Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

Bob Evans
  • 4.7 (17)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED DAILY

Cloud Wars analyzes the major cloud vendors from the perspective of business customers. In Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans talks with both sides about these profoundly transformative technologies, and with monthly All-Star guests from across the business community about the trends impacting how the world lives, works, plays, and dreams. Visit https://cloudwars.com for more.

  1. 20H AGO

    Can You Trust Your AI Data?

    Key Takeaways Herain Oberoi, Microsoft's general manager for data security, privacy, and compliance, recently held a session where he outlined top security challeneges within the AI era. Specifically, Oberoi outlined three concerns enterprises must address to build secure, scalable AI operations. He stressed strict access controls and disciplined data hygiene to prevent oversharing and sensitive data leakage. Second, regulatory compliance now requires continuous auditability of AI agent operations, with Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager enabling on-demand proof of control. Finally, fragmented solutions increase cost and complexity, while expanded Purview unifies data security, governance, and compliance in a single pane of glass. Enterprises that quickly adapt to rising security expectations will be best positioned to scale AE operations and realize the full value of the AE era. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    3 min

  2. 21H AGO

    Hell Freezes Over: SAP, Oracle, Workday Agree on Key Issue!

    In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I explain why customer pressure is forcing SAP, Oracle, and Workday to overhaul traditional enterprise software sales models. Highlights 00:01 — Hello my friends. Welcome back to Cloud Wars Minute. We’ve got some big news here because we’ve got SAP, Oracle, and Workday all agreeing on a very key issue here and instituting some changes at the same time. What led to this unprecedented alignment between three companies that you know, day after day in the marketplace, are scratching each other’s eyes out? 00:49 — It’s really this notion about what’s going on with customers here in these days of the AI revolution, with things moving so much faster. Customers are under enormous pressure to do things differently, to get AI throughout the organization and achieve better outcomes, but not spend too much money and not take risks. 01:20 — The very last thing that customers want or need or are willing to tolerate is old-fashioned approaches to how they engage with software companies. Especially now as the software itself is changing. They’re not just apps vendors anymore, but agent vendors and data cloud vendors helping customers organize data and revise processes. 02:21 — Across the board these companies have decided they need to combine different sales organizations or flatten the existing ones to achieve a simpler point of contact for customers. Not so many different people from the same vendor calling on them. Workday says customers are moving faster and the old decision model doesn’t work anymore. 03:08 — Rob Enslin, President and Chief Commercial Officer at Workday, said the company wants to push more decisions out to the point of the customer and have them spend less time with the inner workings of what Workday is doing. At SAP, the sales organization called Customer Success is now paired with the services and delivery team run by Thomas Saueressig. 04:00 — Customers are saying they want to give these companies their money but don’t have time to hear endless presentations or meet half of a sales force. Either make it simpler or you’re never going to see another nickel. In the early days of the AI revolution leading into the AI economy, customers cannot operate the old-fashioned way with software companies. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    5 min

  3. 1D AGO

    Microsoft 365 E7: Scaling AI with Security, Governance at the Forefront

    Key Takeaways Overview: Companies are drowning in AI tools, most of which "do not talk to each other." Today, Microsoft announced Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite, officially launching May 1st for $99. The suite brings together Microsoft 365 E5, M365 Copilot Wave 3, and Agent 365. Manage agents: IDC projects 1.3 billion AI agents by 2028, creating major governance, access control, and data management challenges that Agent 365 addresses by giving teams a single place to track, secure, and manage them all. Big idea: Work IQ, which will be explored at AI Agent & Copilot Summit, signals that Copilot has gone mainstream, with 160% YoY growth and large-scale enterprise deployments. "This isn't experimentation anymore. This is enterprise AI going mainstream." Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    2 min

  4. 1D AGO

    Oracle Q3 Outlook: How High Can Soaring IPO Go?

    In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I analyze Oracle’s projected Q3 numbers and the explosive growth of its cloud and AI infrastructure business. Highlights 00:02 — Tomorrow, March 10, Oracle releases its Q3 numbers. I think these will be some of the most interesting we see from any of the Cloud Wars Top 10 companies, because relative to Oracle's size, its growth rates are up near the very top, and its RPO growth has been absolutely astronomical. 00:58 — So you might think of it as pipeline or backlog. This is money that's again fully contracted. It is not yet recognized as revenue, but it's an indication of where customers in the future are putting their hearts, minds, and wallets. I'll take a look at some key numbers for Oracle and compare the Q2 results with my Q3 projections. 02:02 — So for Q2, Oracle's RPO grew in Q2 over Q1 $68 billion. It had some huge deals in there with Meta and NVIDIA. It'll still do very well adding another $59 billion to its RPO. Now we look at its cloud revenue. For Q2 it was a total of $8 billion, up 34%. 03:13 — The OpenAI deal is massive, probably around $300 billion, but there's a lot more in there beyond that $300 billion. Oracle is emphasizing that it has a wide-ranging cloud infrastructure and AI infrastructure business that includes traditional moves from on-premise to cloud and other services beyond the OpenAI deal. 04:06 — Google Cloud hit almost $18 billion in its quarter. Now Oracle is almost half the size of Google Cloud, but it's got this tremendous backlog of future business because of capabilities around AI training, AI inferencing, and its core businesses as well. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    6 min

  5. 4D AGO

    AI in Grocery Retail: Why Grocers Are Prioritizing Store Associate Copilots

    In this AI Agent & Copilot Minute, Mason Siefert explores how grocery retailers are accelerating AI adoption behind the scenes — empowering store associates and operational teams — even as consumer trust in customer-facing AI tools remains limited. Key Takeaways Consumer Trust Gap: Despite the rapid rollout of advanced retail AI tools, adoption among consumers remains limited. A recent consumer trend study shows only about 15% of shoppers actively use customer-facing AI solutions, even with innovations like Kroger’s personal shopping assistant. Concerns about hidden algorithm pricing and lack of transparency have contributed to skepticism, leaving retailers operating in what some experts describe as a “gray zone” of AI adoption. Associate-Focused AI: Rather than waiting for shoppers to embrace AI fully, grocery executives are prioritizing AI tools designed for store associates. Platforms like Google’s virtual assistant Sage provide employees with a centralized system to manage scheduling, payments, and daily operational tasks. By focusing on workforce enablement, retailers can immediately drive efficiency and productivity while indirectly improving the overall customer experience. Operational Optimization: Enterprise AI systems are increasingly being deployed to streamline frontline operations such as shift optimization, compliance monitoring, and task coordination. These tools reduce friction caused by fragmented workflows — like employees logging into multiple apps for a single task — and minimize human error. As AI handles routine operational complexity, employees can focus more on serving customers and maintaining store performance. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    3 min

  6. 4D AGO

    Why OpenAI Adjusted Its Trillion-Dollar AI Infrastructure Plan

    In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I explore OpenAI’s decision to adjust its trillion-dollar AI infrastructure ambitions to reassure investors. Highlights 00:04 — Planned spending commitments amongst the Cloud Wars Top 10 companies have reached astronomical levels. This surge is in response to the anticipated demand for AI infrastructure, products, and services — a market that UN Trade and Development predicts will exceed $4.3 trillion by 2033. 00:25 — But in a trend-bucking move, OpenAI has informed investors that it's lowered its projected compute spending to $600 billion by 2030, down from the previously touted $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments announced in November by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. 00:46 — And this information came from a source that spoke to the news agency Reuters. The apparent shift aims to provide a more defined timeline for planned spending, alleviating concerns for investors who might view the $1.4 trillion figure as somewhat overly ambitious. 01:06 — CNBC also reported that OpenAI's total revenue for 2030 is expected to exceed $80 billion. The revised spending plan is designed, according to sources, to align more closely with this anticipated figure and reassure investors about the company’s growth trajectory. 01:54 — The balancing act for companies like OpenAI is a delicate one. It needs to demonstrate that it has the faith and support to fully commit to AI spending while also showing restraint to its investors. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    2 min

  7. 5D AGO

    Evolving Enterprise Security with Microsoft Purview

    Key Takeaways Microsoft leads in risk detection with tools like Defender XDR, but as enterprise data environments grow in scale and complexity, organizations now need AI‑driven security that can automatically investigate and manage risk across the entire data estate, not just detect it. With the January 2026 general release of Purview Data Security Investigations, Microsoft addresses the challenge of overwhelming data volumes by using generative AI to automatically analyze security signals across its tools and clearly summarize underlying risks so security teams can act faster and more confidently. Purview enables these outcomes through built-in capabilities that analyze risk at scale, including deep content risk examination with scoring and remediation guidance, vector search for non‑keyword discovery, and automatic categorization by risk, sensitivity, and subject to speed incident analysis. Purview integrates with Microsoft Sentinel’s graph to visually connect users, data, and activities across incidents and enables immediate mitigation—such as purging overshared sensitive content—allowing security teams to identify and contain risks in minutes instead of days, where speed can mean the difference between containment and a costly breach. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    3 min

  8. 5D AGO

    Workday CEO Bhusri Top Priority for '26: Re-accelerate Growth

    In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I look at how Workday plans to blend AI agents with its core HR and finance platforms. Highlights 00:03 — One of the big stories of early 2026 is this whole wackiness around how AI is going to destroy the enterprise apps business, particularly SaaS companies. Will it change it? Absolutely and sometimes in profound ways, but not to the elimination of it. This idea that customers can either use agents or they can use apps is ridiculous. There's a very powerful role for both agents and applications. 01:14 — Workday's Aneel Bhusri's top priority for the company as he takes over again as CEO is he wants to grow. He came back in as CEO last month. Carl Eschenbach had been CEO for three years and did a great job building out the international business and scaling up the sales organization, making Workday a bigger, more well-run machine. 02:21 — Bhusri emphasized very strongly its [Workday's] core business of enterprise applications for HR and finance is very strong. It'll be able to help those customers find an even better way of using enterprise technology and that's the combination of its existing apps plus agents with its Data Cloud and its single data model. 03:29 — This year it's going to complement that by rolling out its own agents, specifically built around certain roles that are bound up tightly within HR organizations and finance. Bushri believes that's where AI-accelerated growth for Workday is going to happen in the second half of the year. 04:33 — Bhusri said he's a big fan of large language models, that's great. But this idea that you could take large language models, bypass applications, and connect those models to big stores of data and get great outcomes is ridiculous. This whole SaaS apocalypse thing is going to be a tremendous waste of time and energy. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

    6 min
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4.7
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About

Cloud Wars analyzes the major cloud vendors from the perspective of business customers. In Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans talks with both sides about these profoundly transformative technologies, and with monthly All-Star guests from across the business community about the trends impacting how the world lives, works, plays, and dreams. Visit https://cloudwars.com for more.

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