2 Mar, 2020
Please could you tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do
My role at Dell Technologies is to bring industry expertise and transformation experience to help customers achieve key business outcomes in times of big change. My aim is to counsel them on how they can accelerate their IT transformation while balancing the need for consistent delivery and helping drive the cultural change associated with such initiatives – the magnitude of cultural and operating model change is often underestimated.
How would you describe the UK Cloud Awards in a nutshell?
The opportunity for people to receive industry recognition for their efforts and initiatives.
What appealed to you about becoming a judge for this year’s UK Cloud Awards?
The quality and breadth of the entries last year was fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading and reviewing them.
What are you most looking forward to about being involved in this year’s awards?
The new categories are exciting and I’m looking forward to reading the entries.
This year’s awards have had a bit of a makeover, with new categories and some other tweaks. Tell us why people should be getting excited about all of that/the awards?
Now in their seventh year, the UK Cloud Awards celebrates the diversity, innovation, excellence, of entries across 20 categories and will provide entrants a showcase for their efforts. The new categories really broaden the appeal of the awards.
Do you have a category/categories you’re most excited about?
I am really looking forward to the new people-centric categories, and especially the Positive Action Award
What are you looking for when you’re reading an entry? How can people make sure theirs stands out?
Make it real – talk about tangible business outcomes – then prove them. It mustn’t be technology for technology’s sake, there must be a positive impact. Don’t play down the challenges, we all know they happen so don’t gloss over them.
Talking about the challenges can bring your story to life. Short, sharp and punchy catches the eye.
What would you say to those thinking about entering but haven’t fully decided to do so as yet?
What are you waiting for? If you’re proud of a project, if it had a real business outcome and made a difference then why aren’t you writing it up and submitting it?
Do you have a standout cloud moment from 2019?
I think for me it has been the realisation by the industry, especially customers/consumers, that a single cloud isn’t the answer and that multi-cloud is going to be of greater importance in the strategies of enterprises in order to address all their workloads.
What are your top three cloud predictions for 2020?
1) 2019 saw the realisation that multi-cloud is industry direction of travel. This and edge computing will continue to be the aspiration for customers in 2020.
2) Security will continue to be a significant focus. Recent breaches have brought attention to the challenge of securing apps and data in a multi-cloud world.
3) Administration of this evolving cloud landscape will see fundamental changes coming in
terms of how it's all administered.