Our guest on the podcast this week is Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director at THINKstrategies.

We discuss multi-cloud strategies and how this affects company go-to-market and business strategies. That is what THINKstrategies specializes in: the integration of cloud computing with business. We are living in an on-demand world and customers want multiple alternatives at their disposal. Lucky for them, they now have many choices. There is SaaS competition, but even more prominent is the infrastructure competition. Now that companies like Google and Microsoft and even IBM are entering the mix, more competition allows enterprises to have the privilege to select their ideal partner that fits their needs. However, with all this choice comes a need for the enterprises to know what they’re doing and have the skills to orchestrate everything. Companies with more limited skills need to be careful. The customized world can complicate things when enterprises do not have the expertise to build on.

We also look at IoT and how that can be a game-changer in all kinds of industries. At this point, anything can become internet-connected. This also comes with new opportunities to monetize information and engage customers in new ways. That is what the focus of a cloud strategy should always point back to: what does it mean for the customer.