Cloud Dialogues

Get ready to dive into the cloud cosmos in Episode 6, where we're joined by the fantastic Simone Bennett from Arkhana, a Microsoft veteran! We're spilling the beans on Microsoft's Cloud magic and unlocking the secrets of Azure.

Picture Microsoft Cloud as your one-stop shop for all things enterprise: think infrastructure, security, data/AI, apps/innovation, collaboration, and the superhero of identity management.

Azure, the rockstar of Microsoft's cloud party, is like the cool sibling of AWS and Google Cloud. It's got everything – compute, storage, networking, databases – all hosted in Microsoft's glitzy global data centers.

But wait, there's more! Dive into the world of identity management with Azure Active Directory/Entra – the secret sauce that seamlessly connects on-premises vibes with the cloud groove.

For those making an entrance into the Microsoft Cloud scene, Office 365 and Microsoft Teams are the VIP passes. These are the gateways for many organizations already in the know.

Hold onto your hats because Microsoft is rolling out the AI red carpet. Azure Cognitive Services is their star-studded event, and they're even creating AI "co-pilots" to jazz up human work.

Tools like Azure Arc and Azure Lighthouse are the command centers for managing multi-cloud madness – all from a single pane of glass in Azure. It's like having a superhero utility belt for the cloud.

Now, here's the reality check: moving to the cloud isn't always a money-saving extravaganza. It's more about flexing those muscles of flexibility, scalability, and diving into the sea of AI wonders. Oh, and don't forget about cost optimization – it's still the MVP.

Even non-tech teams, like the financial whiz-kids, need a crash course in cloud concepts. We're talking billing, security, ethics, and sustainability – because cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure aren't just for the techies; they're for the whole party!

In our latest episode, "AWS re:Invent Highlights: Unleashing Innovation," Matt and Georgia break down the buzz and scale of this year's AWS re:Invent event. They delve into key themes of AI, data, and cost, highlighting major announcements from each day's keynote speakers.

💡 Day 1: Peter DeSantis kicks off with a flurry of serverless announcements, setting the stage for a week of innovation.

💡 Day 2: Adam Selipsky takes the reins, exploring developments that promise to reshape cloud dynamics.

💡 Day 3: Swami leads discussions on groundbreaking advancements, offering insights into the evolving cloud landscape.

💡 Day 4: Werner dives deep into cost considerations, emphasising the frugality of architectural decisions. (Check out https://thefrugalarchitect.com/)

🚀 Key Highlights:

1. Amazon Q Generative AI Assistant for Work: Tailored for executives, Amazon Q is a powerful tool for enhancing productivity, communication, and decision-making. With over 40 connectors to enterprise systems, it ensures secure and personalized responses.

2. Next-Gen AWS-Designed Chips (Graviton4 and Trainium2): Business leaders can expect faster, cost-effective, and energy-efficient operations with these new chips, positioning AWS ahead in performance and efficiency.

3. Powerful New Capabilities for Amazon Bedrock: Executives gain enhanced flexibility to customize models, execute multistep tasks, and build safeguards, making Bedrock a pivotal platform for innovative solutions.

4. Amazon SageMaker Capabilities for Generative AI: Simplifying the process of building, training, and deploying models, SageMaker's new features promote easier integration of generative AI into various use cases, fostering innovation and efficiency.

5. Cost Controls: With a focus on improved cost visibility, AWS introduces features like granular cost exports, multi-year cost retention, and a new cost dashboard update with optimization recommendations, empowering business leaders to manage cloud costs effectively.

6. Zero-ETL (Extract Transform Load): These new features expedite the loading of real-time data for up-to-date decision-making, offering business leaders faster time-to-value and streamlined analytical processes.

In this episode of Cloud Dialogues, Matt and Georgia discuss the importance of choosing the right cloud migration strategy to align with your business goals and timelines. They overview the main approaches - rehosting/lift and shift, replatforming/refactoring, and rearchitecting. They also briefly cover other strategies like retire, retain, and repurchase for workloads that may not be migrated. Key considerations for executives are outlined, including cost management, skills development, security, and compliance. Migrating to the cloud provides huge opportunities but requires thoughtful planning. Understanding the range of migration strategies is essential for IT leaders to move their organizations confidently into the cloud.

00:00 Introduction: Welcoming listeners, introducing topic of cloud migration strategies

02:00 Cloud Migration Overview: Definition of cloud migration, the importance of choosing the right migration strategy

03:30 Rehosting/Lift and Shift: Definition of rehosting/lift and shift, benefits and considerations

10:48 Replatforming/Refactoring: Definition of replatforming/refactoring, benefits and considerations 

16:40 Rearchitecting: Definition of rearchitecting, benefits, considerations, and challenges

18:30 Other Migration Strategies - Retire, Retain, Repurchase

24:40 Key Considerations for Executives:

- Alignment with business goals and timelines

- Cost management 

- Skills development

- Security and compliance

Transcript

Todays episode is “AI for Executives: Navigating the GenAI Frontier”.  Meaning, how on earth did we get here, why is it so useful and where do we think it will take us?

Today we are joined by the incredible Peter Sbarski AWS Serverless Hero extraordinaire, known for his work with A Cloud Guru and Pluralsight.  Pete is also a published author and also one of the founders of the serverless meetup movement in Australia. We both co-run the Melbourne edition of the meetup where we get a consistent turnout each month.

We discuss Pete's new startup, what fascinates him about Generative AI, parallels with serverless when it started, and how he thinks this new technology will evolve over the next year.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
04:12 Pete introduces his startup heart hands
07:06 Parallels to serverless
10:58 Petes initial experiences with ChatGPT
12:29 ChatGPT and code
15:04 Hallucinations
17:59 How Generative AI can help with user experience
21:29 Organisation adoption of Generative AI internally
29:07 Generative AI in education
31:51 The future

Transcript

As an executive, your role is pivotal in steering your organization towards cloud adoption that's not only seamless but also maximizes its potential. In this episode, Georgia and Matt unravel the critical questions every leader should ask to ensure they are truly unlocking the value of cloud by cultivating the right mindset within their teams.

1. Strategic Alignment: Discover how to align your cloud strategy with your business goals, leveraging cloud's power to drive cost savings, scalability, reliability, agility, and innovation. Are your leaders incentivized for cloud success? We'll discuss KPIs that matter.

2. Risk Assessment: Understand the potential risks and security concerns of cloud migration and learn strategies to mitigate them. Dive into the shared responsibility model, encryption, compliance, and more.

3. Cost Management: Explore cost optimization strategies, budgeting, and forecasting to prevent budget surprises. Learn how your teams can break down cloud spending by business stream and workload.

4. Talent and Skill Development: Ensure your organization has the skills needed to thrive in a cloud-based world. Discover why training in cloud fundamentals is not just an option but a catalyst for innovation.

5. Operational Excellence: Witness the transformation of operational processes in the cloud era. From automation to DevOps practices, we'll explore how to streamline operations, shorten release times, and embrace a bias for action.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro
03:39 Strategic Alignment
12:02 Risk/Security
21:38 Costs
28.38 Skills
33:02 Operational Excellence
41:17 Wrap Up

Transcript

Georgia and Matt discuss reasons why the cloud operating model is different to how organisations have traditionally operated their technology business. 

Areas covered include what is an operating model, cloud vision and strategy, what a cloud platform is and common methods of implementing a cloud platform to an organisation.

0:00 Intro
4:30 what is an operating model?
6:10 boundaries of an operating model
8:30 transitioning to a cloud operating model
11:25 when to start thinking about an operating model
12:15 the Cloud Platform
15:20 cloud vision
16:50 staffing your initial cloud journey
19:00 do the right things
20:50 workload teams
21:55 organisation structure
24:15 governance
27:50 key takeaways
30:45 call to action

Some key links for further information

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_model

AWS prescriptive guidance: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/strategy-cloud-operating-model/welcome.html

Azure: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/operating-model/