Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

In today's Cloud Wars Agent & Copilot Minute, I explore Microsoft's addition of Mistral Large 3 to its Foundry platform and why it's a major win for developers seeking open, enterprise-ready AI models.Highlights00:11 —Microsoft Foundry is a platform from Microsoft, designed for building, customizing, and deploying GenAI applications and agents. It allows users to access over 11,000 models. Recently, Microsoft added a new model to its offerings, Mistral Large 3. Microsoft claims it to be one of the strongest open-weight, Apache-licensed frontier models available on the Microsoft cloud.00:53 — An open-weight model is similar to an open-source model, but with some differences. In an open-weight AI model, the parameters used to train the model are publicly available, not just for use or viewing, but also for downloading and modifying. More developers are turning to these models because they offer flexibility.01:40 — Mistral Large 3 is one of the world's leading open models optimized for enterprise applications. It excels in instruction following, long-context comprehension and retention, multimodal reasoning, predictable performance, and applied reasoning. Unlike its closest competitors, Mistral Large 3 is fully open, with Apache 2.0 licensing.02:08 — Each new model is carefully selected. It's not just a free-for-all. With Foundry, Microsoft is demonstrating its expertise in the space by keenly understanding what developers want—in this case, an open model with real-world enterprise applications. The pace of AI development is such that even incremental changes and improvements dramatically impact how businesses operate. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Sales, and Matt Hobbs, Cloud Engineering and Data Analytics Platform Leader and Partner at PwC US. Together, they explore how companies can stop overpaying for cloud and instead fund AI innovation by shifting spend from legacy and suboptimal cloud deployments into modern architectures, multi-cloud strategies, and enterprise-grade AI capabilities that actually move the needle on growth, margin, and new business models.Smarter Cloud, Bigger AIThe Big Themes:Built to Cost Less: Oracle entered the cloud market later and designed OCI from the “bare metal up” with off-box virtualization, a low-latency non-blocking network, and significantly lower egress pricing. That means Oracle's own cost to deliver infrastructure is structurally lower, so they don't need to “race to zero” with margin-crushing discounts. When customers compare OCI run-rates to first-generation hyperscalers, it's common to see 40–70% savings at list-to-net, not just in special deals.Turning Technical Debt Into Innovation Budget: Hobbs notes that roughly 40% of internal tech budgets are often tied up in technical debt rather than innovation. PwC sees executives searching for ways to unlock capital for AI and growth initiatives, not just trim expenses. Its “Fit for Growth” program looks at where money is tied up in non-differentiating costs (cloud infrastructure being one of the biggest line items) and reallocates that spend into value-creating initiatives. When PwC runs side-by-side economics, they've seen OCI's promised 40–70% savings show up in real deals.OCI + PwC: budget creation meets execution: The Oracle–PwC collaboration stands out, the guests argue, because both sides are relentlessly focused on the client outcome rather than maximizing any one platform. PwC validates OCI's economics and brings the talent to design and execute migrations, process re-invention, and agentic AI programs; Oracle brings a cost-efficient, multi-cloud-friendly infrastructure designed for price-performance and portability.The Big Quote: “You can burn a lot of money chasing ghosts in this game if you really don't have a very specific use case." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily cloud news and commentary show. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the cloud.In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss why culture, mindset, and leadership matter just as much as technology in driving AI transformation, based off my conversation with Will Grannis, CTO, Google Cloud. Highlights00:30 — Will has been the Chief Technology Officer at Google Cloud, one of the world's most advanced technology companies, for almost a decade. So Will's perspectives on things are pretty powerful, especially in this notion of how corporations unlock the power of AI to drive great outcomes for those companies and their customers or their patients or their stakeholders.01:10 — One of the first things that Will talked about is the big AI unlock. He said you've got to start with thinking about putting the customer at the center of everything, and then build back, build out from there. So reverse-engineer what has to change inside the organization to ensure that the customer outcomes, the customer experience, the customer value, are at the center.AI Agent & Copilot Summit is an AI-first event to define opportunities, impact, and outcomes with Microsoft Copilot and agents. Building on its 2025 success, the 2026 event takes place March 17-19 in San Diego. Get more details. 02:27 — He talked a lot about the mindset. One customer example was recently BNY Mellon. BNY Mellon has added Gemini Enterprise for its Eliza AI platform, and that is being used now. The Chief Data and AI Officer at BNY Mellon said our AI strategy in the company is simple. He said it's AI for everyone, AI everywhere, and AI for everything.03:19 — He said this is something that's enabled them now to do more things for their customers. It allows their internal people to be much more productive, be more expansive in their analysis, so that they can provide greater value to their customers. Will said it's been a huge change at the company.04:06 — So again, I hope you have a chance to check out the whole interview with Will Grannis, the Chief Technology Officer at Google Cloud. You can see it in the links here. Will's a terrific guy. One of the things you'll see here is he offers some pretty honest and candid assessments about challenges he himself has faced as the CTO at Google Cloud, and very candidly explains how he got around those. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Bob Evans sits down with Will Grannis, Chief Technology Officer at Google Cloud, to unpack how AI is reshaping both technology stacks and corporate culture. They explore Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise platform, the newly upgraded Gemini 3 models, and the rise of agentic AI. Along the way, Will shares customer stories from industries like finance, healthcare, retail, and travel, and even talks about how his own team had to change its habits to benefit from AI.Inside Google Cloud's Agentic AI The Big Themes:Models vs. Platforms in the AI Stack: Grannis draws a sharp distinction between AI models like Gemini and the broader platforms that operationalize them. Models determine how intelligent and capable AI workflows are “out of the box,” across tasks like reasoning, multimodal understanding, and conversation. Platforms, by contrast, are how a business injects its own data, processes, and rules to build differentiated IP, brand experiences, and competitive moats. In practice, that means thinking beyond a single chatbot to agentic workflows composed of models, data, tools, and multiple agents working together.Culture and Discipline: Grannis describes how even his own team initially struggled to build an internal ops agent to automate sprint reviews, status updates, and reminders. It was only after leadership pushed them to be an exemplar that the agent became reliable and valuable. Things as simple as putting status information in the same place on every slide suddenly mattered. The lesson: AI exposes hidden process chaos. To get leverage from agents, organizations must tighten their operating discipline and be willing to change how they work, not just bolt AI onto old habits.Rethinking ROI and Metrics: Traditional, siloed ROI metrics can kill transformational AI efforts before they start. Grannis cites research about AI projects dying at proof-of-concept stage and contrasts that with companies like Verizon, which used AI in the contact center to simultaneously lift revenue, reduce cost, and improve customer satisfaction by turning support calls into sales moments. Instead of chasing a single metric in isolation, he advocates for “bundles” of outcomes anchored in customer experience.The Big Quote: “We had to be more disciplined about how we conducted our own work. And once we did that, AI's effectiveness went way up, and then we got the leverage.”More from Will Grannis and Google Cloud:Connect with Will Grannis on LinkedIn or learn about Gemini Enterprise. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Key TakeawaysMullican expresses the value of the event, and given that AI and Copilot have matured, the sessions at the 2025 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA will shift from a focus on experimentation to practical applications that deliver real impact.As a returning Programming Committee Board member, Mullican highlights the "unprecedented number of submissions this time around,” making it tough to choose sessions for 2025. The event will offer a mix of visionary talks, practical use cases, and deep dives to serve both tech and business audiences.Mullican shares how business leaders can use the event to "adapt to a new reality," as it aims to “cut through the hype” around AI and focus on practical realities. Even though AI offers transformative potential, most businesses will adopt it gradually, using tools like copilots to improve efficiency rather than undergoing radical overnight changes. "I expect that there's going to be a lot of discussion about. It's just these different layers, these different levels of AI hype and truth." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I look at how IBM and Cisco are teaming up to pioneer long-distance quantum networks.Highlights00:03 — Although not the only company invested in the development of quantum computing, IBM is certainly considered the most active. The company has the highest number of patents, a clear road map for fault tolerant quantum systems, and the most prestigious track record across quantum hardware, software and the commercialization of these tools.00:28 — Now, IBM and Cisco Systems have revealed plans to link a network of quantum computers over long distances — and the result, perhaps the introduction of the quantum internet. Before I get carried away on this, leaders from both IBM and Cisco have confirmed that the technology to power these networks doesn't yet exist, but they are working on it.00:59 — The bottleneck is getting qubits, the unit of information used by quantum computers, to travel along fiber optic cables between Cisco switches. IBM and Cisco hope to have the first proof-of-concept ready within five years, a network that connects individual, large scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers with the power to run computations over 10s to hundreds of 1000s of qubits.01:49 — So, why do we need the quantum internet? Well, beyond the massive enhancement in computational power, which is the primary driver for companies to enter this space, if quantum computing itself becomes widespread, we'll need quantum structures in the Internet to protect ourselves from our very own creation.02:28 — Technology is advancing at an unfathomable speed, and just like in the AI space, we need to ensure it's contained. In fact, researchers at IBM co-developed three of the four quantum resistant algorithms that the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, have earmarked for future standardization. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Highlights00:24 — I think we're seeing some very interesting competitive battling between Palantir and ServiceNow, head to head, emerging over two categories. One, this AI platform position that they're both talking about relentlessly as sort of the core of their strategic value. And secondly, they're both on this kick now about who is the defining software company of the 21st century, of the generation.01:57 — Both are talking up the power of the AI platform as the foundation for what companies need to succeed in this new AI-centric future. Which one has the right approach? How are they trying to position their companies, their capabilities, their ecosystems, to be able to take advantage of that? These are some of the things that I get into in detail in a later article.02:19 — We've also got both claiming that their results are just the greatest thing ever relative to the Rule of 40, which is for high-growth companies. You want to have a combination of 20% growth or more for revenue and 20% growth or more for margins, to have those equal 40 or more. Both exceed that number.03:26 — Who's got the momentum? Who's positioning themselves right in this sweet spot for businesses moving into this AI future, right? Who's going to be able to put together the tools that control the agents, that let all the data that's needed for IE come through? How are they able to build applications easily on top of this?04:05 — But right now, I think ServiceNow and Palantir are the ones that have the most focus on this AI platform vision. And it was fun to sort of look at this. In the article, we look at some of the comments from the Q3 earnings call from ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott, and also from Palantir's Chief Revenue Officer, Ryan Taylor. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Key TakeawaysAgents take center stage: Bensch says last year's event was focused on Copilot basics and early-stage AI adoption, but 2025 is the year of agents. Organizations are asking how to make agents work securely, how to tap into data through offerings like Work IQ and MCP servers, and how to build governance that actually holds up. Attendees can expect deep dives into security, data extraction, Dataverse, Finance & Operations, and all the new features unveiled at Microsoft Ignite. “Everyone's hearing agents, agents, agents,” he notes. “So, how do I get them to work?”Sessions designed for real adoption—not marketing fluff: This year's call for speakers exploded from ~160 last year to over 500 submissions, giving planners a far stronger pool of practical, hands-on sessions. The programming committee prioritizes real-world implementations, lessons learned, and “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of AI projects. He stresses that this event is not a product-pitch environment. Instead, sessions will help attendees understand how to build, deploy, and scale agents across modern work, business apps, and development workflows. “We're looking for empowering people,” Bensch says.Where strategy meets execution: Bensch explains that most attendees will fall somewhere between the starting line of AI adoption and mid-stage Copilot integration—but everyone is looking to connect the dots between strategy and execution. From governance to Dataverse to legacy-system integration via computer-use capabilities, sessions will show how companies can extend agent intelligence far beyond Q&A. The setting, including intimate sessions, world-class speakers, and networking events like golf and pickleball at Torrey Pines, creates space for candid, high-impact conversations attendees won't find at massive trade shows. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I review the remarks and insights from CEO Marc Benioff and Salesforce from the recent Q3 earnings call.Highlights00:20 — After an approximately three-year hiatus, CEO Marc Benioff and Salesforce demonstrated their growth mojo through the Q3 numbers. While some of the numbers aren't quite as robust as they were in Salesforce's earlier days, in the earnings call, Benioff emphasized growth, innovation, and new things coming that are reflective of where the company was in the past.01:07 — In its first 22 years, Salesforce had unprecedented growth — 20 years of 20% or higher growth. No other publicly traded company has done that. In the last few years, with some pressure from institutional investors, Salesforce had to shift its focus from growth and innovation to margins and profits. During this time, the character of the company has evolved, especially with the AI Revolution and the introduction of Agentforce.01:55 — Something that struck me was the exuberance of CEO Marc Benioff on the call and his excitement about lots of numbers that indicated things are headed in the right direction. He shared details and commentary about their Q3 numbers as well as the vitality and energy around new products.02:58 — Benioff was proud of the stats around Agentforce customers moving into production. The number of those was up 70% sequentially quarter to quarter. This demonstrates how quickly Agentforce customers are able to deploy the technology, get it into use, and start getting the essential business outcomes.03:38 — This is important because the biggest winners are always the customers in the Cloud Wars because they get to benefit from the incredible competition. It further triggers waves of relentless innovation unlike anything the world has ever seen. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss how Palantir's latest customer wins reveal a shift from point solutions to end-to-end AI strategies.Highlights00:19 — Palantir's got a customer that, very shortly after signing a deal for a fairly limited AI engagement, said it wanted to go enterprise-wide with an investment that's up 8x over what the original one was. This signals where CEOs are driving these AI-centered business transformations to ensure that they go end-to-end here and have enhanced business outcomes as the goal.01:21 — This medical device manufacturer CEO went to the Palantir executive team and said, “What would we need to do to make this an end-to-end business transformation powered by AI, designed to drive greater outcomes?” And very quickly, they rewrote the whole deal. So five months after this initial thing, they had a new deal going on — eight times bigger.02:31 — So again, there we see this notion of Palantir doing some different things and engaging with customers in different ways. So, I think broadly what we're seeing here, overall, with these AI-centered business transformations is: time is the enemy — not your traditional competitors, not necessarily the new ones. It is this notion of time.03:40 — If you're on the customer side here, I think you've got to look at this and take a hard view of what's going on inside your company. Is it a lot of these little disjointed trials that could have a nice little upward bump in efficiency or cost savings? Or are you shooting for the moon here? Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute, I unpack why Microsoft Copilot will no longer be available on WhatsApp starting January 15 and what users should do next.Highlights00:03 — Starting January 15, Microsoft Copilot will no longer be available to users via WhatsApp. This feature has been offered since 2024, but due to changes in WhatsApp platform policies — which include the removal of all LLM chatbots, Copilot users will need to access the assistant through alternative means.00:30 — Unfortunately, because the version of Copilot used on WhatsApp is unauthenticated, it won't be possible to transfer chat history. Instead, users will need to manually export their conversations using WhatsApp's exportation tools.01:00 — Microsoft users who have grown accustomed to Copilot will now need to access the tool through Microsoft-controlled environments. In these settings, Microsoft can offer better functionality, enhanced security, and a wider range of use cases outside of a third-party platform. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this Cloud Wars Live podcast, Bob Evans sits down with Hayete Gallot, President, Google Cloud Customer Experience, to explore how Google Cloud is helping enterprises move from AI experimentation to true business transformation. Gallot describes how her organization unifies engineering, consulting, partners, and learning to accelerate time-to-value and scale agentic AI across every function. Together, they dive into Gemini Enterprise, customer successes like Virgin Voyages, and why human-centered change is the real key to AI's future.The AI Turning PointThe Big Themes:Customer Experience Built for the AI Era: Google Cloud created a new Customer Experience organization, led by Hayete Gallot, to match the speed and complexity of AI-driven transformation. Instead of treating AI as a pure technology play, the team unifies industry and solutions experts, customer engineers, consulting, partners, and learning into one group that supports the full innovation lifecycle. That means they can help customers go from idea to minimum viable product to production in a consistent, repeatable way.Ecosystem, Partners, and Curated AI Solutions: Google Cloud's ecosystem strategy is central to scaling AI transformation. Gallot describes deep investment in system integrators — not just training them on technology, but sharing methodologies and scenario-based approaches so they can guide customers toward the right AI choices. At the same time, Google Cloud works with top ISVs to embed AI into their solutions and create compatible protocols for multi-agent experiences.Structuring Tech Teams for Agentic Transformation: AI's rise is forcing technology organizations to evolve. Gallot notes that CTOs and CIOs are asking how to restructure their teams for an “agentic” world. The demand is no longer just for deep technical skills, but also people who understand user experience, behavior, and business workflows. Technology teams are increasingly expected to co-design scenarios with business leaders, not just implement requirements. Looking ahead to 2026, Gallot sees the priority as scaling agentic transformation across divisions.The Big Quote: "Customers are much more mature on AI … When you meet with them, they're [asking] what's in it for me? What am I going to get? When am I going to get it? How do I scale this? They want production, and they want outcome." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Key TakeawaysCommunity involvement: Mary is a member of the programming committee board this year and will be attending the AI Agent & Copilot Summit, taking place from March 17th to 19th in San Diego, California. Working in the real estate industry, Mary acknowledges that, like individuals in all industries, there's a lot of AI transformations happening right now. "Being involved in this broader community is really exciting and energizing," she says.Summit expectations: She reports momentum as it gets closer to the event, like the number of responses to the call for speakers. "There's a big focus on real people figuring out and solving real problems with agents and Copilot," she notes. "Attendees can really expect a mix of hands-on learning and bigger picture conversations." Members of the community are curious, collaborative, and excited to share, so there's a lot for attendees to look forward to.Clear takeaways and diverse perspectives: Whether you're coming from a business team or a technical team, there's something that everyone can walk away with and implement, providing a "clarity of takeaways." The AI Agent & Copilot Summit also provides a "diversity of perspectives," which Mary considers to be very important. "I think we're looking for a mix of developers, business leaders, consultants, power users, and people who are just getting started to really get that diversity of thought and perspective."Overcoming challenges: One of the biggest challenges right now, Mary suggests, is the pressure to figure out how to adopt AI. Many leaders are looking to bridge the gaps between where to start, learning, and taking action. It's not just about teaching the tools or determining how to prompt better. "It's about shifting habits and thinking and mindsets," Mary says. "It's change management and how we make AI feel more approachable." Early adopters are able to pass on their experiences and accelerate the learning curve for attendees. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how Salesforce's acquisition of Informatica strengthens its foundation for delivering trustworthy, agentic AI.Highlights00:04 — A few years back, when I was covering the cloud data management firm Informatica on a regular basis, the rumor mill was rife with speculation that the company was set to be acquired by Salesforce. It didn't happen right away, but ultimately, that's what transpired.00:22 — Now, Salesforce has announced that the acquisition is complete and Informatica is now part of the company — and it makes perfect sense. Informatica emerged as one of the most creative and forward-thinking cloud data management platforms out there.00:39 — The company was quick to adopt generative AI with its CLAIRE GPT tool and soon embedded this enhanced functionality across its Intelligent Data Management Cloud, or IDMC. And now Salesforce has all of this capability within its own ecosystem, and it's an enviable place to be.00:59 — Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been quick to highlight how the integration of Informatica will benefit Salesforce customers in their agentic AI journey, saying: “You have to get your data right to get your AI right ... Informatica is the trusted platform that turns fragmented enterprise data into context so every agent can reason, act, and deliver outcomes with precision."01:43 — Benioff is spot-on with that opening line: You have to get your data right to get your AI right. And with Informatica's tech supporting a scalable data foundation, Salesforce is enabling just that. If, like Salesforce, you can provide not only the tools to develop an agentic AI ecosystem but also the data foundation to support it, you find yourself in a very strong position indeed. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I analyze why Workday's $26B RPO signals strong future momentum in the face of SAP and Oracle.Highlights00:15 — Very nice Q3 that Workday recently finished here. Great revenue growth for the quarter ended October 31 — up 15% to about $2.25 billion. 17% growth for its total RPO, to about $8.2 billion. It's been cranking up the innovation engine there at Workday. Small AI-specific acquisitions over the last year or two have really been adding to this so customers have more to buy.01:16 — CEO Carl Eschenbach made key points. Broadly, everybody sees the potential of AI, but he said most customers find they're stuck with fragmented systems. He said they have bad data, and he said they're not sure that they have the right platforms to work with. Workday believes that its AI solutions can come in and directly address all of those things.02:00 — He said, "We want to be the new front door to work." He's bringing together three significant components to be able to do that. He said that's enterprise knowledge, a new generation of agents that address some of the most pressing business requirements, and also the HR and financial processes that Workday has helped customers to track for the last 20 years.03:10 — It wants to be AI-first. With everything it's doing, it's making things as open as possible. It's trying to make things as simple for its customers as it can. These are important differentiators for Workday as it's up against two much larger competitors, SAP and Oracle. Its future pipeline is strong. Customer demand is there. Confidence is there. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this special Cloud Wars report, Bob Evans sits down with Michael Ameling, President and Chief Product Officer of SAP Business Technology Platform, for a deep dive into how SAP is helping customers navigate the fast-moving AI Era. Ameling and Evans discuss how SAP's Business Data Cloud, partnerships with Snowflake and Databricks, HANA Cloud innovations, and new AI-powered tools and agents are helping SAP evolve from an applications powerhouse into a data-and-AI-driven business platform for the next generation.SAP's AI Data FutureThe Big Themes:SAP HANA Cloud Becomes an AI-Optimized Database: SAP HANA Cloud is evolving into “the database AI was looking for." As a multi-model system supporting spatial, graph, vector, and document storage, HANA Cloud enables AI workloads to run more efficiently and contextually. Recent additions, like vector engines and Knowledge Graph capabilities, give customers powerful tools for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), contextual reasoning, and advanced analytics.Developers Are 'The AI Revolution': Developers aren't observing the AI Revolution, they are the revolution. With modern AI tools, developers can innovate faster, solve bigger problems, and directly influence business outcomes. SAP is investing heavily in meeting developers where they are by enhancing IDEs, building business-aware development tools, and providing context-rich assets such as APIs, business objects, and process insights. AI acts as a teammate, not a replacement.SAP: An Applications and a Data Company: SAP must be both an applications and a data company. Customer value emerges when applications, data, and AI converge seamlessly. SAP's decades of industry expertise give it unparalleled business context, which becomes even more powerful when embedded into AI agents and data platforms. With more than 34,000 SAP HANA Cloud customers and rapidly expanding AI adoption, SAP is positioning itself as the platform where business process knowledge meets modern AI capability.The Big Quote: " . . what we need to understand that AI is our teammate. It's like asking your best friend who has a lot of knowledge, but you can ask multiple friends at the same time. Not everything is always right, but you can ask questions, you can continuously improve. If we understand that pattern, we understand that AI helps us to solve much bigger problems as a developer, and then, of course, having much more impact on real business."More from Michael Ameling and SAP:Connect with Michael Ameling on LinkedIn, or get more insights from SAP TechEd.  Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Information access: While many have Copilot licenses, usage is low beyond basic tasks like email and meeting summaries. The main challenge with adoption is providing guidance within apps like PowerPoint, Excel, Dynamics, and Word so users can access help exactly when they need it. This is something Rehmani's company, VisualSP, and his training platform, copilottrainingpackage.com, specialize in. "I'm a big proponent of giving people 'at the moment need' information," he notes.Training paths: Copilottrainingpackage.com enables users to go down different "training paths," explains Rehmani. Specifically, there are pre-built PowerPoint training modules covering key topics like prompt creation and preventing hallucinations. Additionally, there's learning management system (LMS)-ready video content on Copilot use cases in Word, Excel, and other tools for on-demand learning. Finally, the platform offers optional live training sessions for trainers and power users to ensure effective adoption and ROI from Copilot. "At the end of the day, it's all about making Copilot into ROI and not just an expense layer."What to expect: Rehmani describes the "anatomy" of the program. It uses seven modules to teach trainers and power users how to craft effective prompts, reduce Copilot errors, and apply specific workflows for high-impact ROI. Then, participants share this knowledge internally, enabling time savings and efficiency across their organizations.End-of-year pricing: Users can take advantage of this resource with special pricing through the end of the year. Users can purchase the standalone package for $4,950 or the package and live training for $8,950, all of which could be delivered in 2026, explains Rehmani. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

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In today's Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute, I break down why this Microsoft-Anthropic-NVIDIA trio, spotlighted at Microsoft Ignite, may define the next phase of the AI Revolution.Highlights00:19 — Today, I want focus on a particularly significant partnership involving not one but three partners, collaborating in multiple ways across various fronts. The companies are Microsoft, of course, Anthropic, and NVIDIA. The trio is set to establish new strategic partnerships that, in my view, truly optimize the unprecedented era of collaboration that we're in01:02 — Anthropic has committed to a $30 billion deal to purchase Azure compute capacity. Microsoft customers will have access to Anthropic Claude Sonnet, 4.5; Claude Opus 4.1; and Claude Haiku 4.5 models. NVIDIA and Anthropic will collaborate on the design and development required to further optimize Anthropic AI models.01:48 — In terms of hard-dollar investments in Anthropic, NVIDIA is committing up to $10 billion, while Microsoft is committing up to $5 billion. Now, I find this whole announcement particularly exciting. These two giants — Microsoft and NVIDIA — are directly investing in the technological and financial future of Anthropic. However, it's far from one-sided, as both are also selling their products to Anthropic. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Key TakeawaysCareer journey and Microsoft involvement: While he's been in the industry for a long time, Accardi recounts being in the Microsoft arena for about 14 to 15 years. "My entire career has been around technology...and I have familiarity with various platforms," he notes. He has filled a range of roles, including sales leadership, marketing, product management, and more. Over the past several years, he has been "very heavily involved in the Microsoft alliance, their marketing, their programs, and most recently, leading for the last seven years in Microsoft practice."Technology evolution: With the impact of AI and evolving technologies, Accardi says this is "almost like history repeating itself...This is just another technology that's making our lives more efficient." Accepting change and new things is always difficult, regardless of what's at play. While initial AI adoption might have been moderate, it has really picked up over the last several months. Questions around AI outcomes have been top of mind lately.Where to start: It takes curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking to consider how to get started with a pilot and build from there. Accardi talks about the conversations they have with clients to determine what they want to accomplish and within what timeline. It's essential to understand what clients want to see their organization become, then find a pilot area to explore how it could work.The impact of AI: It's important to remember "AI isn't going to come in here and replace all of us, but it's really meant to make us more efficient." Although AI has introduced a fast pace of change, it's also been a fast pace of impact. AI can impact the whole organization, so stakeholders must all be involved. It can increase efficiency and productivity for clients in a major way. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I break down why Google Cloud's new Gemini Enterprise may be Thomas Kurian's most ambitious and most defining move yet.Highlights00:14 — One of the fastest-growing companies in the Cloud Wars Top 10 — and one that has been the most innovative, successful, and is definitely making a run at the number one spot — is Google Cloud. And I think that this week, as Thomas Kurian begins his eighth year as CEO of Google Cloud, he has recently pulled together what I'm calling his crowning achievement.01:15 — It's what it's done here with Gemini Enterprise. I think it is the perfect fit to simplify and accelerate the journey into the cloud — or, I'm sorry, into AI, the AI economy — for their business customers. Gemini Enterprise says, “We can do the whole thing end-to-end ... But you're free to pick and choose any of the different pieces of it — bring in other vendors, other technologies."02:13 — I think what they're doing here is saying, “We've taken care of the heavy lifting of the underlying technology, everything from the models to the platform to the developer tools to governance and security and privacy. You, the customer, can now focus on unleashing your people and their creativity to build on this platform to help drive those great business outcomes you want.”03:03 — So, different companies at different points in their evolutions and transformations can pick what they want. The big thing: faster time to value, because it's ready to go out of the box. There's not a lot of patchwork to be done now.04:00 — Kurian has taken the best of the cloud with the best of AI, and offered them up to customers in a seamless package that delivers not just the underlying technology but this sense I talked about that they can move into this very exciting but also very different AI economy with a lot of confidence about where they're headed and what's going on. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute, I look at how screen-aware Copilots, task-based agents, and multimodal interfaces are reshaping enterprise work — and why identity, permissions, and access guardrails now matter more than ever.Highlights00:30 — Two experts, Brian Madden, Vice President and Field Technology Officer and Futurist at Citrix, and Marco Casalaina, Vice President of Products, Core AI and an AI Futurist at Microsoft, hosted a session at this year's Microsoft Ignite conference titled “Develop Your Enterprise Playbook to Prepare for the AI of Tomorrow.”00:58 — I want to share some key takeaways. Madden laid out a seven-stage roadmap for human–AI collaboration. Steps included simple prompt and paste, the first introduction to AI; next, AI as an analyst for colleagues; followed by AI watching your screen; AI using your computer for you; AI using your computer without you watching; multi-agent AI communication; and the final step: AI-orchestrated work.01:55 — Ultimately, AI needs to work where human knowledge workers work, because the world we live in today is built for humans, and the way that AI will succeed is by operating within this user space and emulating humans in practice. Users talk to AI, and AI talks to the applications and workflows on behalf of the user.02:34 — The discussion moved on to the notion of apps dissolving into data, ultimately AI talking directly to the data without going through an application. Casalaina demonstrated this by running Anthropic's Claude on Azure and giving it the skills to create a PowerPoint. It did — without using PowerPoint. It made the slides in HTML and then converted them without ever opening the PowerPoint application. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I reveal how Palantir leapfrogged the competition with 63% cloud growth, shaking up the Cloud Wars Top 10.Highlights00:14 — Periodically, I do an update on what I call the Cloud Wars Growth Chart. The latest list shows that Palantir — new to the Cloud Wars Top 10 — is number one in fastest growth, by a long shot. Google Cloud, which for the last six quarters had been the fastest growing, is now in the number two spot. Oracle comes in at number three.01:06 — So let's see here: Palantir — look at this — 63% growth to $1.12 billion. Previous quarter growth rate: 48%. Pretty nice when you can go from 48% to 63% in a market like this. So the question is: What is Palantir doing that has allowed them to grow at these dramatically higher growth rates?02:05 — Number two, Google Cloud. 34% growth to $15.2 billion. That's an acceleration from the previous quarter's 32% growth. The third: Oracle. 28% growth, $7.2 billion in cloud revenue — up from 27%. SAP grew 27% in Q3, $6.14 billion. Previously 28%. Then Microsoft grew 26% in cloud revenue to $49.1 billion for the quarter, down from the previous quarter's growth rate of 27%.03:07 — We saw growth throughout the Cloud Wars Top 10. Six of the nine that report their cloud revenue said that they are seeing accelerating growth from one quarter ago to their most recent quarter. So six out of nine growth rates going up, even as they're getting bigger. Now the outlier there is IBM, which does not break out its cloud revenue.03:47 — The other big thing I see coming along is that we are moving into a place now where it's becoming fuzzy between cloud and AI. Because cloud, after all, is the delivery vehicle that has made AI now something accessible to every individual in the world.04:40 — So, we see these sort of intertwined, bonded pairs of cloud and AI. It's been fascinating to watch this. And these growth rates show the market is getting hotter. These companies are growing faster — for the most part — remarkable. So, hats off to Palantir, Google Cloud, Oracle, and all the others on this list. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss Workday's acquisition of the enterprise knowledge and learning platform provider Sana, and what it means for customers.Highlights0:05 — Now,the understanding of the capabilities of LLMs has seeped from discussions among in-the-know business leaders into the general public. Personally, I don't know anyone who hasn't tried ChatGPT at least once. However, when it comes to leveraging LLMs and their associated technologies in a business context, it all comes down to the data that you can provide.0:34 — Essentially, it's about making internal knowledge useful. This combination of business data and LLMs is the golden ticket for companies that want to thrive in the AI Revolution. There are some standout examples of companies making that possible. One such company is Sana. Now, Workday has announced that it has completed its acquisition of Sana.01:17 — Gerrit Kazmaier, President Product & Technology at Workday, explained: "By bringing Sana's leading enterprise knowledge and learning to Workday, we're creating a single intelligent interface...We're unlocking a new era of productivity, focus and flow across our customers, organizations with a complete AI solution for the next generation enterprise."01:46 — Kazmaier is describing the combination of Sana's enterprise knowledge tools and Workday's unified cloud platform and formidable partner ecosystem. The vision is to create what Workday calls a "horizontal intelligence layer" across the enterprise. Within this layer, users will have access to deeply personalized experiences.02:34 — Now, as I've discussed many times before, cutting through the noise to identify the specific features, capabilities, data, sources and outcomes that a user needs is essential for thriving in this increasingly competitive, AI-enabled business environment. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, John Siefert is joined by Eric Newell, CEO, Stoneridge Software, while on-site at Community Summit North America 2025, which took place October 19-23. Newell shares his takeaways from the conference, and what he expects the future of AI adoption to look like over the next 12-18 months.Key TakeawaysSummit NA buzz: Newell notes the prominence of AI and agents at Summit NA 2025. More specifically, the CRM Product Roadmap session highlighted the transformative potential of agents, though he explains that many clients are unsure how to implement them and bridge the gap. Summit is a unique place that enables attendees to address pain points by connecting them with vendors and peers who offer practical solutions.Stoneridge Software's presence: During the event, the Stoneridge Software team was focused on supporting clients' objectives through sessions and networking. The organization also participated in the GP to BC preconference, where the team is seeing "more movement in them going from GP to BC... helping them get there has been fun," he adds.Looking ahead: As referenced during the CRM Product Roadmap session, Newell suggests that a demo which showcased the integrated agents for customer service, including automated knowledge base creation, will accelerate CRM cloud adoption and significantly boost Microsoft's future growth. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's podcast, John Siefert sits down with Magnus Perri, CEO, elevaite365 Test Automation, and Michael Catterall, Product Lead, elevaite365 Test Automation, to unpack how AI is redefining testing in Dynamics 365 projects. They discuss why manual testing overwhelms business users, how elevaite365 Test Automation's platform automates and adapts with AI, and how a community-driven script library accelerates implementation. It's test automation built for real-world complexity and speed.AI Testing, Real ResultsThe Big Themes:Testing Stress: Perri points out a systemic flaw in ERP and Dynamics 365 implementations: the burden of testing often lands on business users whose primary roles have nothing to do with quality assurance. This leads to rushed efforts, incomplete coverage, and high error rates. The fundamental issue isn't lack of diligence, it's misalignment. Elevaite365 Test Automation directly addresses this by reducing or eliminating the need for manual testing.Insight and Resilience Layers: Catterall describes how elevaite365 Test Automation's platform doesn't just mimic human testers, it enhances them. Once a user records a business process, the system converts it into a reusable, repeatable automated test. But what sets elevaite365 Test Automation apart is what happens next: It adds AI-powered layers that detect anomalies like incorrect field values, unexpected pop-ups, and subtle error messages that human testers often miss. This isn't basic scripting, it's intelligent validation that keeps evolving.AI Testing Brings Measurable ROI: While much of the conversation covered process pain and automation theory, the real value becomes evident in customer results. Elevaite365 Test Automation isn't just a nice-to-have, it delivers real ROI. Customers using the platform have reduced their testing cycles from weeks to hours, lowered defect rates in production, and significantly cut the manpower required for UAT (User Acceptance Testing). Because the tool is embedded in real Dynamics 365 workflows, it provides test coverage for processes that actually matter like purchasing, invoicing, inventory, and more.The Big Quote: "Testing is always falling onto the business users, not IT department ... so you go into testing and you're stressed, you have a lot to do. You're thinking about talking to the next supplier, and while you're doing that, you work through the testing as fast as you can, and you might miss stuff." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how tech rivals are becoming collaborators to better serve customer innovation.Highlights00:43 — I call SAP and Snowflake's recent announcement a promiscuous partnership that's powerful and promising. I'll try not to trip over too many more P's here, but I think the point of this is we're seeing the promiscuous side: big tech companies that, you know, were very selective about how they worked with each other in the past.01:04 — I think now we're seeing that there are great advantages toward them aligning in ways — working together to do things for customers that neither could do individually. I think the ultimate example of this is the Oracle multicloud deals with Microsoft, Google Cloud, and AWS. So, in this case here, now we see both SAP and Snowflake are in the data cloud space.02:04 — This could have been a situation where SAP and Snowflake might have said: "I have a Data Cloud. You have one. We're going to compete" — but the result would be — “We're going to make customers' lives more miserable, because to work with both the SAP Data Cloud and the Snowflake Data Cloud, those customers are going to have to find workarounds and ways to integrate and all that.” Instead, they said, “Let's try to do this together.”03:00 — Some highlights: it accelerates customer innovation because they can spend more time focusing on business innovation, growth, and new business models, rather than a lot of expense on integration. The two companies, Snowflake and SAP, have intertwined their brands, which I think reveals to customers a very powerful commitment. This solution is called SAP Snowflake.03:55 — The AI revolution has put all sorts of new and interesting, challenging stresses on customers, right? And on the Cloud Wars Top 10 vendors: it can't just be business as usual for customers. The tech vendors have to operate differently — not just in the products they create but in the alliances they strike.04:46 — I tip my hat to Snowflake and SAP, and I think we're going to be seeing lots more of these promiscuous partnerships break out as the needs of the AI Revolution require customers to do things differently — which, in turn, compels the Cloud Wars Top 10 companies to behave in different ways. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, John Siefert hosts Jeff Miller, Vice President, Americas, LS Retail, for a discussion on LS Retail's position in its industry, how it supports organizations across the globe, integrating AI, and upcoming projects.Key TakeawaysAbout the company: LS Retail has been a leader in its industry from an ISV perspective. The company has been in the ecosystem for about 30 years, focusing on software development in the retail market. There are over 110,000 retail locations using LS Retail in their stores. "We come to a market with what we call 'composable solution,' so I can build building blocks, depending on a retailer's need, that can do everything from run the entire enterprise of a retail business, simply down to a point-of-sale solution that integrates into the rest of the retailer solution stack," Miller explains.Global use: One of LS Retail's specialties is creating the localization and fiscalizations that organizations need to operate across different countries. Every country manages aspects of business, like taxes, a little bit differently. Between LS Retail and its partners, they have done the work to make sure it operates in a way that companies conducting business in various countries can use the software in their stores around the world. Deploying in the Microsoft Cloud with Azure enables them to implement the software seamlessly.Partner network: Operating at a global scale also speaks to the power of LS Retail's business partner network. It has over 300 business partners globally who go through certification testing so they have a technical understanding of how to implement the software and support clients in their local communities.AI integration: "We really take in the whole idea of customer zero and being a frontier firm to heart," Miller says. Within LS Retail, there has been an emphasis on using Copilot and Copilot Studio not only from a development standpoint but also for automating the testing of code. Externally, LS Retail is part of Microsoft's program, "The Microsoft Red Carpet Club." They have been meeting to discuss ideas around agents and providing feedback to Microsoft about the future of products and code, as well as how it integrates with Dynamics products.Pharmacy agent: LS Retail recently announced a project at an event. One of the agents it has developed supports pharmacies in Europe. The company is working on co-innovation projects with pharmacy clients to develop an agent that manages tasks for them, like handling prescriptions and refills. LS Retail is looking at opportunities to expand this particular agent in Latin America as well. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I take you inside Palantir's wildly different approach to driving customer growth.Highlights00:14 — One of the companies causing a lot of disruption within the Cloud Wars Top 10 companies is Palantir, which recently reported its Q3 revenue up 63% to $1.12 billion, just growing incredibly fast and putting together a remarkable set of customers and customer references for what they've been able to do with Palantir. And I think this speaks to a very, very different approach Palantir is taking.01:42 — So I had a great chat with Palantir Architect Chad Wahlquist. Palantir has an unusual way of setting titles in the company. They often are untraditional. Chad does much more than being an architect. He's a great architect, but does much more than product strategy, marketing, and so on. We are linking here in the show notes to that full video with Chad.02:09 — We talked about a lot of things. Interesting that as Palantir went through this extraordinary growth, its salesforce shrank. It said that's because it uses its own software to do things. What it calls “quantified exceptionalism” — how do you break through in a quantifiable way to do things that others aren't able to do? — is something they want to prove inside, then project outwardly.03:19 — Chad said: "It's great that our number of customers is growing. That's not our goal. Our primary goal is to see growth within our customers in terms of their business outcomes, their capabilities, their quantifiable outcomes." And he talked a lot about their ambition. He believes that Palantir software gives enterprises the ability to do things beyond what they thought were possible.04:28 — Final big point from Chad Wahlquist is that point solutions allow companies to optimize locally, and he said that can be a nice thing; it leads to small returns or small positive outcomes. He said: "Our goal with Palantir and our Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) is to help our customers drive global optimization."Check out my full-length interview with Chad Wahlquist. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this special episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans speaks with Chad Wahlquist, Architect at Palantir, about the company's explosive Q3 growth and the accelerating adoption of its AI Platform (AIP). They explore how AIP serves as an operating system for the enterprise, enabling customers to achieve global optimization, faster ROI, and model flexibility. Wahlquist also talks about Palantir's open, interoperable architecture and its commitment to delivering value at speed, especially for customers in high-stakes, high-pressure environments.Operate Smarter, Not SlowerThe Big Themes:Speed to Value: Many companies still operate under the assumption that meaningful transformation requires multi‑year timelines (two to three years, sometimes more). Palantir is pushing the idea that you must deliver value in months, three to six months, rather than years. This shift is critical because when business markets move fast, and when competitive advantage erodes quickly, speed becomes a differentiator. If you wait for years, you may miss the window or be out‑paced.Interoperability and Ecosystem Integration: The platform isn't trying to lock you into a “box” you must keep your data in; it instead emphasizes plug‑in interoperability with systems you already have. Wahlquist mentions connectors, SDKs, APIs, and plug‑ins to partners like Snowflake, Databricks, SAP, NVIDIA. The concept: if you already have investment in some systems, don't throw them away; just connect them. This increases the speed to value and reduces friction.Ambition, Willingness to Operate in Crisis: Wahlquist points out they often engage with customers who are under pressure. These customers need value now, not two or three years out. Situations like supply chain disruption, plant outages, labor issues, etc., are real. This situational urgency forces companies to adopt architectures and partners that can deliver now. The takeaway: It's not enough to believe you'll transform in the future; transformation architecture must be built for today's fires.The Big Quote: “Our goal is really: how do we scale our customers and the outcomes they're delivering — not just the number of customers?"More from Chad and Palantir:Follow Chad on LinkedIn or get an overview of Palantir's Q3 in its letter to shareholders. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute, I look at how Copilot's smarter search experience supports users, respects content creators, and strengthens the web.Highlights00:12 — Microsoft has announced that it's bringing the best of AI search to Copilot, along with a dedicated Copilot search experience. In practice, this means that responses from Copilot will include, as Microsoft describes it, more prominent clickable citations and the option to see aggregated sources. The aim is to align more closely with Microsoft's human-first approach.00:48 — A blog post written by the Copilot team reads as follows: "We've optimized Bing's powerful search capabilities and utilized Copilot's intelligence to deliver greater control and transparency to everyday interactions with your AI companion." Additionally, this feature will provide direct links to complex queries.01:42 —Microsoft says it's implemented these updates with publishers and content owners in mind to support what it describes as a healthy web ecosystem. Not only is Microsoft introducing greater transparency to Copilot search, but it's also adding additional familiar processes to ensure that both new and experienced users can more effortlessly use Copilot to access the information they need.  Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, John Siefert is joined by Stijn Geeroms, Vice President Business Solutions, Cegeka, for a conversation on Cegeka being named Microsoft's Partner of the Year for supply chain.Key TakeawaysAbout the company: Cegeka is a global IT company headquartered in Belgium. It has around 10,000 professionals across Europe and North America. Geeroms describes Cegeka as a "Microsoft-first partner," as it offers solutions for the various Microsoft solution areas. The company also specializes in a number of industries. "We're very proud to also be recognized by Microsoft on our journey," he says.Key efforts and vertical industries: Since the start, Cegeka has been focusing on manufacturing. More specifically, it has honed in on process manufacturing. When saying they "focus efforts" in a particular area, Geeroms clarifies that this refers to four layers: added capabilities, pre-configuration, understanding industries, and agents. Before the introduction of AI, Geeroms notes, "We might have said that ERP might break productivity, but it was mainly streamlining their processes and giving them insight." But now, it's bringing new opportunities for productivity with Microsoft solutions.Customer example: Cegeka recently went live with a large pharma customer. "We went live in almost nine months, which I think, for that industry, is very fast and a broad scope," Geeroms explains. It involves planning, warehousing, sales, procurement, and more. Because they focus on pre-configuration, they were able to accelerate the adoption and validation processes required for that industry. Now, Cegeka is working with that customer on implementing agents and automation to make the platform more efficient.Market demands: The rapid transformation that Cegeka was able to do with that customer demonstrates the pace of change as well as the pace of innovation that AI is bringing. "They demand from us a solution fitting to their requirements as fast as possible...Once they're on it, they're continuously thinking of improvement on optimization," he says. This is what the market is demanding. "It's no longer a one-shot; it's like a life method." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I take a look at how Oracle's bold multicloud partnerships — with Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud.Highlights00:15 — One of the ways in which Oracle has been distinguishing itself is not just with its new technology, but with interesting go-to-market approaches. Now, Ellison recently said that while Oracle's multicloud business, where its three competitors, Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud, all offer the Oracle Database to their customers, that revenue was up over 1,500%.01:11 — He said so far, almost all of that growth has been generated by the Microsoft partnership because it was the first to come on board. Ellison believes that as the AWS partnership and Google get up to speed — and they get all the infrastructure set up to support that — you'd think that's going to drive a new round of growth for the Oracle Database business.02:12 — Can the Oracle Database hit $20 billion in revenue in five years? Ellison seemed bullish on that. One reason is the new Oracle AI Database, purpose-built for the AI Revolution. Second is these multicloud partnerships. There's such a demand among customers who have wanted the Oracle Database but have felt trapped using Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.03:15 — The AI reasoning, which Ellison was calling it, also known as inferencing, is something a lot of companies are going to be doing when they take these new tools and say, “How do I suit this for my retail company or my clothing company or my trucking company?” That's where, Ellison said, everybody's going to want to do this. He sees massive demand for it.04:32 — In a full-length article that I have today on CloudWars.com, I offer four specific points on why this approach that Ellison led with Oracle — and that the others fully agreed to — is so important. It's a great trend moving forward in the direction of more capability, more choice, more power in the hands of customers here in the buyer-seller equation. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I delve into OpenAI's $38 billion partnership with AWS, giving Amazon a major role in powering and scaling OpenAI's AI workloads.Highlights0:03 — OpenAI and AWS have announced a multi‑year strategic partnership valued at $38 billion for AWS. This deal will enable AWS to provide the infrastructure necessary to support the operation and scaling of OpenAI's AI workloads. OpenAI is currently utilising computing resources through AWS, which include hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs and the capability to scale up to tens of millions of CPUs.01:02 — The infrastructure rollout for OpenAI includes architecture optimised for maximum AI processing efficiency and performance, with clusters designed to support a variety of workloads such as inference for ChatGPT and model training. This latest deal is yet another staggering example of the demand for AI services — a demand that companies like OpenAI must invest billions in to keep up with the pace.01:55 — OpenAI recently signed several significant deals with technology partners, including a remarkable $300 billion agreement with Oracle. While that figure might seem outrageous, it puts the $38 billion into a more relatable context. One thing is clear: wherever you stand in the AI revolution, whatever your role is — just make sure that you have one, because this unprecedented growth is touching every corner of the business world. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I dig into why Google Cloud's momentum in AI-centric deals is reshaping the entire cloud landscape.Highlights00:30 — A few major things became evident from Google Cloud's third-quarter results from late last month. One, if you look at the giant deals Google Cloud signed in the first three quarters of 2025, it inked more billion-dollar-plus deals than it did in all of 2023 and 2024 combined. The pace of these huge investments by businesses is accelerating.01:05 — Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai expressed excitement that enterprise AI is now becoming a huge factor of these massive deals. In just three quarters, Google Cloud signed more billion-dollar deals than in the previous eight combined. Seventy percent of all Google Cloud customers are now purchasing the company's AI products and services. Another indicator of momentum is its backlog.02:25 — Pichai also said that Google Cloud now has 13 products with annualized revenue run rates exceeding $1 billion. He emphasized the company's diversification and scaling of its product line, many of which are tied to enterprise AI. Gemini Enterprise has already been adopted by over 700 customers and deployed across more than two million seats.03:36 —Over the last two years, Google Cloud has been the fastest-growing player in the Cloud Wars Top 10. I'll go into more detail in an article later this morning, but it's worth noting that Google Cloud's reign as the number one fastest-growing company is about to end. That's because Palantir, a new entrant into the Top 10, posted an eye-popping 63% revenue growth in Q3.04:15 — Still, if you set aside the outlier of Palantir, Google Cloud remains the fastest-growing among the rest. It's executing well, with lots of momentum. The backlog data underscores that this isn't just about past performance — it's a forward-looking indicator that their pipeline is incredibly strong. So, hats off to Google Cloud for doing a great job. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I call out AWS's slowdown in both innovation and momentum, as the rest of the hyperscalers redefine the future of cloud.Highlights00:15 — Now it's been interesting here as we watch the four hyperscalers recently, Microsoft, AWS, Google Cloud, and Oracle. We hear that cliche about a rising tide lifts all boats. And I would say that AWS is definitely the one of the four hyperscalers that is rising less slowly, less quickly, and to not as great a height.01:08 — AWS is the company that created the cloud infrastructure business, and for most of those 19 years, AWS deserved to be called the King of the Cloud. But a few years ago, Microsoft's cloud, Azure, became, you know, quite prominent. Google Cloud started to innovate wildly. Oracle has been on fire. AWS lost the role, the opportunity, the swagger of being the leader02:16 — It is now the follower. AWS is not the innovator, either in technology or in go-to-market ways, and these financial results prove that they certainly had a very nice Q3. You can't just bring metrics or comparative performance from other industries and apply it to the Cloud Wars. Those numbers that AWS put up were just not anywhere close to as good as those of its competitors.03:36 — So, in either of those cases, AWS is being dramatically outgrown by the other three hyperscalers. There's just no way around it, and in a detailed article that I'll have on cloudwars.com later today, I lay that out both for the quarterly numbers and the latest RPO and backlog figures.04:23 — And in the AI Revolution, these four companies are in large part helping the entire global economy to establish, "How am I going to move forward? What am I going to need to do?" The other three have all stolen the jump on AWS and become much more dynamic, and that's revealed in the customer demand, expressed as quarterly revenue and also going forward as RPO or backlog.05:28 — What we're seeing here is the fact that this, this notion of innovation, of, you know, relentless performance, relentless excellence, relentless progress. It can be brutal at times. And while AWS is a big, successful company, is going to be around for a long time, the numbers are showing it is no longer anywhere close to the leader. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans speaks with T.K. Anand, Executive Vice President at Oracle, during Oracle AI World in Las Vegas. The discussion centers on Oracle's new AI Data Platform, a major initiative designed to help customers harness their own data to drive AI transformation. Anand outlines how Oracle's open, unified approach to managing enterprise data enables organizations to bring AI directly to their business processes, while also citing breakthrough developments in industry-specific applications.Reinventing with AIThe Big Themes:Data + AI = Business Reinvention: Enterprises cannot simply adopt AI as a bolt‑on; they must combine their private business data — workflows, applications, processes — with advanced models if they hope to reinvent themselves ahead of disruption. Anand notes that many AI/LLMs have been trained on public domain data and thus “know nothing about our customers' private data.” The AI Data Platform is designed to enable that union.Pre‑integrated with SaaS Applications: For customers of Oracle's large SaaS portfolio (e.g., Fusion, NetSuite, industry apps) the AI Data Platform offers tailored variants that are pre‑integrated with the application's data models and semantics. This means organizations get out‑of‑the-box predictive models, analytics, and agents aligned to their workflows, but still have the full platform underneath to extend or customize. This helps reduce time‑to‑value for companies using those applications.Full Stack Advantage: Oracle positions its differentiator as owning and integrating the full stack: cloud infrastructure (OCI including autonomous database), data and analytics platform, applications (SaaS) and now AI/agents. This end‑to‑end control enables closer integration between data assets, applications, and AI use cases. For example, having application workflow knowledge baked into the data platform allows faster mapping from business process to predictive agent.The Big Quote: “The AI Platform is all about helping our customers achieve AI transformation through the power of their own data."More from T.K. Anand and Oracle:Connect with T.K. Anand on LinkedIn or get an overview of Oracle AI Data Platform. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explore Workday's latest move to deepen AI's role in enterprise operations.Highlights00:03 — Workday has announced its new Custom AI Model Library for the Workday Contract Intelligence Agent, powered by Evisort. The library includes over 120 pre-built AI models designed to identify critical clauses, risks, line items, and terms within contracts. The goal is to give users specialized models that speed up contract review, detect risks earlier, and reduce manual work.00:40 — The addition of the Custom AI Model Library expands the range of contract terms users can automatically analyze. Jerry Ting, Vice President and Head of Agentic AI and Evisort at Workday, said: “We aren't just adding features; we're giving our Contract Intelligence Agent new skills that help solve real business problems.”01:29 —What stands out about this announcement is how Workday is operationalizing AI within enterprise contract management: moving beyond standard automation toward domain-specific, customizable intelligence. This is a key differentiator, and one every company in the agentic AI space should aim for. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Hasan Rizvi, EVP, Database Engineering, Oracle, talks to Bob Evans in this latest episode of Cloud Wars Live. They explore the launch of Oracle AI Database 26ai, the Autonomous AI Lakehouse, and breakthroughs in multi-cloud deployment. Rizvi also discusses vector search, agentic AI, and how Oracle is simplifying complex architectures for the AI era. It's a compelling look at how Oracle is reshaping enterprise data strategy for the age of AI.Oracle's Next-Gen Data StrategyThe Big Themes:AI Demands a Modern Data Foundation: As AI shifts operations from human scale to machine speed, enterprises must ask: “Is my data foundation ready?” Without intelligent data structures, comprehensive access, real‑time performance, and strong security, organizations will struggle to compete. The introduction of Oracle AI Database 26ai is positioned as that foundation. The urgency of this shift is clear: companies that delay risk being left behind.Agentic AI and Vectors Come to the Enterprise Database: Generative AI and autonomous agents require new data types and workflows. Oracle has built vector data types and vector indexes into the database so enterprises can perform similarity search, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) and agent workflows directly on their private data. Further, Oracle is enabling annotations (metadata) so LLMs can understand enterprise data schemas, improving accuracy. Finally, agentic workflows (AI that takes action) are supported within the database, reducing data movement, improving performance and strengthening security.Start‑Ups and Established Enterprises Both Benefit: The case study of Retraced (a fashion supply‑chain company) underscores how smaller, agile firms are using Oracle's autonomous AI database to innovate quickly: multi‑datatype support, agentic AI, automatic scaling, and reduced operational overhead. At the same time, Oracle's heritage in mission‑critical enterprise systems means large companies with massive workloads benefit from the same platform. The point: whether you're a start‑up or a Fortune 500, the difference will be how fast you move.The Big Quote: “We really believe that in in the age of AI, where you have to move much faster, you really don't have a choice but to start simplifying your environment. Otherwise, you're going to get left behind."More from Hasan Rizvi and Oracle:Connect with Hasan on LinkedIn and learn more about Oracle AI Database 26ai. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I spotlight Palantir's stunning 63% revenue surge and its defiant, rule-breaking vision for the AI Era.Highlights00:30 — Palantir, earlier this week, reported its Q3 numbers, and they were absolutely extraordinary. I thought the only thing that matched the blowout numbers that Palantir had was the perspective and philosophy revealed in the Q3 earnings call from CEO Alexander Karp. I want to talk about that in just a minute.01:23 —You hear talk around the industry, people saying, “Well, what is Palantir? Are they an apps company? Are they an analytics company? Are they a data company? Are they an AI company? Are they a database company? Are they, you know, this or that?” Palantir absolutely defies any easy positioning or being put in a particular box or category. It is all of those things.02:26 — Its revenue for Q3, ending September 30, was up 63% — almost $1.2 billion. It had projected growth for Q3 of about 51% and blew that number away. Within that, its U.S. commercial business is now by far the fastest-growing part of its company. Remarkable growth there of 121% in Q3 to almost $400 million. The U.S. government business was up 52% to $486 million.03:42 — Palantir signed new deals totaling $2.8 billion in contract value. That new business alone is an indication that this is not a blip. Some people talk about an AI bubble. Karp said, “The bubble exists only for companies that are not really trying to impart enduring value.” Of that $2.8 billion, there were 93 deals signed in the quarter for $5 million or more, and 51 deals for $10 million or more.04:14 — A big point that Karp made is that as the company gains more visibility, it's important that: “We are always at the toughest and most complex part of our customers' technology stacks, because with AI, that's the only way we can impart real value for those customers and unlock for them the ability to become truly transformed companies in the AI revolution.” He speaks like no other CEO I've been around. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Live, Mahesh Thiagarajan, EVP, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, speaks with Bob Evans about Oracle's bold strategy to lead in the AI infrastructure race. He details how Oracle is scaling zeta-level compute, launching a 1.5 gigawatt GPU campus, and engineering full-stack solutions that combine bare-metal hardware, custom networking, and advanced software. With OCI's rapid innovation and massive scale, Oracle is positioning itself as a serious challenger to cloud incumbents like AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud.Scaling AI at OracleThe Big Themes:Enterprise Data Continuity and Cloud Strategy: Enterprises rely on mission-critical data, such as databases, and migrating that data to the cloud remains a major strategic priority. The challenge isn't simply moving data: It's building a cloud platform that delivers real value to customers. As Thiagarajan and his team began developing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to support these needs, they focused on core fundamentals: performance, cost efficiency, and security. This illustrates that for today's cloud providers, success isn't just about innovative features, but about engineering deep, resilient infrastructure.Customer‑First Execution: Thiagarajan repeatedly states there is no perfect playbook. The approach: wake up every day, talk to partners, figure out what customers need and execute. This mindset emphasises responsiveness and pragmatism. Given the rapid pace of change in cloud and AI, large providers cannot wait for general frameworks to emerge. They must iterate, partner, and build in real time.“Late” As An Advantage: Thiagarajan observes that arriving in cloud later gave Oracle the ability to learn from first movers' mistakes and benefit from newer hardware generations without legacy baggage. While first movers often carry large legacy systems, later entrants can design for new architectures (bare‑metal, custom networking) from the ground up. That doesn't guarantee success but presents an advantage if leveraged.The Big Quote: “You earn trust with [partners] by getting their products out to market fast into the hands of the customers, because that really translates to them, the end customer, being happy."More from Mahesh Thiagarajan and Oracle:Connect with Mahesh Thiagarajan on LinkedIn or take a look at his Oracle blog posts. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I take a look at Microsoft's newest Copilot feature that lets users type to Vision instead of relying solely on voice.Highlights00:10 — Microsoft has rolled out a new update for the Microsoft Copilot app on Windows for Windows Insiders. This update allows users to interact with Copilot Vision using text inputs, and Copilot will respond, in turn, with text outputs in the same chat window. Previously, interactions with Copilot Vision were only possible through voice commands.00:50 — Microsoft has been rolling out new Copilot features rapidly in recent months. Vision allows you to interact with the AI assistant, Copilot, to answer questions about what's displayed on your screen or captured by your mobile camera feed. There's been a significant push from Microsoft to make Copilot a voice-first AI tool.01:29 — Ultimately, this approach lowers the barrier to entry for users by removing the complexity associated with engaging with Copilot solely through text inputs. However, consumers will always desire choice, and this addition to Copilot's capabilities is a positive step for Microsoft. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I take a look at how Oracle and Google Cloud are surging past Microsoft and AWS in RPO and backlog growthHighlights00:13 — There's no question that 10, 12, 15 years ago, it was AWS and Microsoft that set the rules for cloud infrastructure. Google Cloud and Oracle, both of them, while much smaller in revenue than AWS and Microsoft, are growing much faster. My conclusion here is that Oracle and Google Cloud are roaring past Microsoft and AWS in RPO and backlog growth. Let me show you what I mean.01:14 — Oracle, Google Cloud, Microsoft, AWS. I've got two sets of growth rates here. This first one looks sequentially — Q3 RPO growth versus total Q2 revenue — and what the growth rate is. Oracle: $455 billion RPO. It grew sequentially from their last quarter to this quarter — its RPO went up 43%. Google Cloud: $155 billion. From last quarter's number to this quarter, its RPO growth rate was up 46%.02:17 — Microsoft: $392 billion, huge number, but its RPO grew just 6.5%. Looks weak compared to the others, but then there's AWS — $200 billion RPO for the quarter ended September 30. That's an RPO growth of only 2.5%. So, we have these two high-flyers in the hyper-growth category, mid-40s, and the two big traditional cloud infrastructure vendors growing in single digits.03:15 — RPO growth rates on an annual basis, year over year. Oracle's up 359%. Google Cloud: huge jump here, 82% growth in their backlog year over year. Microsoft: very nice, 51% year over year. But if you look at the most recent number, it's 6.5%. AWS — I can't give you an annual growth number because a year ago AWS was not releasing its backlog numbers. In Q2, it was $195 billion.04:03 — So, they went up $5 billion to $200 billion, and that's why they had that small growth number. Now we all know those lines about “there are three kinds of lies — lies, damned lies, and statistics.” So, somebody might think I'm spinning a tale and fibbing or lying about these numbers, but the numbers themselves do not lie, and what they're clearly showing is that Google Cloud and Oracle are doing new sorts of things.04:46 — They're appealing to the new needs, demands, and requirements customers have, and it's being reflected in the growth — not only their higher revenue growth rates, which reflect the past, but also their RPO or backlog growth rates, which reflect and look into the future. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Juan Loaiza is the EVP of Database Technologies at Oracle. In today's special episode of Cloud Wars Live, Loaiza joins Bob Evans to discuss how AI is transforming the way businesses interact with data. He spotlights Oracle's new AI-native database, the importance of trust and security in enterprise AI, and why business users now play a bigger role in data strategy. It's a revealing look at how Oracle is shaping the future of intelligent data systems.The AI Data RevolutionThe Big Themes:Trust, Governance, and Privacy Must Be Built Into the AI‑Data Stack: One of the strongest points made by Loaiza is about the risk of AI in enterprises: hallucinations, mis‑use of data, privacy violations, regulatory consequences. When mission‑critical systems (hospitals, banks, telecoms) are involved, errors are unacceptable and can be illegal. Oracle's approach is to embed privacy and access controls down into the database engine: the system knows who the end user is, what they can see, and ensures AI cannot leak unauthorized data.Multi‑Cloud, On‑Premises, Hybrid — Customers Want Flexibility: Loaiza describes how Oracle is enabling customers to run their database and AI workloads wherever they need: on‑premises, in public clouds (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), or via “cloud at your data center” options like Exadata Cloud@Customer. This speaks to regulatory, latency, data sovereignty and operational constraints. For enterprises, the takeaway is that deployment flexibility is essential. A one‑size‑fits‑all cloud model may not meet strategic needs.Business Users and Developers Now Have Voices in Database Strategy: Historically, databases were the domain of DBAs, IT operations, and infrastructure teams. Now business users and developers also have meaningful voices because of AI democratizing access. This shift means organizational structures, roles and processes must change. Data governance, training, tool‑selection and deployment pipelines need to reflect that the “consumer” of the database is broader.The Big Quote: “[AI] can translate English to this language of computers, the language of data, which is SQL. So, what that means is you don't have to learn this crazy language anymore. So pretty much anyone, business people, lay people, can now talk using their normal natural language to the database, and the database will understand what they're saying and give them answers, build applications to all these and this is something I honestly never thought I'd see in my entire life, and it's here today."More from Juan Loaiza and Oracle:Follow Juan on LinkedIn or learn more about Oracle's approach to security. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I look at the shift in enterprise preference from Microsoft to Google Cloud.Highlights00:15 — The three original hyperscalers all released numbers for Q3 last year. Each should be proud, but Google Cloud stood out in a significant way. Its Q3 revenue is up 34% to $15.2 billion. Its Q2 growth had been 32%, so, accelerating here. Mid-year, it said its CapEx would be $75 billion for all of 2025. A few months ago, it said, “Now we're going to have to make it $85 billion..."01:38 — Now it's saying it's going to be somewhere between $91 and $93 billion for this year. If you take the three hyperscalers in their Q3 performance here: $49.1 billion for Microsoft, up 26%, , terrific results. AWS, $33 billion; that was up 20%, so accelerating from Q2's 17.5% — very nice. And then Google Cloud, $15.2 billion, as I mentioned, up 34%.02:39 — AWS and Microsoft are much larger than Google Cloud. Regarding new business Microsoft added $2.4 billion, AWS $2.1 billion, and Google Cloud $1.6 billion. So how does that play out? Well, of the $6.1 billion in incremental new revenue, Q3 over Q2, Microsoft got 39.3%, AWS, 34.4%, and Google Cloud,26.2%. So, for Google Cloud, 15.6% overall, but 26.2% of the new business.03:47 — My point here is that some previous long-range contracts that these companies have been winning have positioned AWS and Microsoft as much larger than Google Cloud; they've earned that. But looking forward here, in the early days of the AI Revolution, Google Cloud is gaining a disproportionate share of new business based on its size relative to AWS and Microsoft.04:44 — But I think the interesting thing here is to say, of the new business and looking forward, who's winning this stuff — sort of right here, right now — forgetting the size disparities that have been up in the past. And Google Cloud, on that front, is looking very good. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I unpack how Microsoft is empowering business users with new Copilot agents that simplify app creation and workflow automation — no coding needed.Highlights00:11 — Microsoft has launched a series of new agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers in the Frontier Program: App Builder and Workflows, designed to accelerate the creation of AI-driven apps and workflows. These agents make it incredibly easy for general business users to utilize natural language in order to create apps, workflows, and even additional agents.00:46 — The Workflows agent allows users to automate tasks such as email, mail apps, and calendar management across Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Planner, and other services like Approvals. Steps of the automation are displayed in real time and follow the same Copilot conversation, making it easy to add more or edit existing workflow steps.01:24 — In a blog post, Charles Lamanna, President of Business and Industry Copilot at Microsoft, outlined a use case for these new agents: "Imagine you're preparing for a product launch with a few multi-turn interactions. Create an app for a product launch process where teams can track launch milestones, assign tasks, and view campaign progress in a dashboard."01:37 — "Send a Teams update every Monday with upcoming launch deadlines and key tasks from Planner. Post reminders for approval deadlines in Teams channels. Build an agent that answers product launch questions like: “What's the next milestone?”, “How do I submit creative assets?”, or “When is the launch event?”, using SharePoint resources and Teams conversations."02:08 — Regarding Microsoft's strategy for Copilot: step one involved integrating Copilot everywhere to ensure easy access and increasing familiarity. Step two was the launch of Copilot Studio Lite, which allows any user to build agents easily. Now, step three is focusing on finding the off-the-shelf agents available to make complex tasks such as app development and workflow automation seamless. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I compared the diverging strategies of SAP and Oracle as the AI revolution reshapes enterprise tech.Highlights00:22 — SAP versus Oracle. It was interesting on SAP's recent Q3 earnings call: the financial analysts seemed to be really preoccupied with this notion — was SAP going to get into the hyperscale business? Or was the fact that Oracle is in the cloud infrastructure business something that SAP sees as a disadvantage? I think those are entirely the wrong questions.01:00 — SAP is never going to go in that direction. Where SAP's future is — and what CEO Christian Klein kept coming back to over and over, and I believe very persuasively — is it's all about the data, and AI, and agents, and the way that apps are evolving to pull all of that together. It's about the business data cloud. It's about certain partnerships.01:45 — It reported a 22% increase in cloud revenue, but in constant currency, that was 27%. Its current cloud backlog was up about 27%. So, strong numbers for them — much, much faster than Oracle's apps business is growing. But Oracle thinks it is going to be ahead on the AI front, and with the database, infrastructure, and its vertical market apps, it thinks it's going to have a real case to be made here.02:27 — But from SAP's side, Klein was asked about the hyperscale business. Really? His point was: no, no, no, this is not going to happen. Instead, we're going to double down — triple down — at SAP on the things that we do best and that our customers are looking for us to deliver.03:44 — A big point that Klein made about this — and why he's so confident about SAP's ability as he said, we are seeing more and more that the buying decisions are being made around business outcomes. That's the focus. Certainly, the CIO is involved, but the decisions are moving up into the C-suite and the boards of directors.05:08 — I think the competitive dynamics between SAP and Oracle are going to really intensify over the next two or three years because the opportunity here around the AI Revolution, with agents, AI data, and applications, is incredibly big and powerful. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Bonnie Tinder is the founder and CEO of Raven Intelligence, an independent B2B peer review site that amplifies the voice of the customer. She focuses on software customers, consulting partners, and software vendors and helps identify the best partners for their needs. In this episode, she shares powerful insights from leading organizations on how AI is being used not to replace employees, but to enhance experiences, streamline operations, and drive better business outcomes through purpose-driven, human-centered deployment strategies.Episode 56 | Human-Centered AI StrategiesThe Big Themes:Augments, Not Replaces Humans: AI should enhance the human experience, not eliminate it. Real-world examples, such as Marriott's use of AI to improve the check-in process, demonstrate that AI can remove operational friction and allow frontline staff to focus on hospitality and customer engagement. In the energy sector, utilities are embedding AI into safety systems to make work more accurate and proactive. These examples show that the most successful AI deployments begin by identifying pain points in human workflows.Cultural Readiness Is Crucial for AI Success: AI adoption is not just a technical project; it is a cultural transformation. Multiple examples made it clear that even the most advanced tools can fail without the right introduction. One university CHRO compared AI implementation to sneaking vegetables into meals. By avoiding technical jargon and focusing on small improvements, they saw stronger adoption. People often resist what they do not understand, especially when it feels like a threat. Leaders who frame AI as a tool for reducing stress, reclaiming time, and increasing impact are more likely to succeed.AI Should Start with Outcomes: Real AI value begins with the business goal, not the technology itself. Companies that succeed with AI are the ones that begin by identifying the result they want to achieve. Whether it's streamlining hotel check-ins, reducing safety risks in energy infrastructure, or accelerating clinical breakthroughs, effective strategies start with specific problems. These companies ask their teams where the friction lies, and then choose tools to fix those issues. This is a shift from a technology-first mindset to an outcome-first mindset.The Big Quote: “I hope you know business people will all start to get to the point of like, yes, the nature of work is going to change. But AI is not going to spell doom and gloom for every worker on Earth. It's going to give many, many, many of them an opportunity to do better things." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I unpack Microsoft AI's push for empathetic AI with new features designed to make Copilot more relatable and engaging.Highlights00:18 — Microsoft has launched the Mico 1 character — a visual presence that appears and interacts with users when they tap into Copilot's voice mode. Now, this cloud-like entity is optional and actively listens, reacts, and even changes color in response to the direction of the conversation. The aim is to give Copilot a friendly face and make interactions more natural.00:59 — Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, said the following: “When we started talking about this idea of an AI companion a few years ago, it seemed distant and uncertain. Now it's real. It's here. We can't wait for you to feel the difference.” In a press release, Microsoft stated that Copilot is designed to be empathetic and supportive rather than sycophantic.01:32 — Now, I can't ascertain whether Microsoft has truly delivered the AI companion of pop culture fame — think HAL 9000 without the murderous intent. However, personalization and natural interaction have become their mission in recent months, and Mico is certainly an important piece of the puzzle. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I dive into how ServiceNow is redefining enterprise automation with its new AI Experience platform.Highlights00:15 — ServiceNow has for a long time been intriguing in the way that it does not necessarily map to or compete directly against lots of the other major Cloud Wars Top 10 companies. ServiceNow has gone a different sort of route, everything they're doing from AI and workflows. The company has taken another big step with a service they introduced recently called the AI Experience.00:56 — I had a chance earlier this week to speak with ServiceNow's President, Chief Product Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Amit Zavery. Now, one of the big things that Zavery said is: "Look, just as customers got sort of over the hump of saying, okay, I've got to integrate all my applications and my databases and my systems now along comes AI."01:28 — A concern among customers has been there's going to be lots of new pieces, and the customer is going to be stuck in the middle again. Amit said that a key point here is it [AI Experience] ties together these different data types, voice, images, data, text, and everything from the people, the data and the workflows that are happening around the company.02:28 — Amit further said: "What we want to try to do here is this automation, happening with AI end-to-end, across company." So, it's not just the processes, but how the company works up and down, across the organization, and with customers and with suppliers. He said: "We're trying to ensure that customers can use AI to cut technical debt, rather than add to it."03:13 — Another big point about this was, there's lots of productivity, lots of innovation here again. He said: "Trust has never been more important." He said that the AI Experience, in tandem with the AI Control Tower from ServiceNow, is going to give customers the ability to feel very comfortable that they understand they're on top of where these AI deployments are happening.04:28 — And he talks about how ServiceNow being very open in this platform. He said: "We're finding new ways to work with the other big tech companies to ensure that customers get what they want, and that we're not forcing customers to, again, get into that big game of integration. We want more innovation and less integration." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Amit Zavery, President, Chief Product Officer, and Chief Operating Officer at ServiceNow, sits down to talk with Bob Evans in this special episode of Cloud Wars Live. They dive deep into how ServiceNow's AI Experience is transforming enterprise workflows through automation, governance, and personalization. Zavery outlines a bold vision for delivering real ROI and trusted AI at scale.Reimagining Workflow with AI Experience The Big Themes:ServiceNow's AI Experience Is About Unified, Actionable Intelligence: Amit Zavery describes ServiceNow's AI Experience as more than a conversational interface, it's an orchestrated, end-to-end workflow platform that integrates voice, text, image recognition, agents, and enterprise systems. It's designed to eliminate the “spare part world” of fragmented tools and disconnected apps. By delivering one multimodal, multilingual interface, ServiceNow enables users to not just find information, but actually complete tasks and workflows.AI Governance and Control Are Built In, Not Bolted On: The AI Control Tower is ServiceNow's answer to one of the biggest enterprise challenges: AI governance. With this feature, companies can discover, monitor, and manage all AI usage, not only from ServiceNow but across third-party systems, too. CIOs and CISOs gain the ability to track who is using what AI systems, what agents are doing, and what data is being accessed.Industry-Specific Use Cases Drive Real-World AI Value: Enterprise AI Zavery says must be contextual, curated, and tightly integrated with business processes. ServiceNow is collaborating with customers like AstraZeneca (pharma), BT (telecom), and Rossmann (retail) to deploy agentic AI that delivers real value in vertical-specific environments. These aren't generic AI chatbots; they're intelligent agents embedded in workflows that help store managers order inventory, researchers manage supply chains, and employees navigate complex rules.The Big Quote: “I call it the spare part world we are in right now, and it's a very difficult thing for a lot of the leaders to really keep up with it. One to know, what are you using? How are you using it? What is the ROI on it? What are the costs associated with that?” Visit Cloud Wars for more.