Oracle TV spot shows blind and visually impaired people taking roles in customer service, finance and more

Oracle is challenging the old axiom that seeing is believing with a TV commercial that showcases how its cloud technology is allowing blind and visually impaired people to take on jobs that once required considerable assistance from others. The 30-second spot showcases Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired (IBVI), a West Allis, Wisc.-based organization that […]

John Boyega Cisco

Cisco TV spot has John Boyega championing the cloud as a ‘force’ in business

There is no mention of the words “Star Wars” and he’s walking on water rather than the desert planet of Jakku, but John Boyega still manages to walk with the confidence of a stormtrooper in the latest TV commercial from Cisco. In a 30-second clip titled ‘Unleash the Power of the Cloud,” the actor best known […]

Dell CMO Allison Dew

Dell CMO Allison Dew calls for ‘responsible pragmatism’ in managing societal impact of IT

Like any good marketer, Allison Dew kept her closing remarks at Dell Technologies World on Wednesday simple, succinct and unforgettable: “Don’t be a phone ‘ho.” Yes, you read that correctly. Dew, the enterprise tech giant’s CMO, drew huge laughs by echoing her fellow panelist in a conference session — musician and entrepreneur Wil.I.AM — who […]

Jeff Kratz AWS

An AWS exec uses a press release that took eight months to write as an example of customer obsession

Before you assume the world’s most disruptive and innovative companies move with lightning speed, ask Jeffrey Kratz about the press release that took nearly eight months to complete. The general manager of Latin America, Canada and Caribbean Regions for Amazon Web Services (AWS) was speaking at the Toronto Global Forum on Monday about how the […]

AWS

AWS refuses to take credit for enterprise customers’ innovative ideas in latest TV spot

While many companies are jostling to position themselves as the most innovative firm in their sector, the latest TV commercial from Amazon Web Services (AWS) makes it clear it sees itself as a supporting player in the breakthrough stories of its enterprise customers. In “New Ideas,” AWS marvels at comparison sites that help direct customers […]

Red Hat IBM

How IBM’s $34B Red Hat acquisition will affect B2B buyers everywhere

IBM’s decision over the weekend to acquire open source software provider Red Hat for more than $34 billion dollars will potentially create a major competitor to Microsoft and Amazon Web Services in the cloud computing space while possibly triggering a wave of  other M&As among other B2B technology vendors, experts suggested. Armonk, N.J.-based IBM told […]

Snowflake Computing

Snowflake Computing uses creative OOH and online education to market the power of cloud-based data warehousing

There are lots of consumer-oriented companies celebrating Pride Month in their marketing right now, but those driving along Highway 101 in the Bay Area of California recently have seen how a B2B technology company like Snowflake Computing can offer a unique take on a powerful message. “THE DATA IS IN: LOVE WINS,” proclaims the billboard, […]

Rackspace CMO Mark Bunting

The new Rackspace CMO is ready to elevate the brand’s ‘fanatical support’ messaging

The concept of ‘fanatical support’ may be one of the best known brand attributes at Rackspace, but its new chief marketing officer wants to make the managed service provider equally known for providing an overall more radical experience with cloud computing. Earlier this month Rackspace, which is headquartered in San Antonio, Tex., announced Mark Bunting […]

Purpose-driven B2B marketing SAP Google

Purpose-driven B2B marketing is both possible and profitable, according to the CMOs of Google and SAP

When she joined software giant SAP as its marketing leader about nine months ago, Alicia Tillman did something she said most CMOs don’t often to: look backwards instead of forwards. Speaking at the company’s annual user conference, Sapphire Now, Tillman said she wanted to figure out her strategy by looking at the original purpose behind […]

Adobe Magento

Adobe says Magento acquisition will help scale digital shopping experiences in the enterprise

Adobe said its $1.68 billion acquisition of Magento will bring the ability to develop shopping experiences based on digital commerce, order management and predictive intelligence to its content creation and marketing analytics tools for both business- and consumer-oriented firms. Magento, an open source-based e-commerce application provider that was once sold to eBay, is best known […]

VMware's CMO Robin Matlock

VMware’s CMO wants to change the conversation about marketing’s contribution to pipeline

VMware’s CMO Robin Matlock is working on a lot of things to change the way the cloud and virtualization software maker is seen within the enterprise, but one of her most disruptive moves might be to reimagine how her marketing organization’s work is evaluated by the rest of the company. Last year Matlock and her […]

innovation

Editor’s Note: There’s only one way to overcome innovation fatigue

I won’t shame the speaker or the event that recruited him for a keynote, but let’s just say that a few weeks ago I experienced one of those moments at a conference that prompted more eye-rolling than insight. It happened when the speaker in question put up a slide which suggested organizations that adopt artificial […]

iExec

iExec uses blockchain to build a market for renting out cloud services and creating decentralized apps

Blockchain may be the biggest trend in IT since cloud computing, and a French startup called iExec is creating a way to bring the two closer together by using the distributed ledger technology to create a market for renting out processing power as an alternative to Amazon, Google or or Microsoft. In November, iExec released the […]

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your SaaS Implementation

Before cloud computing, implementing software across large enterprises came with huge headaches that built resentment among users and executives. That’s changing now that Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions can halve the implementation time. Of course there’s the other big plus too: SaaS systems eliminate capital expenditures. Despite the significant advantages of cloud-based systems, SaaS […]

4 Ways to Use a Cloud UC Solution to Better Manage & Connect Staff in Peak Seasons

According to the US Department of Labor, there are more than seven million businesses nationwide that employ approximately 135 million part-time and seasonal workers. Communications with customers in any business is critically important, especially during summer, when for many businesses interaction with customers is at all time high. Training can be a challenge at peak […]