Acknowledging the Noise
A mea culpa turned into an object lesson in why both IT Leaders and Enterprise Software Companies need to break through the static and focus on what's truly important.
👋 Hi and welcome to The DX Report — the research hub of The DX Institute all about Digital Transformation, the Digital Experience, and the Digital Enterprise. I’m industry analyst, author, and speaker Charles Araujo, and I’m all about providing insights and analysis for enterprise IT leaders as you make the big bets about your organization’s future!
Have you missed me? Ok, that may be too much. How about: Did you notice I was missing from your inbox?
It's been over a month since I sent out an issue of The DX Report and the uninteresting and all-too-common reason is also an object lesson for both enterprise IT leaders and the enterprise software companies trying to get through to them.
When Important Loses Out to Urgent
When I was a teenager, my father taught me about the Eisenhower Matrix, popularized by Stephen Covey.
If you're not familiar with it, it is a simple mechanism to prioritize your work by evaluating any potential task based on its urgency and importance. While I attempt to use this approach to prioritize my work, I often fail. In some cases, I assign a degree of importance to something that it doesn't warrant or I mistake urgency for importance. And sometimes, I am just tired and the "urgent" is easier to address than the important.
Sending out The DX Report is a classic example.
I know it is important. It is one of the primary ways that I connect with you, put myself out into the world, and maintain my "influence" (I hate that word, but you get the idea).
And yet, there are so many demands on my time — client projects, a vacation, a business trip to India, family responsibilities — that it's easy to let something I know is important slip through the cracks.
And you don't need to raise you hand or anything, but I'm willing to bet that many of you are in the same boat.
Breaking Through the Static
Why is this important in the context of the IT leader and enterprise software companies?
The answer is found in an old cartoon (that I can't find). It shows a medieval king fighting a battle with swords and shields. His page is asking him if he'd like to talk to the salesman at the door — who just happens to be selling a Gatling gun. The king, of course, answers that he doesn't have time to talk to the sales person because he has a war to fight.
Now, I'm sure that this cartoon was written by a sales manager somewhere, but it raises a valid point.
IT leaders are bombarded by pitches. Most of which consist of no more than hand waving and hyperbole. But amid all that static, are the key technologies that will be essential to them achieving their critical business goals.
Likewise, IT leaders are dealing with another form of static — the constant barrage of competing priorities. I consistently tell the enterprise software companies I work with that IT leaders spend only a tiny fraction of their time focused on the tech space. The vast majority of their time is (rightly) focused on dealing with their enterprise peers and the issues facing the organization.
But all of those issues are also a form of static that can substitute the urgent for the important.
So, regardless of which side of the table you are on, it is imperative that you make a concerted effort to break through your static. If you're an IT leader, get hyper-focused on what is truly important for your organization — and recognize that emerging technologies and their smart deployment will be an essential element of achieving your goals.
If you're a tech vendor, acknowledge this reality and ditch the hyperbole. Instead, address the real issues and how you can rapidly and pragmatically solve them.
</Soapbox> What's Happening
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.
All of this was directed at myself as much as anyone. Particularly because there has been so much happening over the last several weeks that I've failed to share. I'm going to include links to the most recent episodes of This Week in Enterprise Tech, but this week is particularly relevant in the context of what I just shared.
We got a little break from the hype and hyperbole around AI this week (although we got a double serving with last week's press release from Nice). Much of this week's news was of this more practical variety: The FinOps Foundation released a standard way to address cloud billing, Oracle is playing nice with Microsoft Azure making it easier for enterprise IT leaders to manage their stack in one place, the FTC fired a shot across the bow to all tech companies that are using deceptive cancellation practices, and Apple is staking its AI claims around its focus on privacy.
This is all real-world stuff and blessedly missing the breathless claims of AI changing everything.
For myself, I'm going to try (once again) to be more consistent and to remain focused on what's truly important (hint: that's you!).
And I should have some exciting news to share shortly that will help explain why I've been so distracted! For now, stay tuned and happy listening/watching!
P.S. Here are links the episodes of This Week in Enterprise Tech that I missed:
🗓️ This Week in Enterprise Tech, Episode 19
Hyoun Park of Amalgam Insights and Charles Araujo of the DC Institute take on the CIO office ramifications of recent announcements including the FinOps Foundation’s launch of FOCUS 1.0 for Cloud Billing Unification, Oracle Autonomous Database on Microsoft Azure, the United States’ Federal Trade Commission Accusing Adobe of Hiding early termination fees, the Biden administration banning US sales of Kaspersky software over Russia ties, whether Poolside’s new $400 million raise makes Paris another Silicon Valley, and enterprise considerations for AI as Apple focuses on more personalized AI.
Segment descriptions and links to all the articles we discuss are in the Show Notes, below.
Watch the full episode here:
Or listen to the episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2319034/15311852
📔 Show Notes
FinOps FOCUSes on Cloud Billing Unification
Hyoun Park and Charles Araujo reflect on the evolution of cloud billing at the FinOps X show in San Diego, highlighting a new collaboration among Amazon, Microsoft, and Google on billing specifications and their collective market response to mounting pressure on cloud providers to enhance cost transparency. They discuss the potential for these standards to expand beyond cloud services to encompass other IT expenses, aiming to simplify enterprise billing complexities.
FinOps Foundation: https://www.finops.org/insights/focus-1-0-available/
Oracle Cloud and Microsoft Azure Get Friendlier
Charles Araujo and Hyoun Park discuss Oracle's recent move to bring their autonomous database to Azure data centers. This collaboration allows Azure customers to run Oracle databases on Azure infrastructure, marking a significant partnership between the two tech giants. They see this as a strategic play by Oracle to maintain relevance in cloud services while leveraging Microsoft's widespread adoption. Charles views it as a smart move for both companies, emphasizing Oracle's focus on their core database strength rather than competing directly as a major cloud provider.
FTC Takes On Adobe Early Termination Fees
Charles Araujo and Hyoun Park note how Adobe was one of the first champions of subscription sales for Software as a Service. But their lack of transparency over early termination fees has gotten the Federal Trade Commission’s attention. This may be an opportunity for IT expense and SaaS management pros over the next 12-18 months. This action also demonstrates the challenge Adobe faces as a company that has seen success both in enterprise and consumer/prosumer markets.
Biden Administration Bans Kaspersky Antivirus
Hyoun Park and Charles Araujo note that 2024 is a US election year and both major candidates have faced political pressure associated with software, which has driven the politicization of Tiktok as well as this new ban on Kaspersky security software in the United States based on its Russian roots. United States-based IT departments need to take account of this aspect of geopolitics and identify both perceived and actual compliance issues that may be related to Russian and Chinese ownership and operations of current vendors.
Mon Dieu, Is Paris the New Silicon Valley?
Hyoun Park and Charles Araujo noted that Poolside is currently raising $400 million to support a coding CoPilot, making it just the latest in a series of Paris-based startups to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in this AI gold rush. With Poolside, Mistral, and H, is Paris now the European Silicon Valley for AI?
TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/20/poolside-raising-400m-at-a-2b-valuation-for-supercharged-coding-copilot/
Apple Takes a Privacy-Focused Approach to AI
Charles Araujo and Hyoun Park saw that Apple recently announced “Apple Intelligence” which takes a private cloud and device-centric view of AI. Ideally, Apple is seeking to provide a personalized approach to AI where consumers may be able to support some or all of their AI capabilities on their device without the challenges of public cloud security and governance. But can Apple create the small models that will be performant and provide the Apple magic on phones? And, given Apple’s track record with search and Siri, can Apple actually deliver on AI?
MIT Technology Review: https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/11/1093577/apple-is-promising-personalized-ai-in-a-private-cloud-heres-how-that-will-work/