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This week, we dive into OpenAI's $6.5B acquisition of Jony Ive's ‘io' and what it means for the future of AI-native devices. We explore Google's VEO 3 and the deepfake dilemmas it raises, along with Microsoft's Aurora AI and its ability to predict the weather. Plus, Google's new try-on AI lets you see how clothes fit without leaving your house, and in a more random story, it turns out some plants can hear bees to protect their nectar.Whether you're deep in tech, cloud services, AI innovation, or market dynamics, this episode delivers sharp analysis, insightful predictions, and essential context to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.Hosts:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismarshall/
In this episode, we dissect industry-shaping stories, debating CoreWeave's $35 billion IPO, AWS Transform: AI for legacy app modernisation, and the exciting intersection of quantum computing and AI and how much Nvidia is investing in the Market - are they becoming the new Microsoft, Apple or Google?Whether you're deep in tech, cloud services, AI innovation, or market dynamics, this episode delivers sharp analysis, insightful predictions, and essential context to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.Hosts:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismarshall/
Discover how Rackspace Spot is democratizing cloud infrastructure with an open-market, transparent option for cloud servers. Kevin Carter, Product Director at Rackspace Technology, discusses Rackspace Spot's hypothesis and the impact of an open marketplace for cloud resources. Discover how this novel approach is transforming the industry. TIMESTAMPS[00:00:00] – Introduction & Kevin Carter's Background[00:02:00] – Journey to Rackspace and Open Source[00:04:00] – Engineering Culture and Pushing Boundaries[00:06:00] – Rackspace Spot and Market-Based Compute[00:08:00] – Cognitive vs. Technical Barriers in Cloud Adoption[00:10:00] – Tying Spot to OpenStack and Resource Scheduling[00:12:00] – Product Roadmap and Expansion of Spot[00:16:00] – Hardware Constraints and Power Consumption[00:18:00] – Scrappy Startups and Emerging Hardware Solutions[00:20:00] – Programming Languages for Accelerators (e.g., Mojo)[00:22:00] – Evolving Role of Software Engineers[00:24:00] – Importance of Collaboration and Communication[00:28:00] – Building Personal Networks Through Open Source[00:30:00] – The Power of Asking and Offering Help[00:34:00] – A Question No One Asks: Mentors[00:38:00] – The Power of Educators and Mentorship[00:40:00] – Rackspace's OpenStack and Spot Ecosystem Strategy[00:42:00] – Open Source Communities to Join[00:44:00] – Simplifying Complex Systems[00:46:00] – Getting Started with Rackspace Spot and GitHub[00:48:00] – Human Skills in the Age of GenAI - Post Interview Conversation[00:54:00] – Processing Feedback with Emotional Intelligence[00:56:00] – Encouraging Inclusive and Clear Collaboration QUOTESCHARNA PARKEY“If you can't engage with this infrastructure in a way that's going to help you, then I guarantee you it's not up to par for the direction that we're going. [...] This democratization — if you don't know how to use it — it's not doing its job.”KEVIN CARTER“Those scrappy startups are going to be the ones that solve it. They're going to figure out new and interesting ways to leverage instructions. [...] You're going to see a push from them into the hardware manufacturers to enhance workloads on FPGAs, leveraging AVX 512 instruction sets that are historically on CPU silicon, not on a GPU.”
In this 30‑minute episode, Jon and Lewis unpick the coordinated ransomware wave that struck Britain's high‑street giants. They trace the attack chain that emptied Co‑op shelves, froze M&S online orders and attempted, but failed, to extort Harrods.Lewis takes a look at Amazon's latest generative‑AI arsenal: Amazon Q's new developer‑first agents, the multimodal Nova Premier family running on Bedrock, and AWS's landmark decision to let any SaaS vendor list in Marketplace regardless of where the software runs, a direct play to become the app store for the whole cloud economy. Finally, they ask whether enterprises can really keep their data out of Google's AI engines.Hosts:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismarshall/
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, operating a Global Delivery Centre in Ireland, has expanded its partnership with SAP, a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, to enable business transformation at scale for SAP customers by leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). Building on their two-decade relationship between both the organisations, this collaboration aims to further drive scalability, agility and innovation. TCS and SAP are helping customers accelerate enterprise-wide cloud adoption as part of their 'RISE with SAP' initiative, facilitating a simpler transition from on-premises to cloud environments. Through this collaboration, TCS plans to work with SAP to power a centralised eco-system for its global customers, enhancing service management, end-user experience, and overall customer success. V Rajanna, President, Technology, Software and Services, TCS, said, "Over the past two decades, TCS and SAP have consistently delivered industry-leading solutions, empowering global enterprises on their digital transformation journeys. As we embark on the next phase, we remain committed to creating sustainable value and fostering growth for our customers. Together, we will continue to transform end-user experiences and drive innovation across the enterprise landscape." TCS plans to establish an Innovation Council, leveraging its Agile Innovation Cloud (AIC) framework to drive innovation in areas such as AI democratization, GenAI, and automation ecosystems to enable innovation at scale for SAP customers. Additionally, TCS will also leverage its TCS Pace Port innovation network spread across 12 major cities worldwide, to ideate, collaborate, and develop solutions with SAP customers. The TCS PaceTM network aims to promote systematic, scalable, and sustainable innovation in enterprises. Thomas Saueressig, Member of the Executive Board of SAP, Customer Services & Delivery, said, "Our collaboration with TCS continues to drive meaningful impact for customers by bringing together leading cloud solutions and proven delivery expertise. Together, we are helping organisations simplify their transformation journeys, accelerate cloud adoption, and harness the power of AI and data." Vikram Karakoti, Global Head, Enterprise Solutions, TCS, said, "TCS looks forward to building on its twenty-year partnership with SAP to launch an accelerated path to RISE with SAP adoption and E2E automation with GenAI. TCS enjoys a 360° relationship with SAP, and, together, we provide our clients with seamless and flexible digital cloud adoption, reinforcing operational resilience and efficiency. The new endeavour combines our agile, scalable methodologies with cutting-edge Genai innovations to help global enterprises adapt, grow, and unlock new opportunities through technology." Over the last two decades, TCS has remained SAP's trusted transformation partner of choice across the value chain. The alliance has enabled clients to unlock the full potential of SAP's enterprise cloud, business AI and data analytics capabilities. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Joshua Garverink, co-author of the Azure Integration Guide for Business, discusses journey into the tech industry, his experiences with Azure, and the importance of cloud integration for IT leaders.The conversation covers various themes including the benefits of moving to Azure, the cultural shifts required for cloud adoption, architectural considerations for cloud migration, the significance of network design, and the financial implications of cloud services through FinOps.In this conversation, Jetro and Josh discuss the critical aspects of cloud operations, focusing on Cloud FinOps, automation, cybersecurity, and the Azure ecosystem.They emphasize the importance of investing in skills for IT operations, the role of automation in enhancing security, and best practices for OLTP systems in Azure.The discussion also covers the significance of governance and security in cloud operations, the reality of serverless computing, and the future of Azure with technological innovations.CHAPTERS(00:00:00) INTRO (00:00:42) Introduction to Azure Integration and Author Background (00:05:33) Unlocking Opportunities with Azure for IT Leaders (00:10:09) Cultural Shifts in Cloud Adoption (00:12:04) Architectural Considerations for Cloud Migration (00:16:39) The Importance of Network Design in Azure (00:21:50) Understanding Cloud Costs and FinOps (00:25:12) Understanding Cloud FinOps and Cost Management (00:25:45) The Importance of Automation in Cloud Operations (00:30:33) Investing in Skills for IT Operations (00:31:38) The Role of Automation in Cybersecurity (00:32:09) Best Practices for OLTP Systems in Azure (00:35:07) Exploring the Azure Ecosystem for Data Analytics (00:37:33) Serverless Computing: Hype or Reality? (00:43:28) Governance and Security in Cloud Operations (00:45:47) The Future of Azure and Technological Innovations
In this episode of Cloud Unplugged, Jon talks with Thomas Boltze—CTO at Santander's PagoNxt, former CTO of Funding Circle, Agile Coach, and cloud/fintech leader with 15+ years experience—about fixing broken tech teams. They cover rebuilding systems from scratch, cutting through technical debt, and why culture trumps code every time. Lessons from fintech, startups and hard-won engineering battles.Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasboltze/Follow us on social media @cloudunplugged https://www.tiktok.com/@cloudunpluggedhttps://twitter.com/cloud_unpluggedhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cloud-unplugged-podcast/Listen on All Platforms: https://cloud-unplugged.transistor.fm/Listen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3y2djXaListen on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3mosSFTJon & Jay's start-up: https://www.appvia.io/Hosts:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykeshur/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismarshall/ Podcast sponsor inquires, topic requests: Hello@cloudunplugged.ioWelcome to The Cloud Unplugged Podcast, where hosts Jon Shanks (CEO of a Cloud Platform Engineering and Developer Platform Company), Lewis Marshall (Developer Evangelist, AI enthusiast, and science devotee), and occasionally Jay Keshur (COO, championing business modernisation and transformation) explore the latest in cloud technology.Each week, they investigate developments in AI, data, emerging cloud platforms, and cloud growth, occasionally highlighting the geo-political and global commercial pressures shaping the industry. Drawing on their extensive experience helping customers adopt, scale, and innovate in the cloud (and managing their own Internal Developer Product), Jon, Lewis, and Jay share insights and welcome industry experts to discuss new trends, tackle business challenges, and offer practical solutions.
Brandon Epstein joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to discuss the evolving landscape of digital forensics and the growing role of artificial intelligence in evidence analysis. Brandon shares his journey from being a major crimes detective in New Jersey to co-founding Medex Forensics (later acquired by Magnet), and discusses his current roles both at Magnet Forensics and as chair of the Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence (SWGDE). In this wide-ranging conversation, he explains how AI is being responsibly implemented in forensic tools like Magnet Axiom's Copilot feature and Magnet Verify, highlighting the critical distinction between using AI for investigative leads versus evidentiary conclusions. Brandon also dives into the challenges of media authentication in an era of deepfakes, the shift toward cloud-based forensic platforms, and provides a preview of his upcoming "AI Unpacked" webinar series. #digitalforensics #dfir #ai 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 00:32 Life in Nashville and User Summit Highlights 02:07 The Importance of Networking at Conferences 04:32 Brandon's Journey to Magnet Forensics 10:17 AI and Digital Forensics 16:02 AI Unpacked Webinar Series 21:40 Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence (SWGDE) 33:16 The Collaborative Spirit in Forensics 34:45 Magnet's Expanding Product Line 36:14 The Future of Cloud in Digital Forensics 39:08 Challenges and Benefits of Cloud Adoption 45:26 The Role of AI and Cloud in Conferences 46:09 Magnet's Acquisition of DVR Examiner 48:47 The Importance of Video Authenticity 52:29 Emerging Technologies in Forensics 58:04 Personal Insights and Closing Remarks Show Notes Magnet Forensics - https://www.magnetforensics.com AI Unpacked - https://www.magnetforensics.com/ai-unpacked/?utm_source=ForensicFocus&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=UTMC-0000077 SWGDE - https://www.swgde.org
In this episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, we revisit highlights from some of our most engaging 2024 conversations, focusing on strategies for public sector modernization. From cloud adoption and cybersecurity to AI-driven decision-making and improving accessibility, these discussions explore how digital transformation is shaping the future of public sector innovation.Russell Gainford, Tyler's Chief Cloud Officer, discusses the importance of cloud adoption and avoiding the risks of technical debt in outdated systems. He shares how strategic planning and leadership alignment can ensure modernization success.Sascha Ohler, Vice President of Outdoor Recreation at Tyler, reveals how technology is enhancing state parks, delivering seamless visitor experiences, and making the outdoors more inclusive for all.Rita Reynolds, CIO of the National Association of Counties (NACo), addresses the challenges counties face in workforce recruitment, cybersecurity, and aligning IT strategies to meet modern demands.Vivek Mehta, Vice President and General Manager of Tyler's Platform Solutions Division, explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling governments to boost productivity, enhance decision-making, and improve service delivery while navigating adoption barriers.This episode also celebrates inspiring stories from public sector organizations making a tangible difference in their communities through impactful technology. These examples of innovation highlight the possibilities when purpose-driven solutions meet government needs. For Tyler clients, applications are now open for the Tyler Excellence Awards, which honor organizations driving meaningful change with forward-thinking approaches. Submit your application here. You can also read more about excellence in the public sector below:Blog: Excellence 2024: Data & Transparency SolutionsBlog: Excellence 2024: Connected Community SolutionsAnd learn more about the topics discussed in this episode with these resources:White Paper: Revolutionizing the Government Workforce With AIBlog: Preparing for the Future of AI in GovernmentBlog: Future-Proofing Government Through Technology ModernizationBlog: Key GovTech Trends and Takeaways from 2024 ConferencesBlog: Improving Field Inspections With AITyler Tech Podcast: Cloud Adoption and Understanding the Risks of Legacy SystemsTyler Tech Podcast: AI to Digital Rangers: The Next Era of Outdoor RecreationTyler Tech Podcast: Tech Transformation in CountiesTyler Tech Podcast: The Future of Government with AI and Emerging TechDownload: A Digital Guide to Modernizing the Resident ExperienceDownload: Cloud-Smart Strategies for IT Infrastructure ModernizationListen to other episodes of the Tyler Tech Podcast.Let us know what you think about the Tyler Tech Podcast in this survey!
Today's guest is Ahmed Azam, Head of Infrastructure and Cloud Services at Northwestern Mutual. Ahmed joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to explore the organization's transformative journey in adopting cloud technology. With roots tracing back to 1857, Northwestern Mutual has continuously evolved, leveraging technological advancements to maintain a competitive edge. Ahmed shares insightful stories about the company's pioneering history, including its early adoption of mainframe computing and the more recent integration of cloud-based solutions. This episode is sponsored by MinIO. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
In this deeply moving and insightful episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, host Chris Schembra engages in a heartfelt conversation with Sandeep Angra, Chief Information and Technology Officer (CIO/CTO) of the 40,000 person strong company, Unifi, the largest airport ground-handling company in North America and Europe. With over three decades of IT leadership experience spanning various industries, Sandeep's professional achievements are significant, but today's conversation takes us beyond his impressive resume.This episode focuses on the themes of gratitude, humility, and spirituality, offering listeners a rare glimpse into the personal beliefs and life lessons that have shaped Sandeep's journey. He reflects on his upbringing in a small village in India, where his parents made enormous sacrifices to provide him with the opportunity to pursue education—a theme that resonates deeply throughout the episode. Sandeep's father, a schoolteacher who walked 15 kilometers to work to save money for his children's tuition, and his mother, a primary school teacher, instilled in him values of hard work, humility, and gratitude that continue to guide him today.Sandeep's personal philosophy centers on the belief that gratitude is the cornerstone of success, both in life and leadership. He speaks candidly about the importance of acknowledging the people who have supported us along the way—whether they are still with us or not—and how expressing gratitude strengthens both personal and professional relationships. Throughout the conversation, Sandeep delves into his spiritual beliefs, sharing his thoughts on karma, incarnation, and the interconnectedness of life, drawing on influences from both Eastern philosophy and scientific thought, such as Einstein's reflections on the nature of reality.Listeners are invited to consider three essential questions: Who am I? Why am I here? How can I help others? These questions form the foundation of Sandeep's life philosophy, one that calls us to live with purpose, to give selflessly, and to remain humble regardless of external achievements.The episode is not just a reflection on leadership in business, but also on the leadership of the heart—how empathy, kindness, and serving others can lead to both personal fulfillment and professional success. Sandeep shares stories from his career in global IT leadership, highlighting the ways in which gratitude and humility have not only helped him navigate challenges but have also allowed him to build high-performing teams, implement transformative technology projects, and align corporate objectives with human values.Chris and Sandeep also explore the power of giving without expectation—a recurring theme that underscores the entire conversation. In a world that often values material success and self-promotion, Sandeep reminds us that true fulfillment comes from giving generously, whether through acts of kindness, mentorship, or simply acknowledging the contributions of others.By the end of the episode, listeners will walk away with not just actionable leadership advice, but a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper understanding of how gratitude can enrich both their personal and professional lives. Sandeep's wisdom reminds us that the journey of giving, whether to our families, our communities, or even to strangers, is a difficult but immensely rewarding one—one that ultimately defines our legacy.Whether you're an executive, a leader, or simply someone seeking more meaning in life, this episode offers valuable insights into how we can all lead with humility, harness the power of gratitude, and create a more compassionate, connected world. Key Discussion Points:Sandeep's Humble Beginnings: Growing up in a small village in India, with parents who sacrificed everything to ensure their children received a quality education.Gratitude for Life's Guides: Sandeep reflects on the people who shaped his journey, including his parents, teachers, and his wife, who supported him through difficult decisions.Living with Gratitude and Humility: The importance of giving thanks and remaining humble, no matter where life takes you.Spiritual Reflections: How spirituality and karma play a significant role in Sandeep's approach to life, including his belief in reincarnation and universal connection.Leadership through Service: Sandeep shares the idea that true leadership is about serving others selflessly, and how that has been the foundation of his career.Applying Gratitude to Everyday Life: Simple yet profound questions everyone should ask themselves: "Who am I?" and "How can I help?"Notable Quotes:Sandeep Angra: "If you want to attract good, you must be good. What you give to the world is what you will get in return. That is the law of karma."Chris Schembra: "To do something without expecting anything in return is the most difficult journey a human being will take."Sandeep Angra: "You cannot give to the world what you don't have. If you have anger, that's what you'll give. If you have kindness, that's what you'll give."Action Items:Subscribe: If this conversation resonated with you, don't forget to subscribe for more heart-centered discussions on leadership, empathy, and gratitude.Share: Send this episode to someone who could use inspiration and a reminder to practice gratitude.Reflect: Who in your life deserves a thank you? Take a moment today to reach out and express your gratitude. ABOUT OUR GUEST:Sandeep Angra is the Chief Information and Technology Officer (CIO/CTO) for the largest airport ground handling company, which operates across more than 250 airports in Europe and North America. With over 30 years of experience in IT leadership, Sandeep has worked in industries including Big4 consulting, travel and logistics, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and consumer goods. He has led a range of digital transformation projects, such as ERP implementation, Cloud Adoption, AI/ML integration, and Automation, managing budgets up to $250 million. These projects have contributed to business growth, improved customer value, increased productivity, and cost reductions. Sandeep is experienced in building teams, developing IT strategies, and aligning technology initiatives with business objectives.ABOUT OUR HOST:Chris Schembra is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Gratitude Through Hard Times and Gratitude and Pasta. USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru", he's a Founding Member of Rolling Stone Magazine's Culture Council, and he sits on the Executive Board at Fast Company Magazine.He is the Founder and Chief Question Asker of the 7:47 Gratitude Experience™ — an evidence-based framework used to strengthen client and team relationships in profound ways. He's used the principles of gratitude to spark thousands of relationships within the workplace.FOLLOW CHRIS:**WEBSITE |INSTAGRAM |LINKEDIN |BOOKS**
This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.http://gotopia.tech/bookclubRead the full transcription of the interview hereDavid Linthicum - Al & Cloud Thought Leader & Author of "An Insider's Guide to Cloud Computing"Prasad Rao - Principal Solutions Architect at AWS & Co-Author of "Cloud Career Journeys"RESOURCESDavidhttps://x.com/DavidLinthicumhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlinthicumPrasadhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kprasadraohttps://cloudcareerjourneys.comDESCRIPTIONJoin Prasad Rao in a captivating conversation with David Linthicum, an esteemed authority in cloud computing, as they explore the future landscape of technology in an illuminating interview. Linthicum offers invaluable insights into the evolution of cloud computing, envisioning a future marked by ubiquitous and heterogeneous computing paradigms. With a keen eye on emerging trends and practical strategies, Linthicum sheds light on navigating the complexities of modern technology ecosystems.RECOMMENDED BOOKSDavid Linthicum • An Insider's Guide to Cloud ComputingDavid Linthicum • Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your EnterpriseDavid Linthicum • Enterprise Application IntegrationPrasad Rao & Ashish Prajapati • Cloud Career JourneysVenkat Subramaniam • Cruising Along with JavaTwitterInstagramLinkedInFacebookLooking for a unique learning experience?Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.techSUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL - new videos posted daily!
@kerollmops, the technical brain behind the open-source search engine Meilisearch, joins me for a nerdy chat about all things search. I've been using this blazing fast tech for my own business, podscan, and kero has helped me through a few challenges over the last few weeks. I really want to dive into the economics of building a business on top of an open-source piece of software. Let's chat about self-hosted search engines today!This episode is sponsored by Podscan.fmThe blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/kerollmops-from-hackathon-to-success-the-meilisearch-story/The podcast episode: https://tbf.fm/episodes/340-kerollmops-from-hackathon-to-success-the-meilisearch-storyCheck out Podscan to get alerts when you're mentioned on podcasts: https://podscan.fmSend me a voicemail on Podline: https://podline.fm/arvidYou'll find my weekly article on my blog: https://thebootstrappedfounder.comPodcast: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/podcastNewsletter: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/newsletterMy book Zero to Sold: https://zerotosold.com/My book The Embedded Entrepreneur: https://embeddedentrepreneur.com/My course Find Your Following: https://findyourfollowing.comHere are a few tools I use. Using my affiliate links will support my work at no additional cost to you.- Notion (which I use to organize, write, coordinate, and archive my podcast + newsletter): https://affiliate.notion.so/465mv1536drx- Riverside.fm (that's what I recorded this episode with): https://riverside.fm/?via=arvid- TweetHunter (for speedy scheduling and writing Tweets): http://tweethunter.io/?via=arvid- HypeFury (for massive Twitter analytics and scheduling): https://hypefury.com/?via=arvid60- AudioPen (for taking voice notes and getting amazing summaries): https://audiopen.ai/?aff=PXErZ- Descript (for word-based video editing, subtitles, and clips): https://www.descript.com/?lmref=3cf39Q- ConvertKit (for email lists, newsletters, even finding sponsors): https://convertkit.com?lmref=bN9CZw
In this episode of Cloud Unplugged, Lewis and Jon explore the latest in AI and cloud computing, discussing Microsoft's board changes and the evolving AI landscape. They also examine the practical applications of ChatGPT and its impact.Follow us on social media @cloudunplugged https://www.tiktok.com/@UCkCxcw9tJHd_sPtDveunGsQ https://twitter.com/cloud_unpluggedListen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3y2djXaListen on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3mosSFTJon & Jay's start-up: https://www.appvia.io/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykeshur/ Podcast sponsor inquires, topic requests: Hello@cloudunplugged.ioWelcome to The Cloud Unplugged Podcast, hosted by Jon Shanks (CEO) and Jay Keshur (COO). The two co-founded software company Appvia, and have backgrounds in engineering and platform development, with years of experience using Kubernetes. Here they take a light-hearted look at cloud engineering under the lens of platform teams. Discussing how developers, platform engineers, and businesses can leverage cloud-native software development practices successfully
In this episode, Amir chats with Sergei Azernikov, VP of CAD/CAM Software Development at Glidewell Dental, about how generative AI (Gen AI) boosts productivity and consistency in dental lab products. Sergei shares how Glidewell Dental has used AI, machine learning, and advanced tech since 2015 to scale operations and enhance user experience, making big strides in digitizing the dental industry. The episode provides practical advice on using advanced technologies in unconventional fields. Highlights: 01:28 The Role of AI in Dental Labs 02:16 Early Adoption of AI and Machine Learning 05:46 Generative AI in Dental Design 07:33 Impact on User Experience 12:25 Data Management and Cloud Adoption 19:32 Business Impact and Future Prospects Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergeiazernikov/ --- Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek. We would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?
In questo episodio di Techpreneurs Talks parliamo con Giulio Covassi, CEO & Founder di Kiratech.Nel corso della puntata Giulio ha raccontato le sfide, le intuizioni, l'impegno e le collaborazioni con grandi talenti del settore che hanno portato Kiratech a diventare top player in ambito Data-driven Cloud Adoption, Platform Engineering e Secure Software Supply Chain.Risorse di cui si è parlato durante l'episodio:Sito Kiratech: https://www.kiratech.it/Sito Krateo: https://krateo.io/Guida Platform Engineering: https://www.kiratech.it/guida-al-platform-engineeringGuida Gartner (per clienti con licenza Gartner attiva): https://www.gartner.com/document/4764631
Follow us on social media @cloudunplugged https://www.tiktok.com/@UCkCxcw9tJHd_sPtDveunGsQ https://twitter.com/cloud_unpluggedListen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3y2djXaListen on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3mosSFTJon & Jay's start-up: https://www.appvia.io/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykeshur/ Podcast sponsor inquires, topic requests: Hello@cloudunplugged.ioWelcome to The Cloud Unplugged Podcast, hosted by Jon Shanks (CEO) and Jay Keshur (COO). The two co-founded software company Appvia, and have backgrounds in engineering and platform development, with years of experience using Kubernetes. Here they take a light-hearted look at cloud engineering under the lens of platform teams. Discussing how developers, platform engineers, and businesses can leverage cloud-native software development practices successfully
I spoke with an expert in the field about how voice technology is used today by law firms, as well as how it will develop in the future. Episode Highlights 11:00 - Key Uses and Benefits of Voice Technology for Lawyers 18:10 - Cloud-Based Platforms for Remote Working 19:50 - Speech Recognition: From Dragon to Microsoft Integration 23:40 - Handling Security Concerns with Cloud Adoption 26:30 - Real-Time Collaboration through Voice Technology 31:40 - API Integrations with Other Legal Software 34:50 - The Role of Artificial Intelligence 36:40 - VIP Collaboration with Microsoft 38:15 - Future of Voice Technology Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia/ Connect with Caroline Cantelon caroline.cantelon@speech.com https://www.speechlive.com/gb/not-available/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-cantelon-20313631?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2F&originalSubdomain=ca
In this episode of Cloud Unplugged, Mark and Lewis join Jon to discuss the challenges of the Gitops model, what's good about it and where it is lacking!Follow us on social media @cloudunplugged https://www.tiktok.com/@UCkCxcw9tJHd_sPtDveunGsQ https://twitter.com/cloud_unpluggedListen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3y2djXaListen on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3mosSFTJon & Jay's start-up: https://www.appvia.io/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykeshur/ Podcast sponsor inquires, topic requests: Hello@cloudunplugged.ioWelcome to The Cloud Unplugged Podcast, hosted by Jon Shanks (CEO) and Jay Keshur (COO). The two co-founded software company Appvia, and have backgrounds in engineering and platform development, with years of experience using Kubernetes. Here they take a light-hearted look at cloud engineering under the lens of platform teams. Discussing how developers, platform engineers, and businesses can leverage cloud-native software development practices successfully.
In this episode of Cloud Unplugged, Mark and Lewis join Jon in the unknown of Open Source, Cyber Security and the takeover of cars and rogue washing machines!Is Open source a risk for companies to adopt? What assurances are there around it? And What are we doing collectively to help support the maintenance of open-source projects that don't have enough maintainers?Follow us on social media @cloudunplugged https://www.tiktok.com/@UCkCxcw9tJHd_sPtDveunGsQ https://twitter.com/cloud_unpluggedListen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3y2djXaListen on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3mosSFTJon & Jay's start-up: https://www.appvia.io/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykeshur/ Podcast sponsor inquires, topic requests: Hello@cloudunplugged.ioWelcome to The Cloud Unplugged Podcast, hosted by Jon Shanks (CEO) and Jay Keshur (COO). The two co-founded software company Appvia, and have backgrounds in engineering and platform development, with years of experience using Kubernetes. Here they take a light-hearted look at cloud engineering under the lens of platform teams. Discussing how developers, platform engineers, and businesses can leverage cloud-native software development practices successfully.
Richard Pearson joins The Cloud Unplugged podcast to talk discuss his career journey to become Head of Engineering at Moonpig.We take a look at how he began his career, from studying AI to working for an ISP and now heading up Engineering at Moonpig. We also discuss what the engineering function at Moonpig looks like, how the teams are structured and what technologies are being adopted in AWS.
Embarking on a cloud migration journey? Ensure your organization is truly ready with the Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA). Learn more about how this interactive workshop brings cross-functional teams together to identify gaps and create a tailored roadmap for a smooth transition to the cloud.
Embarking on a cloud migration journey? Ensure your organization is truly ready with the Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA). Learn more about how this interactive workshop brings cross-functional teams together to identify gaps and create a tailored roadmap for a smooth transition to the cloud.
On this episode of The Tyler Tech Podcast, Russell Gainford, Senior Vice President, Cloud Strategy & Operations at Tyler Technologies, explores the benefits of embracing the cloud while also delving into the risks posed by legacy systems. From practical strategies to best practices, Russell offers a roadmap for navigating the complexities of a modern IT infrastructure.We also look ahead to Connect 2024, which will be in Indianapolis, Indiana from May 19th to May 22nd. Registration is now open at: www.tylertech.com/connectLearn more about the topics discussed in this episode with these resources:White Paper: Is Your Legacy Digital Infrastructure Putting You at Risk? Blog: The Cloud Experience: Improving Government ServicesVideo: Cloud-Based ERP Delivers Multiple Wins for School DistrictBlog: Future-Proofing Government Through Technology ModernizationBlog: District Goes from Cumbersome to Convenient with CloudBlog: Public Safety Embraces Cloud Tech for Enhanced EfficiencyE-book: A Digital Guide to Modernizing the Resident ExperienceAnd you can listen to other episodes of the podcast at this link: www.tylertech.com/resources/podcastLet us know what you think about the Tyler Tech Podcast in this survey!
The Transformation Ground Control podcast covers a number of topics important to digital and business transformation. This episode covers the following topics and interviews: Cloud Adoption Amongst World Governments, Q&A How ERP Vendors are Using AI (Panel discussion with guests from SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Epicor, Infor, Priority Software, TEC and Rootstock Software) Lessons from Tech Titans (Evan Goldberg, NetSuite; Steve Murphy, Epicor; Kevin Samuelson, Infor; Jan Baan, Baan Software; Lisa Pope, Epicor; Fabian Pinckaers, Odoo) We also cover a number of other relevant topics related to digital and business transformation throughout the show.
The world is supported by infrastructure that no one can see. It keeps computers and communication networks running, detects hurricanes and wildfires, tracks methane and carbon emissions. And we go nowhere without it. It guides ships and planes, cares and homes. It battles disease and helps take a bite out of crime. This infrastructure consumes little or no concrete or asphalt and few steel beams for support, yet it circles the entire planet. It is the network of communication and observation satellites. In the first episode of Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure, we hear from Karl Horne, Vice President of Cloud and Digital Solutions at SES. Karl is responsible for technology and business strategies for satellite connected cloud and Digital Transformation solutions aimed at the Enterprise, Public Sector and Telco/MNO markets. In this capacity, Karl works across the ecosystem of cloud and network service providers, technology vendors, and solutions integrators to establish SES's solutions in support of the industry shift towards 5G, IoT, and Cloud Powered Digital Transformations. Karl has over 30 years of experience in the telecom/datacom industry. Prior to his current position at SES, he has held various Engineering, CTO and Business Development roles for Ciena Corporation, Scientific Atlanta and AT&T Tridom. Karl holds a BSEE from Clemson University.
John Jahnke, CEO of Tackle.io, has 20 years of experience in executive leadership roles. John has worked with companies like Pivotal, Greenplum, EMC, and Cognizant.Jake Simpson, CRO of Tackle.io, has led companies through substantial growth phases as the CRO of Anapsis and Catalan Technologies.In this episode, John Jahnke and Jake Simpson, discuss the emergence of cloud marketplaces as a route to market for software companies. They explain how cloud marketplaces, such as AWS, Microsoft, and Google, provide an avenue for ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) to align their sales with cloud providers and tap into the growing cloud budget. The guests highlight the benefits of using cloud marketplaces, including easier access to cloud budget, seamless transaction execution, and the ability to leverage strategic relationships with cloud providers. They also emphasize the importance of understanding the cloud ecosystem and building a cloud go-to-market strategy to take advantage of this high-growth channel. Tune in and learn more about this episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast.HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT[00:07:21] Using cloud credits to purchase software on the marketplace[00:11:38] Marketplace becoming a common channel for software companies[00:16:48] Tackle platform integration with Salesforce enables easy engagement with cloud providers.[00:19:46] Cloud budget and B2B software budget colliding to create a 2 trillion mega budget.[00:20:24] Benefits of using Tackle platform for sales reps.[00:24:03] Tackle IO allows executing transactions without engaging with cloud sellers.[00:26:39] Marketing budgets under pressure, aligning ABM campaigns with cloud.[00:28:27] Tackle IO simplifies the integration of websites with the marketplace.[00:29:37] The evolution of marketplace experience towards a console-based model.[00:32:34] The opportunity for CROs to leverage cloud marketplaces for go-to-market strategies.[00:36:18] Tackle's revenue model and pricing structure[00:37:36] Importance of marketplace strategy for all companies[00:43:25] Career opportunities in cloud co-selling[00:49:46] Jake Simpson echoes John Jahnke's thoughts on designing a cloud go-to-market strategy based on company strategy and go-to-market system.[00:50:15] Jake Simpson sees an opportunity for responsible growth with efficiencies through cloud go-to-market strategies.ADDITIONAL RESOURCESLearn more about aligning customer-facing teams to improve execution: https://forc.mx/48o1jyPConnect and learn more about John Jahnke.https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjahnke/jj@tackle.ioConnect and learn more about Jake Simpson.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakewsimp/jake.simpson@tackle.ioTheir Marketing Contact.Erika Childers: ec@tackle.ioHIGHLIGHT QUOTES[00:19:46] "The cloud budget is growing faster than any other budget in technology, say 20 percent year over year. It's 600 billion today. It'll be a trillion dollars in a handful of years."[00:32:34} "There's a tremendous opportunity for those that should be leaning in here. Everyone's trying to figure out right now how to get back to growth, and throwing headcount at it is a risky proposition."[00:38:23] "I think this movement's reshaping the way that channel works. And I think it's not just like marketplace cloud or channel, it's cloud and it can actually be an easy path to initiate your channel strategy as a software."
In this Microsoft Cloud Executive Enablement Series episode, host Jackie Kemp, Global Sr. Partner Marketing Advisor, is joined by Shaun Hirschman, VMware Global Director, PDM. Jackie and Shaun focus on the partnership between Microsoft and VMware and how it addresses the needs of hybrid customers, those exploring multi-cloud strategies, and those engaged in application modernization. Jackie and Shaun also cover the importance of the Microsoft-VMware partnership in cloud adoption and digital transformation. Sean shares insights into the evolution of the relationship, highlighting the collective nature that now prioritizes meeting customer needs in the hybrid modernization space. The conversation also touches on the advantages of integrating VMware solutions with Microsoft Azure, emphasizing the support for hybrid and multi-cloud scenarios. In This Episode You Will Learn: Integration of technologies for on-premises and the cloud How partners can leverage their services beyond migration The evolution of customer needs in the hybrid and multi-cloud landscape Some Questions We Ask: How does VMware and Microsoft's relationship create unique opportunities for partners? What are the advantages of integrating VMware solutions with Microsoft Azure? How can this new partnership shape the future of cloud adoption? Resources: View Shaun Hirschman on LinkedIn View Jackie Kemp on LinkedIn Watch the full video episode on YouTube Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts Download the Transcript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Alina is an award-winning professional working with Financial Services organizations in the areas of cloud-based systems, data, and digital technologies. She was recently recognized in the “Who's Who in Cloud?” report as an influencer and keynote speaker. Outside of work, Alina gives back to her community by mentoring immigrants and women of diverse cultural and social backgrounds. Alina presented a TEDx Talk titled “Fail But Never Give Up.” Her presentation currently has more than 500,000 views. She discusses her TEDx Talk and explains how the stories in that presentation have changed her life. “Let your failures be your catalyst that motivates you to adapt.” – Alina Timofeeva Today on the Tech Leader Talk podcast: - How have failures motivated Alina - The real value of using cloud technologies - What changes may be coming to cloud technologies - Mentoring immigrants and women of diverse cultural and social backgrounds - Is it time to remediate cloud Resources Alina's TEDx Talk: Fail But Never Give Up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPZYSBBpRwU Connect with Alina Timofeeva: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atimofeeva/ Thanks for listening! Be sure to get your free copy of Steve's latest book, Cracking the Patent Code, and discover his proven system for identifying and protecting your most valuable inventions. Get the book at https://stevesponseller.com/book.
The cloud has revolutionized how businesses operate, bringing forth a wave of innovation that has transformed scalability, cost-efficiency, flexibility, and collaboration. In the labyrinth of finance, where regulations are intricate, compliance is paramount, and institutional culture holds significant sway, the transition to the cloud has been a cautious one. But now, more financial institutions are embracing the benefits cloud technology can offer.Join Numerix's James Jockle, Elle Ellis, and Kalyani Koppisetti of AWS and Numerix's Chief Information Officer, Nestor Nelson, as they share their first-hand experience with cloud adoption and Capital Markets. They discuss creating a 360-degree view of customer data, utilizing AI and machine learning for trading strategy advisory, advantages of scalability and automation, security considerations, and more. Don't miss this comprehensive overview of the financial sector's journey toward embracing cloud technology.
Guest: Jeff Reich, Executive Director of Identity Defined Security Alliance [@idsalliance]On Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jreich/On Twitter | https://twitter.com/JeffReichCSOOn YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8yfa2vRYDjS7TUWKAHIrwg____________________________Host: Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast [@RedefiningCyber]On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/sean-martin____________________________This Episode's SponsorsImperva | https://itspm.ag/imperva277117988Pentera | https://itspm.ag/penteri67a___________________________Episode NotesIn this episode of Redefining CybersSecurity, host Sean Martin connects with Jeff Rich to dive deep into the world of digital identities and identity management. Through their lively and thought-provoking conversation, they explore various aspects of identities, from multiple personas in apps to the challenges and risks associated with identity sharing.They discuss the impact of cloud adoption and remote work on identity security, emphasizing the need for organizations to prioritize securing digital identities. They also touch on the role of artificial identities in smart devices and cars, and how AI and machine learning can be utilized in identity use cases.Throughout the episode, Sean and Jeff bring a philosophical and science fiction perspective to the topic, using metaphors and engaging storytelling techniques to captivate listeners. They highlight the importance of policy and control in identity management, and the need for organizations to take proactive measures in securing digital identities. They also provide valuable insights from a research survey, revealing that identity security is a top priority for a significant percentage of organizations.They emphasize the complexities of identity management and the evolving nature of identities in today's digital landscape. Overall, this episode offers a captivating and informative discussion on digital identities, leaving listeners with valuable takeaways and a deeper understanding of the importance of identity security in the modern world.____________________________Watch this and other videos on ITSPmagazine's YouTube ChannelRedefining CyberSecurity Podcast with Sean Martin, CISSP playlist:
Guest: Jeff Reich, Executive Director of Identity Defined Security Alliance [@idsalliance]On Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jreich/On Twitter | https://twitter.com/JeffReichCSOOn YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8yfa2vRYDjS7TUWKAHIrwg____________________________Host: Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast [@RedefiningCyber]On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/sean-martin____________________________This Episode's SponsorsImperva | https://itspm.ag/imperva277117988Pentera | https://itspm.ag/penteri67a___________________________Episode NotesIn this episode of Redefining CybersSecurity, host Sean Martin connects with Jeff Reich to dive deep into the world of digital identities and identity management. Through their lively and thought-provoking conversation, they explore various aspects of identities, from multiple personas in apps to the challenges and risks associated with identity sharing.They discuss the impact of cloud adoption and remote work on identity security, emphasizing the need for organizations to prioritize securing digital identities. They also touch on the role of artificial identities in smart devices and cars, and how AI and machine learning can be utilized in identity use cases.Throughout the episode, Sean and Jeff bring a philosophical and science fiction perspective to the topic, using metaphors and engaging storytelling techniques to captivate listeners. They highlight the importance of policy and control in identity management, and the need for organizations to take proactive measures in securing digital identities. They also provide valuable insights from a research survey, revealing that identity security is a top priority for a significant percentage of organizations.They emphasize the complexities of identity management and the evolving nature of identities in today's digital landscape. Overall, this episode offers a captivating and informative discussion on digital identities, leaving listeners with valuable takeaways and a deeper understanding of the importance of identity security in the modern world.____________________________Watch this and other videos on ITSPmagazine's YouTube ChannelRedefining CyberSecurity Podcast with Sean Martin, CISSP playlist:
Moving to the cloud is nothing new — but doing it efficiently is still tough. Brantley Richbourg is the Principal Technical Consultant of Cloud Networking at AHEAD, and it's his job to help companies navigate their journey to the cloud. On this episode, he describes some of the reasons companies are looking to make the move and the challenges they face along the way. Plus he explains where and how generative AI is playing a role and why innovation might not be the driving force behind customer decision making. Tune in to learn:What is Ahead? (1:32)Finally solving the problems with moving to the cloud (5:40)Integrating cloud systems and hybrid clouds (11:30)The role of generative AI (16:35)Why the cloud is not about saving money (30:00)How Ahead is working with clients (36:15)How to win at sales (38:38)The timeline for adopting new infrastructure (44:20)Predicting the next big thing (50:00)Mentions:Brantley's first appearance on IT Visionaries--Did you know that less than half of IT leaders feel their network infrastructure is ready to make the best use of emerging technologies? Zayo, a leading global communications infrastructure provider, empowers some of the world's most innovative companies to take advantage of next generation technologies with the help of reliable, resilient network infrastructure. Read their research paper, IT Confidential, to gain valuable insights from IT leaders. Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.
Jon and Idriss sit down to discuss Marks and Spencer's cloud adoption journey, from hosting on-prem to Microsoft Azure. Landing zones and developer self-service were critical to the transformation and modernisation of Marks and Spencer's datacentre exit.
In this episode of the Infrastructure Matters podcast, hosts Steven Dickens and Krista Macomber discuss recent cloud provider expansion, cloud growth announcements, and the implications for the market. They highlight the maturity of the cloud market, mentioning AWS's 12% growth in the current quarter and its positioning for AI-driven services. They delve into the complexity of cloud adoption, discussing cost considerations, private cloud growth, and the challenges of data management and observability across hybrid environments. They emphasize the need for nuanced perspectives on cloud benefits, acknowledging the trade-offs between simplicity and complexity in areas such as data resilience and security. Topics include: * Endor Labs a code and governance pipeline platform with an over subscribed Series A funding round of $70 Million * Recent earnings announcements from cloud service providers, AWS and Microsoft * The impact of strong cloud adoption, indicating the continued expansion of the cloud market and competition. * Complexity and trade-offs for cloud adoption, and the implications for data resiliency and security
Jason Brown joins the Real Identity podcast to explore the benefits of cloud adoption for data-driven marketers. He shares real-world success and best practices from brands on the journey to shift their tech stacks to cloud computing – from clean rooms to interoperability and security. This enlightening conversation also breaks down the challenges and the integral role of identity to bring it all together – remembering it always comes back to customers and how to better engage them in the context of their lives.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-brown-17a61a5/Thanks for listening! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram or find us on Facebook.
In this episode of The Cloud Unplugged Podcast, Nicholas Chang, and Steve Nicholl, from Kainos, join Jon to share insights on the challenges of navigating cloud adoption framework, platform engineering, and the significance of collaboration in the industry. They cover keeping up with the rapidly evolving cloud technologies through social networking, choosing the right platform and service for creating applications, and giving autonomy to developers while implementing the necessary guardrails to prevent damage. Nicholas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-chang-41b83052/ Steve Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-n/
In episode 049 we have two guests on for the very first time. Gerrit Lehr and Andrea Siviero help us understand how the Multi Cloud Adoption Framework helps VMware customers to increase their ROI, lower TCO, and maybe even more importantly, meet their business goals!Topics covered and additional insights:IDC Marketscape PaperMCAF Tech WhitepaperMCAF Feature Friday Youtube videoMCAF Maturity Model PortalFollow us on Twitter for updates and news about upcoming episodes: https://twitter.com/UnexploredPod.Last but not least, make sure to hit that subscribe button, rate where ever possible, and share the episode with your friends and colleagues!
The technology landscape is constantly changing. I sat down with Josh Goldstein, VP of Product Strategy at ServiceNow, to learn what he's hearing from customers about cloud adoption.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why open source might be the real AI winner long-term, and Mike gets the ultimate "I told you so."
Tony Safoian, CEO of SADA Systems, joins us to discuss how his company helps businesses utilize cloud solutions and how current trends in the industry are accelerating the rate of cloud adoption. Lastly, we spoke about SADA's presence in Armenia, and what the implementation of new cloud infrastructure will bring to the country's tech ecosystem.
When it comes time to move to the cloud, the concerns can be many. Companies are increasingly security conscious, and success depends on applications being reliable. There's also the need for agility, to adjust to changes in the market. F5's Matt Quill tells Burr how planning carefully and collaboratively can address challenges while building pivotal internal relationships.
Protect against ransomware and other threats as you build new cloud-based services and migrate or modernize existing apps and services. Get guidance for where to start, with a free new assessment with security recommendations and a prioritized list tailored for your organization, apps, and services. Azure expert, Matt McSpirit, joins Jeremy Chapman to share how to architect your apps and services for Zero Trust security. ► QUICK LINKS: 00:00 - Introduction 02:32 - Where to start with security architecture 04:36 - Apply prioritized list to a new app 05:38 - Policies and configurations 07:03 - Improving security strategy 09:59 - Implementing strong authentication 12:21 - Wrap up ► Link References: Take the free assessment at https://aka.ms/microsoftassessments Check out our show on Zero Trust at https://aka.ms/zerotrustmechanics How to automate and deploy landing zones at https://aka.ms/LandingZoneMechanics Manage identity infrastructure in the Microsoft Entra admin center at https://entra.microsoft.com More on Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework security at https://aka.ms/CAFsecure How to implement Azure landing zones at https://aka.ms/ALZ ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/website ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Understanding the use of cloud, its context, and how things are quickly changing is top of mind for many companies today. Safety of information and management of risks are paramount when trying to keep up with the changes, while also making sure to not slow down important and necessary workflows. When it comes to compliance and security, Hillery Hunter has visibility across the challenges and success of some of the largest companies across multiple industries.In this episode, we interview the GM of Industry Clouds and Solutions and CTO at IBM Cloud to learn more about storing sensitive data in the cloud. Hillery explains how radical cloud models can work to your advantage, including co-design and approaching compliance as a group. During the discussion, she names some challenges of cloud adoption, then describes how to overcome those barriers. Hillery also describes the best cloud adoption practices she's seen over the course of her career, and why these transformations are so important to the success of a business. ---------Key Quotes:“It's not just whether or not somebody has a cloud certification, right? It's the context in which they're doing their work and it's the skills of the CISO organization, it's the skill of the risk management organization, et cetera, in understanding the cloud context and how all those things are changing and have to be measured differently as well.”“Make sure that public cloud is an appropriate landing place even for the most sensitive data. It is possible to take this security and compliance and put it into structured programs and ways of protecting things on the cloud. So that all of these inherent barriers to adoption can be overcome.”“When the metric is too narrow, and placed only on the IT organization for the outcomes of a cloud migration, you miss the opportunity to be talking about end to end value creation… When you're doing that, then everyone understands that the cloud migration and digital transformation is in service of a higher level objective, and it's not just trying to save money on the HR system or something else like that.”“When you make a public cloud choice, industry cloud contextualizes the requirements of that industry. It includes things like security and compliance, and enables the public cloud to be a safe enough and compliant enough place for you to grab other content that lives there. It also allows you to move your data there and trust that you are still upholding your responsibilities.”---------Time stamps:2:00 Barriers to cloud adoption3:00 Managing security and controls4:50 Cloud migration pitfalls5:20 Cloud adoption can be transformative7:30 Committees can lead a successful cloud deployment9:50 Creating an objective for cloud adoption11:20 Making the cloud a safe space for data13:20 Dealing with disruptors15:15 Exploring what's available in cloud17:00 Establishing trust in the industry19:40 Taking it to the board20:40 Future opportunities for cloud---------Links:Hillery Hunter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillery-hunter-97962a14/CIO Exchange on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vmwcioexchangeYadin Porter de León on Twitter: https://twitter.com/porterdeleon [Subscribe to the Podcast] On Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cio-exchange-podcast/id1498290907 For more podcasts, video and in-depth research go to https://www.vmware.com/cio---------Keywords: cio, cio exchange, VMware, innovation, leadership, DevOps, Developer, operations, IT, information technology, business, technology, cto, cloud, public cloud, privacy, security, cloud adoption
In this episode of the Virtual Coffee with Ashish edition, we spoke with Ashish Desai (Ashish Desai's Linkedin) about how much of the on-premise can work in Cloud, what the online world is saying versus the reality of what businesses are experiencing. --Announcing Cloud Security Villains Project-- We are always looking to find creative ways to educate folks in Cloud Security and the Cloud Security Villains is part of this education pieces. Cloud Security Villains are coming, you can learn how to defeat them in this YouTube Playlist link Episode ShowNotes, Links and Transcript on Cloud Security Podcast: www.cloudsecuritypodcast.tv Host Twitter: Ashish Rajan (@hashishrajan) Guest Twitter: Ashish Desai (@ashishlogmaster) Podcast Twitter - @CloudSecPod @CloudSecureNews If you want to watch videos of this LIVE STREAMED episode and past episodes - Check out our other Cloud Security Social Channels: - Cloud Security News - Cloud Security Academy Spotify TimeStamp for Interview Questions (00:00) Intro (05:50) Ashish Desai's Professional Background (06:21) Academic Freedom and no firewall (07:12) What are the roles and responsibilities of an AWS cloud security architect? (09:27) Difference between managing permissions between onpremise vs Cloud service provider (13:02) Running Windows 2003 on AWS EC2 Bare Metal (13:28) Running Old Virtual Servers on AWS (14:13) Cloud is secure by default (14:54) CI/CD with Github and Terraform is not common (15:28) Do people use CI/CD? (15:37) Traditional on-premise staff is your new cloud engineer (16:50) Business are not fully advanced (17:47) Failed Kubernetes Deployment in production example (18:45) Managed and Bare Metal Kubernetes can only maintain 1 replica (19:10) What is 1 replica in Kubernetes? (20:36) Problem with stateful app running on Kubernetes (21:35) Change Management in Cloud (21:57) Deployment phases in Cloud (22:34) Why was ServiceNow required? (24:39) Why ServiceNow couldn't keep up? (26:33) Native Solutions bypass Change Management (28:43) Role of Security Architect in a New Cloud World (29:53) DevExperience is holding Cloud Adoption success (32:08) CyberProfessionals to know atleast 1 language to be succesful (32:27) Do Architect need to know how to code in Enterprise context? (33:24) Knowing Code to understand the lay of the land (35:22) Has the Architecture Frameworks changed in the Cloud world? (37:15) What other skillsets outside of coding is required to be successful in Cloud (39:54) Should we care about being Cloud agnostic? (40:41) Architecture for Operational side of Cloud Security? (43:51) Practical things for advancing Cloud skills? (48:36) Can anyone come out of uni and become a Cloud Security Architect (50:32) Resources for education on Cloud security architects (51:36) Fun Section
The shift to a cloud environment provides significant benefits. Cloud resources can be scaled quickly, updated frequently, and widely accessed without geographic limitations. Realizing these benefits, however, requires organizations to manage associated organizational and technical risks. In this podcast from the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, Chris Alberts, principal cybersecurity analyst in the SEI's CERT Division, discusses with principal researcher Suzanne Miller a prototype set of cloud adoption risk factors and describes a method that managers can employ to assess their cloud initiatives against these risk factors.
The AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF) leverages AWS experience and best practices to help you digitally transform and accelerate your business outcomes through innovative use of AWS. In this episode, Simon is joined by Dr. Saša Baškarada (Worldwide Lead, AWS CAF) and Jason Turse (Senior Practice Manager, Defense Advisory), to discuss the latest updates to the AWS CAF, how customers, partners, and AWS teams are using it, and some of the best practices that the AWS CAF recommends. Learn more - https://aws.amazon.com/professional-services/CAF/ Register for re:Inforce - https://reinforce.awsevents.com/?did=pc_card-body&trk=pc_card-body Leave us feedback - https://d1ox81nm0qxip8.cloudfront.net/index.html
In this episode, we cover: Aaron talks about starting out as a developer and the early stages of cloud development at RBC (1:05) Aaron discusses transitioning to developer advocacy (12:25) Aaron identifies successes he had in his early days of developer advocacy (20:35) Jason asks what it looks like to assist developers in achieving completion with long term maintenance projects, or “sustainable development” (25:40) Jason and Aaron discuss what “innersource” is and why it's valuable in an organization (29:29) Aaron answers the question “how do you keep skills and knowledge up to date?” (33:55) Aaron talks about job opportunities at RBC (38:55) Links Referenced: Royal Bank of Canada: https://www.rbcroyalbank.com Opportunities at RBC: https://jobs.rbc.com/ca/en TranscriptAaron: And I guess some PM asked my boss, “So, Aaron doesn't come to our platform status meetings, he doesn't really take tickets, and he doesn't take support rotation. What does Aaron do for the Cloud Platform Team?”Jason: [laugh].Jason: Welcome to Break Things on Purpose, a podcast about reliability, learning, and building better systems. In this episode, we talk with Aaron Clark, Director of Developer Advocacy at the Royal Bank of Canada. We chat with him about his journey from developer to advocate, the power of applying open-source principles within organizations—known as innersource—and his advice to keep learning.Jason: Welcome to the show, Aaron.Aaron: Thanks for having me, Jason. My name is Aaron Clark. I'm a developer advocate for cloud at RBC. That is the Royal Bank of Canada. And I've been at the bank for… well, since February 2010.Jason: So, when you first joined the bank, you were not a developer advocate, though?Aaron: Right. So, I have been in my current role since 2019. I've been part of the cloud program since 2017. Way back in 2010, I joined as a Java developer. So, my background in terms of being a developer is pretty much heavy on Java. Java and Spring Boot, now.I joined working on a bunch of Java applications within one of the many functions areas within the Royal Bank. The bank is gigantic. That's kind of one of the things people sometimes struggle to grasp. It's such a large organization. We're something like 100,000… yeah, 100,000 employees, around 10,000 of that is in technology, so developers, developer adjacent roles like business analysts, and QE, and operations and support, and all of those roles.It's a big organization. And that's one of the interesting things to kind of grapple with when you join the organization. So, I joined in a group called Risk IT. We built solely internal-facing applications. I worked on a bunch of stuff in there.I'm kind of a generalist, where I have interest in all the DevOps things. I set up one of the very first Hudson servers in Risk—well, in the bank, but specifically in Risk—and I admin'ed it on the side because nobody else was doing it and it needed doing. After a few years of doing that and working on a bunch of different projects, I was occasionally just, “We need this project to succeed, to have a good foundation at the start, so Aaron, you're on this project for six months and then you're doing something different.” Which was really interesting. At the same time, I always worry about the problem where if you don't stay on something for very long, you never learn the consequences of the poor decisions you may have made because you don't have to deal with it.Jason: [laugh].Aaron: And that was like the flip side of, I hope I'm making good decisions here. It seemed to be pretty good, people seemed happy with it, but I always worry about that. Like, being in a role for a few years where you build something, and then it's in production, and you're running it and you're dealing with, “Oh, I made this decision that seems like a good idea at the time. Turns out that's a bad idea. Don't do that next time.” You never learned that if you don't stay in a role.When I was overall in Risk IT for four, almost five years, so I would work with a bunch of the teams who maybe stayed on this project, they'd come ask me questions. It's like, I'm not gone gone. I'm just not working on that project for the next few months or whatever. And then I moved into another part of the organization, like, a sister group called Finance IT that runs kind of the—builds and runs the general ledger for the bank. Or at least for a part of capital markets.It gets fuzzy as the organization moves around. And groups combine and disperse and things like that. That group, I actually had some interesting stuff that was when I started working on more things like cloud, looking at cloud, the bank was starting to bring in cloud. So, I was still on the application development side, but I was interested in it. I had been to some conferences like OSCON, and started to hear about and learn about things like Docker, things like Kubernetes, things like Spring Boot, and I was like this is some really neat stuff.I was working on a Spark-based ETL system, on one of the early Hadoop clusters at the bank. So, I've been I'm like, super, super lucky that I got to do a lot of this stuff, work on all of these new things when they were really nascent within the organization. I've also had really supportive leadership. So, like, I was doing—that continuous integration server, that was totally on the side; I got involved in a bunch of reuse ideas of, we have this larger group; we're doing a lot of similar things; let's share some of the libraries and things like that. That was before being any, like, developer advocate or anything like that I was working on these.And I was actually funded for a year to promote and work on reuse activities, basically. And that was—I learned a lot, I made a lot of mistakes that I now, like, inform some of the decisions I make in my current role, but I was doing all of this, and I almost described it as I kind of taxed my existing project because I'm working on this team, but I have this side thing that I have to do. And I might need to take a morning and not work on your project because I have to, like, maintain this build machine for somebody. And I had really supportive leadership. They were great.They recognize the value of these activities, and didn't really argue about the fact that I was taking time away from whatever the budget said I was supposed to be doing, which was really good. So, I started doing that, and I was working in finance as the Cloud Team was starting to go through a revamp—the initial nascent Cloud Team at the bank—and I was doing cloud things from the app dev side, but at the same time within my group, anytime something surprising became broken, somebody had some emergency that they needed somebody to drop in and be clever and solve things, that person became me. And I was running into a lot of distractions in that sense. And it's nice to be the person who gets to work on, “Oh, this thing needs rescuing. Help us, Aaron.”That's fantastic; it feels really good, right, up until you're spending a lot of your time doing it and you can't do the things that you're really interested in. So, I actually decided to move over to the Cloud Team and work on kind of defining how we build applications for the cloud, which was really—it was a really good time. It was a really early time in the bank, so nobody really knew how we were going to build applications, how we were going to put them on the cloud, what does that structure look like? I got to do a lot of reading and research and learning from other people. One of the key things about, like, a really large organization that's a little slow-moving like the bank and is a little bit risk-averse in terms of technology choices, people always act like that's always a bad thing.And sometimes it is because we're sometimes not adopting things that we would really get a lot of benefit out of, but the other side of it is, by the time we get to a lot of these technologies and platforms, a bunch of the sharp edges have kind of been sanded off. Like, the Facebooks and the Twitters of the world, they've adopted it and they've discovered all of these problems and been, like, duct-taping them together. And they've kind of found, “Oh, we need to have actual, like, security built into this system,” or things like that, and they've dealt with it. So, by the time we get to it, some of those issues are just not there anymore. We don't have to deal with them.Which is an underrated positive of being in a more conservative organization around that. So, we were figuring there's a lot of things we could learn from. When we were looking at microservices and, kind of, Spring Boot Spring Cloud, the initial cloud parts that had been brought into the organization were mainly around Cloud Foundry. And we were helping some initial app teams build their applications, which we probably over-engineered some of those applications, in the sense that we were proving out patterns that you didn't desperately need for building those applications. Like, you could have probably just done it with a web app and relational database and it would have been fine.But we were proving out some of the patterns of how do you build something for broader scale with microservices and things like that. We learned a bunch about the complexities of doing that too early, but we also learned a bunch about how to do this so we could teach other application teams. And that's kind of the group that I became part of, where I wasn't a platform operator on the cloud, but I was working with dev teams, building things with dev teams to help them learn how to build stuff for cloud. And this was my first real exposure to that scope and scale of the bank. I'd been in the smaller groups and one of the things that you start to encounter when you start to interact with the larger parts of the bank is just, kind of, how many silos there are, how diverse the tech stacks are in an organization of that size.Like, we have areas that do things with Java, we have areas doing things with .NET Framework, we have areas doing lots of Python, we have areas doing lots of Node, especially as the organization started building more web applications. While you're building things with Angular and using npm for the front-end, so you're building stuff on the back-end with Node as well. Whether that is a good technology choice, a lot of the time you're building with what you have. Even within Java, we'd have teams building with Spring Boot, and lots of groups doing that, but someone else is interested in Google Guice, so they're building—instead of Spring, they're using Google Guice as their dependency injection framework.Or they have a… like, there's the mainframe, right? You have this huge technology stack where lots of people are building Java EE applications still and trying to evolve that from the old grungy days of Java EE to the much nicer modern ways of it. And some of the technology conversations are things like, “Well, you can use this other technology; that's fine, but if you're using that, and we're using something else over here, we can't help each other. When I solve a problem, I can't really help solve it for you as well. You have to solve it for yourself with your framework.”I talked to a team once using Vertex in Java, and I asked them, “Why are you using Vertex?” And they said, “Well, that's what our team knew.” I was like, “That's a good technology choice in the sense that we have to deliver. This is what we know, so this is the thing we know we can succeed with rather than actually learning something new on the job while trying to deliver something.” That's often a recipe for challenges if not outright failure.Jason: Yeah. So, it sounds like that's kind of where you come in; if all these teams are doing very disparate things, right—Aaron: Mm-hm.Jason: That's both good and bad, right? That's the whole point of microservices is independent teams, everyone's decoupled, more velocity. But also, there's huge advantages—especially in an org the size of RBC—to leverage some of the learnings from one team to another, and really, like, start to share these best practices. I'm guessing that's where you come into play now in your current role.Aaron: Yeah. And that's the part where how do we have the flexibility for people to make their own choices while standardizing so we don't have this enormous sprawl, so we can build on things? And this is starting to kind of where I started really getting involved in community stuff and doing developer advocacy. And part of how this actually happened—and this is another one of those cases where I've been very fortunate and I've had great leaders—I was working as part of the Cloud Platform Team, the Special Projects group that I was, a couple of people left; I was the last one left. It's like, “Well, you can't be your own department, so you're part of Cloud Platform.” But I'm not an operator. I don't take a support rotation.And I'm ostensibly building tooling, but I'm mostly doing innersource. This is where the innersource community started to spin up at RBC. I was one of the, kind of, founding members of the innersource community and getting that going. We had built a bunch of libraries for cloud, so those were some of the first projects into innersource where I was maintaining the library for Java and Spring using OIDC. And this is kind of predating Spring Security's native support for OIDC—so Open ID Connect—And I was doing a lot of that, I was supporting app teams who were trying to adopt that library, I was involved in some of the other early developer experience things around, you complain this thing is bad as the developer; why do we have to do this? You get invited to one of the VP's regular weekly meetings to discuss, and now you're busy trying to fix, kind of, parts of the developer experience. I was doing this, and I guess some PM asked my boss, “So, Aaron doesn't come to our platform status meetings, he doesn't really take tickets, and he doesn't take support rotation. What does Aaron do for the Cloud Platform Team?”Jason: [laugh].Aaron: And my boss was like, “Well, Aaron's got a lot of these other things that he's involved with that are really valuable.” One of the other things I was doing at this point was I was hosting the Tech Talk speaking series, which is kind of an internal conference-style talks where we get an expert from within the organization and we try to cross those silos where we find someone who's a machine-learning expert; come and explain how TensorFlow works. Come and explain how Spark works, why it's awesome. And we get those experts to come and do presentations internally for RBC-ers. And I was doing that and doing all of the support work for running that event series with the co-organizers that we had.And at the end of the year, when they were starting up a new initiative to really focus on how do we start promoting cloud adoption rather than just people arrive at the platform and start using it and figure it out for themselves—you can only get so far with that—my boss sits me down. He says. “So, we really like all the things that you've been doing, all of these community things and things like that, so we're going to make that your job now.” And this is how I arrived at there. It's not like I applied to be a developer advocate. I was doing all of these things on the side and all of a sudden, 75% of my time was all of these side projects, and that became my job.So, it's not really the most replicable, like, career path, but it is one of those things where, like, getting involved in stuff is a great way to find a niche that is the things that you're passionate about. So, I changed my title. You can do that in some of our systems as long as your manager approves it, so I changed my title from the very generic ‘Senior Technical Systems Analyst—which, who knows what I actually do when that's my title—and I changed that to ‘Developer Advocate.' And that was when I started doing more research learning about what do actual developer advocates do because I want to be a developer advocate. I want to say I'm a developer advocate.For the longest time in the organization, I'm the only person in the company with that title, which is interesting because then nobody knows what to do with me because I'm not like—am I, like—I'm not a director, I'm not a VP. Like… but I'm not just a regular developer, either. Where—I don't fit in the hierarchy. Which is good because then people stop getting worried about what what are titles and things like that, and they just listen to what I say. So, I do, like, design consultations with dev teams, making sure that they knew what they were doing, or were aware of a bunch of the pitfalls when they started to get onto the cloud.I would build a lot of samples, a lot of docs, do a lot of the community engagement, so going to events internally that we'd have, doing a lot of those kinds of things. A lot of the innersource stuff I was already doing—the speaking series—but now it was my job formally, and it helped me cross a lot of those silos and work very horizontally. That's one of the different parts about my job versus a regular developer, is it's my job to cover anything to do with cloud—that at least, that I find interesting, or that my boss tells me I need to work at—and anything anywhere in the organization that touches. So, a dev team doing something with Kubernetes, I can go and talk to them. If they're building something in capital markets that might be useful, I can say, “Hey, can you share this into innersource so that other people can build on this work as well?”And that was really great because I develop all of these relationships with all of these other groups. And that was, to a degree, what the cloud program needed from me as well at that beginning. I explained that this was now my job to one of my friends. And they're like, “That sounds like the perfect job for you because you are technical, but you're really good with people.” I was like, “Am I? I guess I am now that I've been doing it for this amount of time.”And the other part of it as we've gone on more and more is because I talk to all of these development teams, I am not siloed in, I'm not as tunneled on the specific thing I'm working with, and now I can talk to the platform teams and really represent the application developer perspective. Because I'm not building the platform. And they have their priorities, and they have things that they have to worry about; I don't have to deal with that. My job is to bring the perspective of an application developer. That's my background.I'm not an operator; I don't care about the support rotation, I don't care about a bunch of the niggly things and toil of the platform. It's my job, sometimes, to say, hey, this documentation is well-intentioned. I understand how you arrived at this documentation from the perspective of being the platform team and the things that you prioritize and want to explain to people, but as an application developer, none of the information that I need to build something to run on your platform is presented in a manner that I am able to consume. So, I do, like, that side as well of providing customer feedback to the platform saying, “This thing is hard,” or, “This thing that you are asking the application teams to work on, they don't want to care about that. They shouldn't have to care about this thing.” And that sort of stuff.So, I ended up being this human router are sometimes where platform teams will say, “Do you know anybody who's doing this, who's using this thing?” Or finding one app team and say, “You should talk to that group over there because they are also doing the same thing, or they're struggling with the same thing, and you should collaborate.” Or, “They have solved this problem.” Because I don't know every single programming language we use, I don't know all of the frameworks, but I know who I asked for Python questions, and I will send teams to that person. And part of that, then, as I started doing this community work was actually building community.One of the great successes was, we have a Slack channel called ‘Cloud Adoption.' And that was the place where everybody goes to ask their questions about how do I do this thing to put something on Cloud Foundry, put it on Kubernetes? How do I do this? I don't understand. And that was sometimes my whole day was just going onto that Slack channel, answering questions, and being very helpful and trying to document things, trying to get a feel for what people were doing.It was my whole day, sometimes. It took a while to get used to that was actually, like, a successful day coming from a developer background. I'm used to building things, so I feel like success because I built something I can show you, that I did this today. And then I'd have days where I talked to a bunch of people and I don't have anything I can show you. That was, like, the hard part of taking on this role.But one of the big successes was we built this community where it wasn't just me. Other people who wanted to help people, who were just developers on different dev teams, they'd see me ask questions or answer questions, and they would then know the answers and they'd chime in. And as I started being tasked with more and more other activities, I would then get to go—I'd come back to Slack and see oh, there's a bunch of questions. Oh, it turns out, people are able to help themselves. And that was—like that's success from that standpoint of building community.And now that I've done that a couple times with Tech Talks, with some of the developer experience work, some of the cloud adoption work, I get asked internally how do you build community when we're starting up new communities around things like Site Reliability Engineering. How are we going to do that? So, I get—and that feels weird, but that's one of the things that I have been doing now. And as—like, this is a gigantic role because of all of the scope. I can touch anything with anyone in cloud.One of the scope things with the role, but also with the bank is not only do we have all these tech stacks, but we also have this really, really diverse set of technical acumen, where you have people who are experts already on Kubernetes. They will succeed no matter what I do. They'll figure it out because they're that type of personality, they're going to find all the information. If anything, some of the restrictions that we put in place to manage our environments and secure them because of the risk requirements and compliance requirements of being a regulated bank, those will get in the way. Sometimes I'm explaining why those things are there. Sometimes I'm agreeing with people. “Yeah, it sucks. I don't want to have to do this.”But at the same time, you'll have people who they just want to come in, write their code, go home. They don't want to think about technology other than that. They're not going to go and learn things on their own necessarily. And that's not the end of the world. As strange as that sounds to people who are the personality to be constantly learning and constantly getting into everything and tinkering, like, that's me too, but you still need people to keep the lights on, to do all of the other work as well. And people who are happy just doing that, that's also valuable.Because if I was in that role, I would not be happy. And someone who is happy, like, this is good for the overall organization. But the things that they need to learn, the things they need explained to them, the help they need for success is different. So, that's one of the challenges is figuring out how do you address all of those customers? And sometimes even the answer for those customers is—and this is one of the things about my role—it's like the definition is customer success.If the application you're trying to put on cloud should not go on cloud, it is my job to tell you not to put it on cloud. It is not my job to put you on cloud. I want you to succeed, not just to get there. I can get your thing on the cloud in an afternoon, probably, but if I then walk away and it breaks, like, you don't know what to do. So, a lot of the things around how do we teach people to self-serve, how do we make our internal systems more self-serve, those are kind of the things that I look at now.How do I manage my own time because the scope is so big? It's like, I need to figure out where I'm not moving a thousand things forward an inch, but I'm moving things to their completion. And I am learning to, while not managing people, still delegate and work with the community, work with the broader cloud platform group around how do I let go and help other people do things?Jason: So, you mentioned something in there that I think is really interesting, right, the goal of helping people get to completion, right? And I think that's such an interesting thing because I think as—in that advocacy role, there's often a notion of just, like, I'm going to help you get unstuck and then you can keep going, without a clear idea of where they're ultimately heading. And that kind of ties back into something that you said earlier about starting out as a developer where you build things and you kind of just, like, set it free, [laugh] and you don't think about, you know, that day two, sort of, operations, the maintenance, the ongoing kind of stuff. So, I'm curious, as you've progressed in your career, as you've gotten more wisdom from helping people out, what does that look like when you're helping people get to completion, also with the mindset of this is an application that's going to be running for quite some time. Even in the short term, you know, if it's a short-term thing, but I feel like with the bank, most things probably are somewhat long-lived. How do you balance that out? How do you approach that, helping people get to done but also keeping in mind that they have to—this app has to keep living and it has to be maintained?Aaron: Yeah, a lot of it is—like, the term we use is sustainable development. And part of that is kind of removing friction, trying to get the developers to a point where they can focus on, I guess, the term that's often used in the industry is their inner loop. And it should come as no surprise, the bank often has a lot of processes that are high in friction. There's a lot of open a ticket, wait for things. This is the part that I take my conversations with dev teams, and I ask them, “What are the things that are hard? What are the things you don't like? What are the things you wish you didn't have to do or care about?”And some of this is reading between the lines when you talk to them; it's not so much interviewing them. Like, any kind of requirements gathering, usually, it's not what they say, it's what they talk about that then you look at, oh, this is the problem; how do we unstuck that problem so that people can get to where they need to be going? And this kind of informs some of my feedback to the systems we put in place, the processes we put in place around the platform, some of the tooling we look at. I really, really love the philosophy from Docker and Solomon Hykes around, “Batteries included but removable.” I want developers to have a high baseline as a starting point.And this comes partly from my experience with Cloud Foundry. Cloud Foundry has a really great out-of-the-box dev experience for lots of things where, “I just have a web app. Just run it. It's Nginx; it's some HTML pages; I don't need to know all the details. Just make it go and give me the URL.”And I want more of that for app teams where they have a high baseline of things to work with as a starting point. And kind of every organization ends up building this, where they have—like, Netflix: Netflix OSS or Twitter with Finagle—where they have, “Here's the surrounding pieces that I want to plug in that everybody gets as a starting point. And how do we provide security? How do we provide all of these pieces that are major concerns for an app team, that they have to do, we know they have to do?” Some of these are things that only start coming up when they're on the cloud and trying to provide a lot more of that for app teams so they can focus on the business stuff and only get into the weeds when they need to.Jason: As you're talking about these frameworks that, you know, having this high quality or this high baseline of tools that people can just have, right, equipping them with a nice toolbox, I'm guessing that the innersource stuff that you're working on also helps contribute to that.Aaron: Oh, immensely. And as we've gone on and as we've matured, our innersource organization, a huge part of that is other groups as well, where they're finding things that—we need this. And they'll put—it originally it was, “We built this. We'll put it into innersource.” But what you get with that is something that is very targeted and specific to their group and maybe someone else can use it, but they can't use it without bending it a little bit.And I hate bending software to fit it. That's one of the things—it's a very common thing in the corporate environment where we have our existing processes and rather than adopting the standard approach that some tool uses, we need to take it and then bend it until it fits our existing process because we don't want to change our processes. And that gets hard because you run into weird edge cases where this is doing something strange because we bent it. And it's like, well, that's not its fault at that point. As we've started doing more innersource, a lot more things have really become innersource first, where groups realize we need to solve this together.Let's start working on it together and let's design the API as a group. And API design is really, really hard. And how do we do things with shared libraries or services. And working through that as a group, we're seeing more of that, and more commonly things where, “Well, this is a thing we're going to need. We're going to start it in innersource, we'll get some people to use it and they'll be our beta customers. And we'll inform it without really specifically targeting an application and an app team's needs.”Because they're all going to have specific needs. And that's where the, like, ‘included but removable' part comes in. How do we build things extensibly where we have the general solution and you can plug in your specifics? And we're still—like, this is not an easy problem. We're still solving it, we're still working through it, we're getting better at it.A lot of it's just how can we improve day-over-day, year-over-year, to make some of these things better? Even our, like, continuous integration and delivery pipelines to our to clouds, all of these things are in constant flux and constant evolution. We're supporting multiple languages; we're supporting multiple versions of different languages; we're talking about, hey, we need to get started adopting Java 17. None of our libraries or pipelines do that yet, but we should probably get on that since it's been out for—what—almost a year? And really working on kind of decomposing some of these things where we built it for what we needed at the time, but now it feels a bit rigid. How do we pull out the pieces?One of the big pushes in the organization after the log4j CVE and things like that broad impact on the industry is we need to do a much more thorough job around software supply chain, around knowing what we have, making sure we have scans happening and everything. And that's where, like, the pipeline work comes in. I'm consulting on the pipeline stuff where I provide a lot of customer feedback; we have a team that is working on that all full time. But doing a lot of those things and trying to build for what we need, but not cut ourselves off from the broader industry, as well. Like, my nightmare situation, from a tooling standpoint, is that we restrict things, we make decisions around security, or policy or something like that, and we cut ourselves off from the broader CNCF tooling ecosystem, we can't use any of those tools. It's like, well, now we have to build something ourselves, or—which we're never going to do it as well as the external community. Or we're going to just kind of have bad processes and no one's going to be happy so figuring out all of that.Jason: Yeah. One of the things that you mentioned about staying up to speed and having those standards reminds me of, you know, similar to that previous experience that I had was, basically, I was at an org where we said that we'd like to open-source and we used open-source and that basically meant that we forked things and then made our own weird modifications to it. And that meant, like, now, it wasn't really open-source; it was like this weird, hacked thing that you had to keep maintaining and trying to keep it up to date with the latest stuff. Sounds like you're in a better spot, but I am curious, in terms of keeping up with the latest stuff, how do you do that, right? Because you mentioned that the bank, obviously a bit slower, adopting more established software, but then there's you, right, where you're out there at the forefront and you're trying to gather best practices and new technologies that you can use at the bank, how do you do that as someone that's not building with the latest, greatest stuff? How do you keep that skills and that knowledge up to date?Aaron: I try to do reading, I try to set time aside to read things like The New Stack, listen to podcasts about technologies. It's a really broad industry; there's only so much I can keep up with. This was always one of the conversations going way back where I would have the conversation with my boss around the business proposition for me going to conferences, and explaining, like, what's the cost to acquire knowledge in an organization? And while we can bring in consultants, or we can hire people in, like, when you hire new people in, they bring in their pre-existing experiences. So, if someone comes in and they know Hadoop, they can provide information and ideas around is this a good problem to solve with Hadoop? Maybe, maybe not.I don't want to bet a project on that if I don't know anything about Hadoop or Kubernetes or… like, using something like Tilt or Skaffold with my tooling. That's one of the things I got from going to conferences, and I actually need to set more time aside to watch the videos now that everything's virtual. Like, not having that dedicated week is a problem where I'm just disconnected and I'm not dealing with anything. When you're at work, even if KubeCon's going on or Microsoft Build, I'm still doing my day-to-day, I'm getting Slack messages, and I'm not feeling like I can just ignore people. I should probably block out more time, but part of how I stay up to date with it.It's really doing a lot of that reading and research, doing conversations like this, like, the DX Buzz that we invited you to where… I explained that event—it's adjacent to internal speakers—I explained that as I was had a backlog of videos from conferences I was not watching, and secretly if I make everybody else come to lunch with me to watch these videos, I have to watch the video because I'm hosting the session to discuss it, and now I will at least watch one a month. And that's turned out to be a really successful thing internally within the organization to spread knowledge, to have conversations with people. And the other part I do, especially on the tooling side, is I still build stuff. As much as, like, I don't code nearly as much as I used to, I bring an application developer perspective, but I'm not writing code every day anymore.Which I always said was going to be the thing that would make me miserable. It's not. I still think about it, and when I do get to write code, I'm always looking for how can I improve this setup? How can I use this tool? Can I try it out? Is this better? Is this smoother for me so I'm not worrying about this thing?And then spreading that information more broadly within the developer experience group, our DevOps teams, our platform teams, talking to those teams about the things that they use. Like, we use Argo CD within one group and I haven't touched it much, but I know they've got lots of expertise, so talking to them. “How do you use this? How is this good for me? How do I make this work? How can I use it, too?”Jason: I think it's been an incredible, [laugh] as you've been chatting, there are so many different tools and technologies that you've mentioned having used or being used at the bank. Which is both—it's interesting as a, like, there's so much going on in the bank; how do you manage it all? But it's also super interesting, I think, because it shows that there's a lot of interest in just finding the right solutions and finding the right tools, and not really being super-strongly married to one particular tool or one set way to do things, which I think is pretty cool. We're coming up towards the end of our time here, so I did want to ask you, before we sign off, Aaron, do you have anything that you'd like to plug, anything you want to promote?Aaron: Yeah, the Cloud Program is hiring a ton. There's lots of job openings on all of our platform teams. There's probably job openings on my Cloud Adoption Team. So, if you think the bank sounds interesting—the bank is very stable; that's always one of the nice things—but the bank… the thing about the bank, I originally joined the bank saying, “Oh, I'll be here two years, and I'll get bored and I'll leave,” and now it's been 12 years and I'm still at the bank. Because I mentioned, like, that scope and scale of the organization, there's always something interesting happening somewhere.So, if you're interested in cloud platform stuff, we've got a huge cloud platform. If you're in—like, you want to do machine-learning, we've got an entire organization. It should come as no surprise, we have lots of data at a bank, and there's a whole organization for all sorts of different things with machine-learning, deep learning, data analytics, big data, stuff like that. Like, if you think that's interesting, and even if you're not specifically in Toronto, Canada, you can probably find an interesting role within the organization if that's something that turns your crank.Jason: Awesome. We'll post links to everything that we've mentioned, which is a ton. But go check us out, gremlin.com/podcast is where you can find the show note for this episode, and we'll have links to everything. Aaron, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure to have you.Aaron: Thanks so much for having me, Jason. I'm so happy that we got to do this.Jason: For links to all the information mentioned, visit our website at gremlin.com/podcast. If you liked this episode, subscribe to the Break Things on Purpose podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform. Our theme song is called, “Battle of Pogs” by Komiku, and it's available on loyaltyfreakmusic.com.
In this episode of CapTech Trends, we dig deeper into the first of our four 2022 Tech Trends about the cloud and productivity. Cloud SME Mike Diiorio and Vinnie discuss the ways in which a move to the cloud is a culture change and requires organizational buy-in, communication with your teams, and a long-term cloud strategy. Listen in as we cover the following hot-button topics in cloud adoption today:Why your priority should be creating a long-term cloud strategy and gaining buy-in across the entire organization.Addressing the skills gap in migration efforts - making sure your people understand what cloud adoption means for their jobs and creating opportunities for continual learning.Why multi-cloud split models are becoming the preferred model and how cloud vendors are adapting. If you're starting from scratch, having a cloud advocate or two can help lead the way and train teams through adoption. Why the lift and shift approach can turn into a worst-case scenario.
"Cloud" gets thrown around as something we are moving towards, but you may be surprised how prevalent it has become in everyday life. Russell Gainford, VP of Cloud Strategy and Operations at Tyler Technologies, joins host Jeff Harrell to discuss cloud adoption and the many ways the cloud benefits people both personally and professionally. Russell also shares how public sector leaders can make the most of the opportunities the cloud brings their jurisdictions.Learn more about Tyler TechnologiesLearn more about Tyler Cybersecurity