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40 Dutch cloud architects, CIO's, developers and data specialists

What did I learn from my visit to Microsoft Redmond?

 What did I learn from my visit to Microsoft Redmond? 1024 596 Roderick Derks

Last week I went to Microsoft in Seattle and Redmond, together with 40 other architects, CEO’s and CIO’s, developers and data specialists from the Netherlands. Three days packed with meetings and sessions from Microsofts leaders and technical product specialists. The main topic was Data and AI. The subjects ranged from Artificial Intelligence and cognitive services,…

Why innovation (and living your life) needs principles

 Why innovation (and living your life) needs principles 1024 640 Roderick Derks

Living with a person is complex, and it is complex being a person. It’s not like you push a button or pull a lever and a thing happens, it’s a much more complicated system than that. Complexity is therefore governed by principles rather than rules. Same goes for innovation. Take a look at the following model: Simple…

Peal Jam on the roof of Pine Market in Seattle

Sleepless in Seattle II – Visiting Microsoft HQ again

 Sleepless in Seattle II – Visiting Microsoft HQ again 390 219 Roderick Derks

This week I’m preparing myself for my second trip to Microsoft in Redmond – Seattle. Three days packed with presentations from and discussions with the best people at Microsoft: Scott Guthrie, Eduardo Kassner, Ulrich Homann, James Whittaker, and many more. And I’ll visit the product teams of AI, Cosmos, IoT, Machine Learning, Azure Functions. It’s…

Containers create value

 Containers create value 1024 577 Roderick Derks

Organizations are becoming more and more IT companies. Technology has become the way to develop new services or enrich existing services. The business is getting closer to IT, and ideas come true because the needed technology is accessible to everyone. The use of containers is one of the most important IT trends at the moment…

Why vendor lock-in is not an issue when using public cloud

 Why vendor lock-in is not an issue when using public cloud 620 400 Roderick Derks

“What about vendor lock-in?” people ask me when I’m having talks about public cloud. “If I put all of my applications and data in Azure and Office 365, Microsoft has got me by the balls. Why should I do this?” It is a good question, and there is a good answer too. To be sure,…

7 tips for IT managers (and others) to stay relevant

 7 tips for IT managers (and others) to stay relevant 1024 817 Roderick Derks

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about how IT departments became irrelevant. In the time that passed I’ve met more and more IT managers who are having a serious challenge to stay relevant for their org. Once they were Kings, now they are getting obsolete if they do not adapt. This article…

Reason and Power

 Reason and Power 1024 640 Roderick Derks

A very simple example of a collision of two worlds: reason and power. A few months ago I started sharing my files with people from external organizations using Microsoft’s Onedrive. Very handy. No more annoying searches for the email that contains the latest version of a powerpoint presentation. And sharing via Onedrive gives me more…

When the marketplace shifts

 When the marketplace shifts 1024 503 Roderick Derks

It’s happening right now. Everyone in IT has to think about their next steps. Especially in the IT infrastructure business. Here’s what is happening: In the last 10 to 15 years companies outsourced their infrastructure services. Today many of these services suddenly became commodity. IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, Disaster Recovery, Backup, Security, IoT, Machine Learning. This…

Social technology prevents death

 Social technology prevents death 1024 576 Roderick Derks

My son, four years old, loves dinosaurs and fossils. We dug out some fake fossils recently. He knows their names, their sizes and what they ate. He also understands they are dead. Dinosaurs did not make it because they were not able to adapt fast enough after a major disruption. Like Darwin said: “It Is…

Increasing value or lowering costs

 Increasing value or lowering costs 1024 724 Roderick Derks

Organizations that want to increase their metrics either invest in: creating more value for their customers or employees, or doing just enough to keep going, but for less effort and money. During the last decade, Microsoft and Amazon amazes customers by investing in work that create more value. When you do that, people talk, the…

About modern princesses and old castles

 About modern princesses and old castles 1024 683 Roderick Derks

How do IT managers, architects and other people in the IT department deal with the change public cloud brings us? In my last post I described one of the things I see in my work that lead to the end of the current form of many IT departments. The challenge for IT people is to…

How IT departments became irrelevant

 How IT departments became irrelevant 620 355 Roderick Derks

The audience of the people working in IT infrastructure is changing rapidly. We used to talk tech to each other, now we have to deal with people from the business and the C-level. Scary moments for all parties. What is driving this change and how does this affect the role of IT managers, the architects…