No doubt, the quarterly numbers Microsoft posted yesterday were impressive and even startling. But the real kick in the pants were the subtle indications from CEO Satya Nadella that its enterprise-cloud business—now on a $40-billion annualized run rate—is only just starting to rock.
As the digital revolution sweeps across every industry, the #1 business priority for CEOs has become creating and delivering great customer experiences. Specifically, experiences fashioned around what buyers want and need, rather than on what’s convenient for the seller.
Each month, seasoned executive Tony Uphoff joins Cloud Wars Live for a recurring segment. “Uphoff on Industry” will explore the innovations, upheavals, and breakthroughs reshaping the the world of manufacturing and industrial markets. Join monthly guest Tony Uphoff, CEO of Thomasnet.com, and me as we discuss disruptive new trends in the digital-industrial world: not just how products are designed, sourced and manufactured, but also the new ways in which industrial companies are getting up to speed on marketing, sales and customer experience.
“Wayne Sadin on Digital Strategy” episodes will explore the fast-changing and high-stakes world of digital business. We’ll focus on what CEOs and boards must do to lead their companies successfully into the Digital Age. Today, we talk about how companies large and small can harness the power, capability and flexibility of new and emerging ERP solutions.
Great expectations can be a crushing burden for some businesses and some leaders. But Google Cloud and CEO Thomas Kurian are about to wrap up up not just a hugely successful global customer conference with Next ’19, but also what has to be seen as a massive relaunch of a brand eager to move from under-performer to world-class competitor.
In parallel but separate initiatives, both SAP and Microsoft are triggering new open-standards efforts to enhance data portability and systems compatibility across warehouses, factories and logistics networks.