with our customers: We believe that if they grow, their business grows, we will grow with them. That’s our culture.

The Big Quotes:

"What's your business strategy in the next three to five years?"

“People want to grow. They want to grow quickly. They want to expand.”

“And then I think it's more about focusing on the people.”

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The Big Themes:

• Cloud repatriation: Techies and investors are buzzing about a recent articlethat seems to argue, “start in the cloud, then move back in-house.”
• BoD and CIO/CISO gap: Most CIOs/CISOs have limited BoD interaction, and most board directors know far too little about technology. They need to talk!
• Last week I became a NACD ‘Certified Director’: After lots of study and a grueling exam! So BoDs are on my mind more than usual.
• Pat Fitzgerald about hiring and retaining workers: Shakespeare, “Glendower: I can call the spirits from the vasty deep.” “Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can anyone – but will they come when you call them?”

The Big Quotes:

“And right now there is not a single restaurant that doesn't have a help wanted sign the size of their window.”

“Now it's 2021. Ransomware is in the news. Cybersecurity is in the news. Digital transformation is in the news I contend.”

This episode is brought to you by BMC Software.

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