Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

Key TakeawaysAI use cases: At Insight Works, Hamblin explains that AI is leveraged in three main ways: to enhance internal business process development, to create higher-quality marketing content, and to enhance product offerings.Product specifics: Hamblin shares how AI is streamlining Shop Floor Insight, a product of Insight Works, by automating labor time validation, eliminating the need for supervisors to manually review time cards through exception-based logic and rules. Further, AI and agents are enhancing production scheduling by analyzing millions of decision points, identifying issues, and providing real-time insights or alerts, paving the way for innovative, user-driven automation through tools like the Agent Playground.Adoption: Hamblin notes the mixed reactions to AI adoption. While AI can rapidly deliver solutions, such as building a container management system in hours, it ultimately enables employees to focus on higher-value work, helping businesses scale without increasing headcount. However, AI-related change management can be complex, as capabilities evolve dramatically within months and future advancements are unpredictable. This uncertainty poses challenges for change management.AI advancement: Now, AI excels at processing large datasets and answering natural language queries, and its capabilities have advanced dramatically compared to a few years ago. Previously, it could build applications like a WMS mobile app in minutes, but today’s technology is far more powerful and sophisticated. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and an incredible New Year.Highlights00:02 — This is the best time of the year, the holidays. We want to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Happy New Year to everybody. This is my special partner, Louisa. She's two and a half. She's quite the technologist.00:40 — So, hey, everybody, I just want to say it is a blast being a little part of your technology lives. We have enjoyed this year so much. We are having lots of fun with Cloud Wars. Louisa's got to go. She's got big things to do. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Happy New Year to you. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

today's Cloud Wars Minute, I unpack how tech and mindset together will decide the winners in the 2026 AI economy.Highlights00:31 — Google Cloud, has just had a pretty interesting engagement with BNY Mellon. BNY used to be called Bank of New York, merged with Mellon — a massive financial services organization — and they've got what I think is a brilliant AI strategy. It's simply: “AI for everyone, everywhere, everything."01:24 — BNY has chosen to take Gemini Enterprise and adapt it into BNY’s own sort of home-built AI platform called Eliza. And again, as I noted here, a big part of BNY's mindset on this — their approach to it — is to say: everybody in the organization now has access to the Eliza platform, and now with Gemini Enterprise as well.02:40 — Now, this is something that Google Cloud CTO Will Grannis and I recently discussed on a podcast episode. Fascinating comments from Will — we’ve got a lot of that covered in a detailed article that will be posted later this morning on this whole BNY–Google Cloud collaboration.03:19 — Will said, look: you can make two lists. On one side, there's a list of companies that succeeded with AI in spite of their culture. He said the other list is companies that succeeded with AI because of their culture. And he said one of those lists will be empty. Guess which one that'll be?04:07 — I think that's going to be one of the big issues and stories going into 2026. The companies that are going to win in the AI economy are going to be ones that are able to master that duality of both the technology and the culture/mindset thing. It has been a fun year here in the Cloud Wars, and we've got more coming up tomorrow — a special Christmas episode of Cloud Wars Minute. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, John Siefert, CEO of Dynamic Communities and Cloud Wars, is joined by AJ Ansari, Microsoft MVP and member of the programming committee for the AI Agent & Copilot Summit. The conversation focuses on what enterprises should really be looking for as agentic AI adoption matures.Key TakeawaysReal-world stories over hype: As interest in agentic AI surges, Ansari notes a sharp increase in speaker submissions driven by practitioners who have moved beyond experimentation. The most valuable content, he explains, comes from organizations that have tried, failed, learned, and succeeded—particularly those using AI to tackle concrete business challenges like efficiency, productivity, and margin pressure. Those real-world stories are “worth the price of admission,” he says.Practical impact and ROI: While aspirational innovation has its place, conference attendees want takeaways they can actually apply. According to Ansari, the best sessions balance vision with execution—so attendees leave knowing not just what’s possible, but how their investment in agentic AI will translate into measurable business outcomes.Clarity before AI: One standout insight is Ansari’s “Clarity Method,” which urges organizations to step back before defaulting to AI. Not every problem requires agents or copilots. Some can be solved through process changes, automation, or application updates. AI should be applied deliberately, once it’s clear it’s the best solution, not just the newest one.What to expect at the AI Agent & Copilot Summit: The upcoming AI Agent & Copilot Summit emphasizes an intimate, peer-driven experience with a mix of main-stage discussions and deep-dive master classes. Expect practical guidance, candid discussions about risks and security, and a community willing to “pull back the curtain” and share lessons learned, because, as Ansari puts it, this isn’t a zero-sum game.Maximizing the conference experience: Ansari encourages attendees to plan ahead: identify must-see sessions, leave room for serendipity, and prioritize networking. “Come with an appetite to learn,” he advises, noting that some of the most valuable insights emerge from hallway conversations and peer exchanges. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I look at how Google Cloud is reshaping the defense tech landscape.Highlights00:04 — Google Cloud has announced a multi-million dollar contract with the NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA), to provide critical sovereign cloud capabilities.This new strategic partnership aims to enhance NATO's digital infrastructure.The NCIA will utilize Google Distributed Cloud, or GDC, to support its Joint Analysis, Training, and Education Center, or JATEC.00:39 — One of the key features it will employ is Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) Air-Gapped, which is an essential component of Google's sovereign cloud solutions. The feature allows the delivery of cloud services and AI capabilities to disconnected, fully secure environments.00:56 —Tara Brady, President of Google Cloud EMEA, said the following: ". . . This partnership will enable NATO to decisively accelerate its digital modernization efforts while maintaining the highest levels of security and digital sovereignty."01:38 — For Google Cloud, this development represents significant progress in expanding its presence within the defense industry, a sector long led by AWS and Microsoft. It also emphasizes growing confidence in Google's sovereign cloud offerings and highlights the increasingly complex and competitive nature of the cloud market. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Carlin Power, Global Head of AI Product Engagement at JLL, helps bring AI into commercial real estate operations. She discusses building an internal GPT, model choices, encryption and governance. She explains scaling AI to 110,000 employees with training, engagement and citizen development. She outlines JLL’s three-part AI strategy and how to prepare people with role-specific programs.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I break down the latest earnings results showing Oracle and Google Cloud surging into a tie for the #2 fastest-growing cloud vendors in the world’s greatest growth market.Highlights00:13 — Two companies that are really pushing the boundaries here in the greatest growth market the world has ever known are Oracle and Google Cloud. Recently, Oracle pulled into a tie with Google Cloud for the second spot, number two spot on the fastest growing major cloud vendors list that is topped by number one, Palantir.00:41 — Nine of the 10 companies break out their cloud earnings. IBM does not for reasons I cannot fathom, but of the nine that do, five saw their growth rates accelerate in the most recent quarter, four of them saw declines, but only by one point. So for these, levels of growth are being sustained, strong customer demand, belief in the transformative power of what's going on with AI in the cloud.02:13 — Overall, we see lots of momentum here, across the board all the different sorts of products and services offered by the different Cloud Wars Top 10 companies and we saw Oracle make the biggest jump here, other than Palantir, Oracle went from 28% to 34%. So, it and Google Cloud: I've been making the case for the last 12-15 months that they're the most disruptive of the four hyperscalers.02:43 — They're coming out with new sorts of technologies, new ways of helping to push AI forward and definitely new go to market approaches. The partnership programs they have are also quite striking. So, going into the new year, those are going to be two companies really to watch. I think Microsoft's doing a good job on a very broad basis.03:03 — AWS has some has some work to do. It's just not been performing at the rate, especially when we look at future revenue growth as we see through the RPO numbers — talked about that some in yesterday's episode. Anyway, lively group here. When we say the greatest growth market world has ever known, I think these numbers continue to bear that out. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Key TakeawaysSummit expectations: With so many people dipping their toes into the AI, Copilot, and agentic capabilities of Microsoft, Nancie expects the AI Agent & Copilot Summit to be filled with exciting stories about the outcomes and how people are leveraging and benefiting from it. She also anticipates seeing more exploratory customer case studies demonstrating the shift from conversational Copilot side to the agentic side. "I'm expecting to see much more of that understanding, how to use the full capability of the agentic feature."Selecting speakers: As part of the AI Agent & Copilot Summit Programming Committee Board, Nancie has been involved with selecting sessions for the event. She considers criteria for sessions, such as applying real-world use cases, demonstrating outcomes, and providing clarity on how organizations are benefiting. "It's less about the fear of 'How do I use this?' We should be able to see a good balance between business and technical perspectives," and how to launch safely, she shares.Moving forward in confidence: Those who attend the AI Agent & Copilot Summit will be able to move forward in adopting the technology in confidence and understanding the path to success. It's important to look at the holistic process so the end customers understand all the features available to update business processes as well as be able to work in a co-creation, collaborative way.AI impact: Attendees can gain guidance at the event on applying AI within their own careers, as it can add a competitive edge not only to businesses but also at the career level. Individuals can reflect on how AI will impact professional roles and leadership. The event provides a space to consider what career paths look like in the age of AI. "I see this event as an opportunity for people not just to attend sessions but to collaborate and talk with others who are attending so that they can learn from each other and network with each other, and just build their careers." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I cover Oracle's Q2 results.Highlights00:19 — One of the hottest Cloud Wars Top 10 companies right now is Oracle. And I want to talk today a little bit about Oracle's Q2 results from last week. I think there's been a little bit of the fog of war, the fog of AI war specifically here, that has obscured the impact behind what's really going on with Oracle's numbers.01:06 — Let's look at Oracle's RPO (remaining performance obligation) results from Q2. RPO rose 433% to $523 billion. Far bigger than any RPO any other company has in the last three months, due in large part to deals with NVIDIA, Meta, and others not named. These are hard and fast numbers about where Oracle's business is headed in the future02:36 — What's going on elsewhere? The biggest cloud vendor in the world, Microsoft, its most recent RPO numbers went up 51% to $392 billion. Those are remarkable numbers. Looking forward, customers around AI and cloud are giving far more of their contracted future business to Oracle than to Microsoft.04:06 — Oracle's OCI cloud business is bigger than its applications business. Its Autonomous Database revenue rose 40%, and its multi-cloud business is up 817%. That number is a little misleading, because the business is relatively new, but I don't know anybody out there who would not want to have businesses growing at 817%.04:45 — I've been focusing a lot on RPOs for the last two and a half years or so. It's a great indicator of where customers are committing their money for the future. These big contracts that have signed are going into the past. Nothing wrong with that, but that reflects where the money in the past has gone. RPO is showing the future. Visit Cloud Wars for more.