In today's Cloud Wars Agent & Copilot Minute, I explore Microsoft's addition of Mistral Large 3 to its Foundry platform and why it's a major win for developers seeking open, enterprise-ready AI models.Highlights00:11 —Microsoft Foundry is a platform from Microsoft, designed for building, customizing, and deploying GenAI applications and agents. It allows users to access over 11,000 models. Recently, Microsoft added a new model to its offerings, Mistral Large 3. Microsoft claims it to be one of the strongest open-weight, Apache-licensed frontier models available on the Microsoft cloud.00:53 — An open-weight model is similar to an open-source model, but with some differences. In an open-weight AI model, the parameters used to train the model are publicly available, not just for use or viewing, but also for downloading and modifying. More developers are turning to these models because they offer flexibility.01:40 — Mistral Large 3 is one of the world's leading open models optimized for enterprise applications. It excels in instruction following, long-context comprehension and retention, multimodal reasoning, predictable performance, and applied reasoning. Unlike its closest competitors, Mistral Large 3 is fully open, with Apache 2.0 licensing.02:08 — Each new model is carefully selected. It's not just a free-for-all. With Foundry, Microsoft is demonstrating its expertise in the space by keenly understanding what developers want—in this case, an open model with real-world enterprise applications. The pace of AI development is such that even incremental changes and improvements dramatically impact how businesses operate. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Sales, and Matt Hobbs, Cloud Engineering and Data Analytics Platform Leader and Partner at PwC US. Together, they explore how companies can stop overpaying for cloud and instead fund AI innovation by shifting spend from legacy and suboptimal cloud deployments into modern architectures, multi-cloud strategies, and enterprise-grade AI capabilities that actually move the needle on growth, margin, and new business models.Smarter Cloud, Bigger AIThe Big Themes:Built to Cost Less: Oracle entered the cloud market later and designed OCI from the “bare metal up” with off-box virtualization, a low-latency non-blocking network, and significantly lower egress pricing. That means Oracle’s own cost to deliver infrastructure is structurally lower, so they don’t need to “race to zero” with margin-crushing discounts. When customers compare OCI run-rates to first-generation hyperscalers, it’s common to see 40–70% savings at list-to-net, not just in special deals.Turning Technical Debt Into Innovation Budget: Hobbs notes that roughly 40% of internal tech budgets are often tied up in technical debt rather than innovation. PwC sees executives searching for ways to unlock capital for AI and growth initiatives, not just trim expenses. Its “Fit for Growth” program looks at where money is tied up in non-differentiating costs (cloud infrastructure being one of the biggest line items) and reallocates that spend into value-creating initiatives. When PwC runs side-by-side economics, they’ve seen OCI’s promised 40–70% savings show up in real deals.OCI + PwC: budget creation meets execution: The Oracle–PwC collaboration stands out, the guests argue, because both sides are relentlessly focused on the client outcome rather than maximizing any one platform. PwC validates OCI’s economics and brings the talent to design and execute migrations, process re-invention, and agentic AI programs; Oracle brings a cost-efficient, multi-cloud-friendly infrastructure designed for price-performance and portability.The Big Quote: “You can burn a lot of money chasing ghosts in this game if you really don't have a very specific use case." Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Bob Evans sits down with Will Grannis, Chief Technology Officer at Google Cloud, to unpack how AI is reshaping both technology stacks and corporate culture. They explore Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise platform, the newly upgraded Gemini 3 models, and the rise of agentic AI. Along the way, Will shares customer stories from industries like finance, healthcare, retail, and travel, and even talks about how his own team had to change its habits to benefit from AI.Inside Google Cloud’s Agentic AI The Big Themes:Models vs. Platforms in the AI Stack: Grannis draws a sharp distinction between AI models like Gemini and the broader platforms that operationalize them. Models determine how intelligent and capable AI workflows are “out of the box,” across tasks like reasoning, multimodal understanding, and conversation. Platforms, by contrast, are how a business injects its own data, processes, and rules to build differentiated IP, brand experiences, and competitive moats. In practice, that means thinking beyond a single chatbot to agentic workflows composed of models, data, tools, and multiple agents working together.Culture and Discipline: Grannis describes how even his own team initially struggled to build an internal ops agent to automate sprint reviews, status updates, and reminders. It was only after leadership pushed them to be an exemplar that the agent became reliable and valuable. Things as simple as putting status information in the same place on every slide suddenly mattered. The lesson: AI exposes hidden process chaos. To get leverage from agents, organizations must tighten their operating discipline and be willing to change how they work, not just bolt AI onto old habits.Rethinking ROI and Metrics: Traditional, siloed ROI metrics can kill transformational AI efforts before they start. Grannis cites research about AI projects dying at proof-of-concept stage and contrasts that with companies like Verizon, which used AI in the contact center to simultaneously lift revenue, reduce cost, and improve customer satisfaction by turning support calls into sales moments. Instead of chasing a single metric in isolation, he advocates for “bundles” of outcomes anchored in customer experience.The Big Quote: “We had to be more disciplined about how we conducted our own work. And once we did that, AI’s effectiveness went way up, and then we got the leverage.”More from Will Grannis and Google Cloud:Connect with Will Grannis on LinkedIn or learn about Gemini Enterprise. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily cloud news and commentary show. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the cloud.In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss why culture, mindset, and leadership matter just as much as technology in driving AI transformation, based off my conversation with Will Grannis, CTO, Google Cloud. Highlights00:30 — Will has been the Chief Technology Officer at Google Cloud, one of the world’s most advanced technology companies, for almost a decade. So Will’s perspectives on things are pretty powerful, especially in this notion of how corporations unlock the power of AI to drive great outcomes for those companies and their customers or their patients or their stakeholders.01:10 — One of the first things that Will talked about is the big AI unlock. He said you’ve got to start with thinking about putting the customer at the center of everything, and then build back, build out from there. So reverse-engineer what has to change inside the organization to ensure that the customer outcomes, the customer experience, the customer value, are at the center.AI Agent & Copilot Summit is an AI-first event to define opportunities, impact, and outcomes with Microsoft Copilot and agents. Building on its 2025 success, the 2026 event takes place March 17-19 in San Diego. Get more details. 02:27 — He talked a lot about the mindset. One customer example was recently BNY Mellon. BNY Mellon has added Gemini Enterprise for its Eliza AI platform, and that is being used now. The Chief Data and AI Officer at BNY Mellon said our AI strategy in the company is simple. He said it’s AI for everyone, AI everywhere, and AI for everything.03:19 — He said this is something that’s enabled them now to do more things for their customers. It allows their internal people to be much more productive, be more expansive in their analysis, so that they can provide greater value to their customers. Will said it’s been a huge change at the company.04:06 — So again, I hope you have a chance to check out the whole interview with Will Grannis, the Chief Technology Officer at Google Cloud. You can see it in the links here. Will’s a terrific guy. One of the things you’ll see here is he offers some pretty honest and candid assessments about challenges he himself has faced as the CTO at Google Cloud, and very candidly explains how he got around those. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Key TakeawaysMullican expresses the value of the event, and given that AI and Copilot have matured, the sessions at the 2025 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA will shift from a focus on experimentation to practical applications that deliver real impact.As a returning Programming Committee Board member, Mullican highlights the "unprecedented number of submissions this time around,” making it tough to choose sessions for 2025. The event will offer a mix of visionary talks, practical use cases, and deep dives to serve both tech and business audiences.Mullican shares how business leaders can use the event to "adapt to a new reality," as it aims to “cut through the hype” around AI and focus on practical realities. Even though AI offers transformative potential, most businesses will adopt it gradually, using tools like copilots to improve efficiency rather than undergoing radical overnight changes. "I expect that there's going to be a lot of discussion about. It's just these different layers, these different levels of AI hype and truth." Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I look at how IBM and Cisco are teaming up to pioneer long-distance quantum networks.Highlights00:03 — Although not the only company invested in the development of quantum computing, IBM is certainly considered the most active. The company has the highest number of patents, a clear road map for fault tolerant quantum systems, and the most prestigious track record across quantum hardware, software and the commercialization of these tools.00:28 — Now, IBM and Cisco Systems have revealed plans to link a network of quantum computers over long distances — and the result, perhaps the introduction of the quantum internet. Before I get carried away on this, leaders from both IBM and Cisco have confirmed that the technology to power these networks doesn't yet exist, but they are working on it.00:59 — The bottleneck is getting qubits, the unit of information used by quantum computers, to travel along fiber optic cables between Cisco switches. IBM and Cisco hope to have the first proof-of-concept ready within five years, a network that connects individual, large scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers with the power to run computations over 10s to hundreds of 1000s of qubits.01:49 — So, why do we need the quantum internet? Well, beyond the massive enhancement in computational power, which is the primary driver for companies to enter this space, if quantum computing itself becomes widespread, we'll need quantum structures in the Internet to protect ourselves from our very own creation.02:28 — Technology is advancing at an unfathomable speed, and just like in the AI space, we need to ensure it's contained. In fact, researchers at IBM co-developed three of the four quantum resistant algorithms that the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, have earmarked for future standardization. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Highlights00:24 — I think we’re seeing some very interesting competitive battling between Palantir and ServiceNow, head to head, emerging over two categories. One, this AI platform position that they’re both talking about relentlessly as sort of the core of their strategic value. And secondly, they’re both on this kick now about who is the defining software company of the 21st century, of the generation.01:57 — Both are talking up the power of the AI platform as the foundation for what companies need to succeed in this new AI-centric future. Which one has the right approach? How are they trying to position their companies, their capabilities, their ecosystems, to be able to take advantage of that? These are some of the things that I get into in detail in a later article.02:19 — We’ve also got both claiming that their results are just the greatest thing ever relative to the Rule of 40, which is for high-growth companies. You want to have a combination of 20% growth or more for revenue and 20% growth or more for margins, to have those equal 40 or more. Both exceed that number.03:26 — Who’s got the momentum? Who’s positioning themselves right in this sweet spot for businesses moving into this AI future, right? Who’s going to be able to put together the tools that control the agents, that let all the data that’s needed for IE come through? How are they able to build applications easily on top of this?04:05 — But right now, I think ServiceNow and Palantir are the ones that have the most focus on this AI platform vision. And it was fun to sort of look at this. In the article, we look at some of the comments from the Q3 earnings call from ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott, and also from Palantir’s Chief Revenue Officer, Ryan Taylor. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Key TakeawaysAgents take center stage: Bensch says last year’s event was focused on Copilot basics and early-stage AI adoption, but 2025 is the year of agents. Organizations are asking how to make agents work securely, how to tap into data through offerings like Work IQ and MCP servers, and how to build governance that actually holds up. Attendees can expect deep dives into security, data extraction, Dataverse, Finance & Operations, and all the new features unveiled at Microsoft Ignite. “Everyone’s hearing agents, agents, agents,” he notes. “So, how do I get them to work?”Sessions designed for real adoption—not marketing fluff: This year’s call for speakers exploded from ~160 last year to over 500 submissions, giving planners a far stronger pool of practical, hands-on sessions. The programming committee prioritizes real-world implementations, lessons learned, and “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of AI projects. He stresses that this event is not a product-pitch environment. Instead, sessions will help attendees understand how to build, deploy, and scale agents across modern work, business apps, and development workflows. “We’re looking for empowering people,” Bensch says.Where strategy meets execution: Bensch explains that most attendees will fall somewhere between the starting line of AI adoption and mid-stage Copilot integration—but everyone is looking to connect the dots between strategy and execution. From governance to Dataverse to legacy-system integration via computer-use capabilities, sessions will show how companies can extend agent intelligence far beyond Q&A. The setting, including intimate sessions, world-class speakers, and networking events like golf and pickleball at Torrey Pines, creates space for candid, high-impact conversations attendees won’t find at massive trade shows. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I review the remarks and insights from CEO Marc Benioff and Salesforce from the recent Q3 earnings call.Highlights00:20 — After an approximately three-year hiatus, CEO Marc Benioff and Salesforce demonstrated their growth mojo through the Q3 numbers. While some of the numbers aren't quite as robust as they were in Salesforce's earlier days, in the earnings call, Benioff emphasized growth, innovation, and new things coming that are reflective of where the company was in the past.01:07 — In its first 22 years, Salesforce had unprecedented growth — 20 years of 20% or higher growth. No other publicly traded company has done that. In the last few years, with some pressure from institutional investors, Salesforce had to shift its focus from growth and innovation to margins and profits. During this time, the character of the company has evolved, especially with the AI Revolution and the introduction of Agentforce.01:55 — Something that struck me was the exuberance of CEO Marc Benioff on the call and his excitement about lots of numbers that indicated things are headed in the right direction. He shared details and commentary about their Q3 numbers as well as the vitality and energy around new products.02:58 — Benioff was proud of the stats around Agentforce customers moving into production. The number of those was up 70% sequentially quarter to quarter. This demonstrates how quickly Agentforce customers are able to deploy the technology, get it into use, and start getting the essential business outcomes.03:38 — This is important because the biggest winners are always the customers in the Cloud Wars because they get to benefit from the incredible competition. It further triggers waves of relentless innovation unlike anything the world has ever seen. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss how Palantir’s latest customer wins reveal a shift from point solutions to end-to-end AI strategies.Highlights00:19 — Palantir's got a customer that, very shortly after signing a deal for a fairly limited AI engagement, said it wanted to go enterprise-wide with an investment that's up 8x over what the original one was. This signals where CEOs are driving these AI-centered business transformations to ensure that they go end-to-end here and have enhanced business outcomes as the goal.01:21 — This medical device manufacturer CEO went to the Palantir executive team and said, “What would we need to do to make this an end-to-end business transformation powered by AI, designed to drive greater outcomes?” And very quickly, they rewrote the whole deal. So five months after this initial thing, they had a new deal going on — eight times bigger.02:31 — So again, there we see this notion of Palantir doing some different things and engaging with customers in different ways. So, I think broadly what we're seeing here, overall, with these AI-centered business transformations is: time is the enemy — not your traditional competitors, not necessarily the new ones. It is this notion of time.03:40 — If you're on the customer side here, I think you've got to look at this and take a hard view of what's going on inside your company. Is it a lot of these little disjointed trials that could have a nice little upward bump in efficiency or cost savings? Or are you shooting for the moon here? Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In today's Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute, I unpack why Microsoft Copilot will no longer be available on WhatsApp starting January 15 and what users should do next.Highlights00:03 — Starting January 15, Microsoft Copilot will no longer be available to users via WhatsApp. This feature has been offered since 2024, but due to changes in WhatsApp platform policies — which include the removal of all LLM chatbots, Copilot users will need to access the assistant through alternative means.00:30 — Unfortunately, because the version of Copilot used on WhatsApp is unauthenticated, it won't be possible to transfer chat history. Instead, users will need to manually export their conversations using WhatsApp’s exportation tools.01:00 — Microsoft users who have grown accustomed to Copilot will now need to access the tool through Microsoft-controlled environments. In these settings, Microsoft can offer better functionality, enhanced security, and a wider range of use cases outside of a third-party platform. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In this Cloud Wars Live podcast, Bob Evans sits down with Hayete Gallot, President, Google Cloud Customer Experience, to explore how Google Cloud is helping enterprises move from AI experimentation to true business transformation. Gallot describes how her organization unifies engineering, consulting, partners, and learning to accelerate time-to-value and scale agentic AI across every function. Together, they dive into Gemini Enterprise, customer successes like Virgin Voyages, and why human-centered change is the real key to AI’s future.The AI Turning PointThe Big Themes:Customer Experience Built for the AI Era: Google Cloud created a new Customer Experience organization, led by Hayete Gallot, to match the speed and complexity of AI-driven transformation. Instead of treating AI as a pure technology play, the team unifies industry and solutions experts, customer engineers, consulting, partners, and learning into one group that supports the full innovation lifecycle. That means they can help customers go from idea to minimum viable product to production in a consistent, repeatable way.Ecosystem, Partners, and Curated AI Solutions: Google Cloud’s ecosystem strategy is central to scaling AI transformation. Gallot describes deep investment in system integrators — not just training them on technology, but sharing methodologies and scenario-based approaches so they can guide customers toward the right AI choices. At the same time, Google Cloud works with top ISVs to embed AI into their solutions and create compatible protocols for multi-agent experiences.Structuring Tech Teams for Agentic Transformation: AI’s rise is forcing technology organizations to evolve. Gallot notes that CTOs and CIOs are asking how to restructure their teams for an “agentic” world. The demand is no longer just for deep technical skills, but also people who understand user experience, behavior, and business workflows. Technology teams are increasingly expected to co-design scenarios with business leaders, not just implement requirements. Looking ahead to 2026, Gallot sees the priority as scaling agentic transformation across divisions.The Big Quote: "Customers are much more mature on AI … When you meet with them, they're [asking] what's in it for me? What am I going to get? When am I going to get it? How do I scale this? They want production, and they want outcome." Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Key TakeawaysCommunity involvement: Mary is a member of the programming committee board this year and will be attending the AI Agent & Copilot Summit, taking place from March 17th to 19th in San Diego, California. Working in the real estate industry, Mary acknowledges that, like individuals in all industries, there's a lot of AI transformations happening right now. "Being involved in this broader community is really exciting and energizing," she says.Summit expectations: She reports momentum as it gets closer to the event, like the number of responses to the call for speakers. "There's a big focus on real people figuring out and solving real problems with agents and Copilot," she notes. "Attendees can really expect a mix of hands-on learning and bigger picture conversations." Members of the community are curious, collaborative, and excited to share, so there's a lot for attendees to look forward to.Clear takeaways and diverse perspectives: Whether you're coming from a business team or a technical team, there's something that everyone can walk away with and implement, providing a "clarity of takeaways." The AI Agent & Copilot Summit also provides a "diversity of perspectives," which Mary considers to be very important. "I think we're looking for a mix of developers, business leaders, consultants, power users, and people who are just getting started to really get that diversity of thought and perspective."Overcoming challenges: One of the biggest challenges right now, Mary suggests, is the pressure to figure out how to adopt AI. Many leaders are looking to bridge the gaps between where to start, learning, and taking action. It's not just about teaching the tools or determining how to prompt better. "It's about shifting habits and thinking and mindsets," Mary says. "It's change management and how we make AI feel more approachable." Early adopters are able to pass on their experiences and accelerate the learning curve for attendees. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how Salesforce’s acquisition of Informatica strengthens its foundation for delivering trustworthy, agentic AI.Highlights00:04 — A few years back, when I was covering the cloud data management firm Informatica on a regular basis, the rumor mill was rife with speculation that the company was set to be acquired by Salesforce. It didn’t happen right away, but ultimately, that’s what transpired.00:22 — Now, Salesforce has announced that the acquisition is complete and Informatica is now part of the company — and it makes perfect sense. Informatica emerged as one of the most creative and forward-thinking cloud data management platforms out there.00:39 — The company was quick to adopt generative AI with its CLAIRE GPT tool and soon embedded this enhanced functionality across its Intelligent Data Management Cloud, or IDMC. And now Salesforce has all of this capability within its own ecosystem, and it’s an enviable place to be.00:59 — Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been quick to highlight how the integration of Informatica will benefit Salesforce customers in their agentic AI journey, saying: “You have to get your data right to get your AI right ... Informatica is the trusted platform that turns fragmented enterprise data into context so every agent can reason, act, and deliver outcomes with precision."01:43 — Benioff is spot-on with that opening line: You have to get your data right to get your AI right. And with Informatica’s tech supporting a scalable data foundation, Salesforce is enabling just that. If, like Salesforce, you can provide not only the tools to develop an agentic AI ecosystem but also the data foundation to support it, you find yourself in a very strong position indeed. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I analyze why Workday’s $26B RPO signals strong future momentum in the face of SAP and Oracle.Highlights00:15 — Very nice Q3 that Workday recently finished here. Great revenue growth for the quarter ended October 31 — up 15% to about $2.25 billion. 17% growth for its total RPO, to about $8.2 billion. It's been cranking up the innovation engine there at Workday. Small AI-specific acquisitions over the last year or two have really been adding to this so customers have more to buy.01:16 — CEO Carl Eschenbach made key points. Broadly, everybody sees the potential of AI, but he said most customers find they're stuck with fragmented systems. He said they have bad data, and he said they're not sure that they have the right platforms to work with. Workday believes that its AI solutions can come in and directly address all of those things.02:00 — He said, "We want to be the new front door to work." He's bringing together three significant components to be able to do that. He said that's enterprise knowledge, a new generation of agents that address some of the most pressing business requirements, and also the HR and financial processes that Workday has helped customers to track for the last 20 years.03:10 — It wants to be AI-first. With everything it's doing, it's making things as open as possible. It's trying to make things as simple for its customers as it can. These are important differentiators for Workday as it's up against two much larger competitors, SAP and Oracle. Its future pipeline is strong. Customer demand is there. Confidence is there. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In this special Cloud Wars report, Bob Evans sits down with Michael Ameling, President and Chief Product Officer of SAP Business Technology Platform, for a deep dive into how SAP is helping customers navigate the fast-moving AI Era. Ameling and Evans discuss how SAP’s Business Data Cloud, partnerships with Snowflake and Databricks, HANA Cloud innovations, and new AI-powered tools and agents are helping SAP evolve from an applications powerhouse into a data-and-AI-driven business platform for the next generation.SAP’s AI Data FutureThe Big Themes:SAP HANA Cloud Becomes an AI-Optimized Database: SAP HANA Cloud is evolving into “the database AI was looking for." As a multi-model system supporting spatial, graph, vector, and document storage, HANA Cloud enables AI workloads to run more efficiently and contextually. Recent additions, like vector engines and Knowledge Graph capabilities, give customers powerful tools for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), contextual reasoning, and advanced analytics.Developers Are 'The AI Revolution': Developers aren’t observing the AI Revolution, they are the revolution. With modern AI tools, developers can innovate faster, solve bigger problems, and directly influence business outcomes. SAP is investing heavily in meeting developers where they are by enhancing IDEs, building business-aware development tools, and providing context-rich assets such as APIs, business objects, and process insights. AI acts as a teammate, not a replacement.SAP: An Applications and a Data Company: SAP must be both an applications and a data company. Customer value emerges when applications, data, and AI converge seamlessly. SAP’s decades of industry expertise give it unparalleled business context, which becomes even more powerful when embedded into AI agents and data platforms. With more than 34,000 SAP HANA Cloud customers and rapidly expanding AI adoption, SAP is positioning itself as the platform where business process knowledge meets modern AI capability.The Big Quote: " . . what we need to understand that AI is our teammate. It's like asking your best friend who has a lot of knowledge, but you can ask multiple friends at the same time. Not everything is always right, but you can ask questions, you can continuously improve. If we understand that pattern, we understand that AI helps us to solve much bigger problems as a developer, and then, of course, having much more impact on real business."More from Michael Ameling and SAP:Connect with Michael Ameling on LinkedIn, or get more insights from SAP TechEd. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Information access: While many have Copilot licenses, usage is low beyond basic tasks like email and meeting summaries. The main challenge with adoption is providing guidance within apps like PowerPoint, Excel, Dynamics, and Word so users can access help exactly when they need it. This is something Rehmani's company, VisualSP, and his training platform, copilottrainingpackage.com, specialize in. "I'm a big proponent of giving people 'at the moment need' information," he notes.Training paths: Copilottrainingpackage.com enables users to go down different "training paths," explains Rehmani. Specifically, there are pre-built PowerPoint training modules covering key topics like prompt creation and preventing hallucinations. Additionally, there's learning management system (LMS)-ready video content on Copilot use cases in Word, Excel, and other tools for on-demand learning. Finally, the platform offers optional live training sessions for trainers and power users to ensure effective adoption and ROI from Copilot. "At the end of the day, it's all about making Copilot into ROI and not just an expense layer."What to expect: Rehmani describes the "anatomy" of the program. It uses seven modules to teach trainers and power users how to craft effective prompts, reduce Copilot errors, and apply specific workflows for high-impact ROI. Then, participants share this knowledge internally, enabling time savings and efficiency across their organizations.End-of-year pricing: Users can take advantage of this resource with special pricing through the end of the year. Users can purchase the standalone package for $4,950 or the package and live training for $8,950, all of which could be delivered in 2026, explains Rehmani. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Visit Cloud Wars for more.
In today's Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute, I break down why this Microsoft-Anthropic-NVIDIA trio, spotlighted at Microsoft Ignite, may define the next phase of the AI Revolution.Highlights00:19 — Today, I want focus on a particularly significant partnership involving not one but three partners, collaborating in multiple ways across various fronts. The companies are Microsoft, of course, Anthropic, and NVIDIA. The trio is set to establish new strategic partnerships that, in my view, truly optimize the unprecedented era of collaboration that we're in01:02 — Anthropic has committed to a $30 billion deal to purchase Azure compute capacity. Microsoft customers will have access to Anthropic Claude Sonnet, 4.5; Claude Opus 4.1; and Claude Haiku 4.5 models. NVIDIA and Anthropic will collaborate on the design and development required to further optimize Anthropic AI models.01:48 — In terms of hard-dollar investments in Anthropic, NVIDIA is committing up to $10 billion, while Microsoft is committing up to $5 billion. Now, I find this whole announcement particularly exciting. These two giants — Microsoft and NVIDIA — are directly investing in the technological and financial future of Anthropic. However, it's far from one-sided, as both are also selling their products to Anthropic. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Key TakeawaysCareer journey and Microsoft involvement: While he's been in the industry for a long time, Accardi recounts being in the Microsoft arena for about 14 to 15 years. "My entire career has been around technology...and I have familiarity with various platforms," he notes. He has filled a range of roles, including sales leadership, marketing, product management, and more. Over the past several years, he has been "very heavily involved in the Microsoft alliance, their marketing, their programs, and most recently, leading for the last seven years in Microsoft practice."Technology evolution: With the impact of AI and evolving technologies, Accardi says this is "almost like history repeating itself...This is just another technology that's making our lives more efficient." Accepting change and new things is always difficult, regardless of what's at play. While initial AI adoption might have been moderate, it has really picked up over the last several months. Questions around AI outcomes have been top of mind lately.Where to start: It takes curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking to consider how to get started with a pilot and build from there. Accardi talks about the conversations they have with clients to determine what they want to accomplish and within what timeline. It's essential to understand what clients want to see their organization become, then find a pilot area to explore how it could work.The impact of AI: It's important to remember "AI isn't going to come in here and replace all of us, but it's really meant to make us more efficient." Although AI has introduced a fast pace of change, it's also been a fast pace of impact. AI can impact the whole organization, so stakeholders must all be involved. It can increase efficiency and productivity for clients in a major way. Visit Cloud Wars for more.