Why should be care about hybrid clouds? Sam Johnston of Equinix has some answers. At the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, Johnston explained why hybrid clouds make sense in today’s cloud market. He also weighs in on how the cloud’s emphasis on open standards can help prevent vendor lock in, one of the big frustrations for today’s CIOs.

Show Notes

:45 Why should we care about hybrid clouds?

1.43 Cloud integration challenges – can open standards help?

3:42 Proprietary APIs pose problems

3:58 Aggregation and loose coupling

5:04 Can open standards prevent vendor lock in?

8:02 Next steps for cloud CIOs

Cloud security is a legitimate issue for the IT manager, but there’s plenty of FUD to muddy the view. To get a perspective from the front on cloud security, Jon talked to David Bull of McAfee and the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012. Bull weighs in on whether cloud security questions are technical in nature, or whether the primary issue is one of education.

Show Notes

:58 How David addresses cloud security questioons

2:05 Is cloud security and technical issues, educational issue or both?

2:32 Cutting through the FUD – advice to customers

3:20 David’s take on Cloud World Forum 2012

3:57 Next steps for cloud-curious CIOs

4:55 McAfee’s new cloud security platform

During an impromptu discussion before the official shoot, John Harris of GSK explained why CIOs pay attention to the “cloud vendor wars” but why they take these debates, and the resulting blog frenzy, with a grain of salt. As the chair of the UK Corporate IT Forum, Harrisa talks frequently to his CIO peers about how they view the cloud marketplace. Dennis had the camera rolling and the resulting talk shed light on the role of bloggers in CIO influence and how peer discussions frame the issues.

Show Notes

0:20 The Oracle cloud “announcements” – “we do pay attention”

1:35 Watching the cloud space – with a critical eye

3:07 The role of the “provocative” blogosphere and peer-to-peer conversations

At the London Cloud Computing Forum, Jon talked with Andy Leaver of Workday about Workday’s EMEA plans and why the cloud puts CIOs in the hot seat. Since the Cloud Forum had a heavy IT director emphasis, Andy weighed in on how CIOs fit into Workday’s sales process and whether CIOs should feel threatened by SaaS and its Line of Business sales focus.

Show Notes

:40 Workday’s first year at the Cloud Forum – why are they here?

:60 How the cloud is impacting CIOs

1:45 Should CIOs feel threatened by the cloud?

2:20 The CIO’s Role in the Workday decision making process (yes, security and integration matters)

4:00 Workday’s EMEA plans – status report

At the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, Den convened a “state of cloud accounting” four-man-shoot with Richard Messik of E-conomic, Gary Turner of Xero, and David Terrar of Business Two Zero (a Twinfield partner). The guys discuss the growth of cloud accounting in the UK and compare notes on how cloud perceptions are changing.  One key theme: customers are beginning to shift beyond cloud-as-money-saver to how the cloud can transform business practices.

Show Notes

1:15 Richard on the state of cloud accounting:  “a lot more awareness and activity”

2:45 Gary on the growth of Xero

5:21 Why Business Two Zero has expanded beyond cloud accounting

6:03 “Practices are realizing the cloud can transform the way they work with their clients”

9:15 iPads and mobile driving changes to how clients are serviced

There wasn’t a lot of PaaS or cloud developer talk at the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, but CloudBees was an exception. In this video, Michael Goossen, VP of European Sales for CloudBees gives his view on why PaaS matters and why the adoption of cloud platforms by end customers has been sluggish compared to cloud infrastructure. Goossen also makes his case for why CloudBees matters and why customers might need a PaaS that isn’t tied to a vendor like SAP or Salesforce.com.

Show Notes

:44 Why CloudBees appeals to developers

1:45 What are the advantages of cloud development for IT shops?

3:48 Enterprise developers versus non-enterprise developers – skills transitions

6:16 Why was there so little PaaS at the Cloud Computing Forum?

8:20 Can existing vendors effectively add PaaS to their solutions?

9:15 Customizing legacy apps versus developing in the cloud – a big shift for customers

At the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, Den sat down with JP Rangaswami, Chief Scientist at Salesforce.com to discuss the future of business in light of Saleforce.com’s recent acquisitions. What started out as a discussion about Salesforce.com’s moves to create a front office suite play quickly evolved into a discussion of the future of the networked business. At the top of Rangaswami’s mind were two ideas: reducing friction between companies and customers and shifting from “unit cost management” to “cost of change management”.  Forward-thinking companies are not waiting for the economy to improve to grow new markets.

Show Notes

:45 Is Salesforce.com employing a front office suite strategy?

1:10 Reducing customer friction – the impact of networks

2:45 How will companies grow new markets?

3:30 Silos break down when networks are fostered

5:04 “‘Jackie in the corner’ is a lot more important than we used to think” – “Talent doesn’t scale unless you connect all the dots”

7:33 Moving from “unit cost management” to the “cost of change management” – why platforms matter

Prior to his presentation at the Cloud Computing World Forum on the Future of Software, John Harris of GSK spoke with the JD-OD team about the impact of cloud. As the chair of the UK Corporate IT Forum, Harris has an on-the-ground view of how CIOs view the cloud.  Harris shares his view of how the cloud changes how we view and consume software. He also touches on the disruption this is causing CIOs (and IT departments).  As Harris puts it, “I’m not excited about the cloud because I can put a server up quickly.” He sees a much more transformational impact.

Show Notes

:40 Does the cloud make software irrelevant?

1:50 Why the cloud is disrupting IT departments

2:50 How should CIOs respond, and does security come into play?

3:45 “Open up the crown jewels to developers”

On the first day of the Cloud Computing World Forum, London 2012, Jon talked with Phil Wainewright about Oracle’s impossible-to-ignore cloud announcements. Phil explains why Oracle’s  “single tenant” approach plays into Oracle’s business model. The guys also talk about whether the SaaS market will ultimately be won by best of breed the “pure SaaS” players or if the big on-premise vendors have a shot.  The problem of cloud and on-premise integration is also raised.

Show Notes

:45 Phil’s take on “Oracle Cloud”

1:40 Does Oracle’s competitor-bashing work?

3:00 Forecasting the odds: pure SaaS versus on-premise “cloud” players

4:20 Integration was a major issue for the Siebel/Ariba upstarts a decade ago – is it a similar problem for SaaS vendors now?