10 Udemy Courses on How to Build a Startup by Piggybacking on a Platform

One of the most exciting trends in the tech industry currently is Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Developer Ecosystems. Entrepreneurs looking for a capital-efficient strategy should seriously consider bootstrapping by piggybacking on these PaaS players.

10 Udemy Courses on How to Build a Product Startup Using Services

This Udemy bundle is for IT and IT-enabled businesses wanting to understand how to get early clients by providing services, as well as existing IT-service companies looking to transition into product businesses.

Why is this set of skills so important?

Cloud Stocks and PaaS: Which SaaS Players Will Win in PaaS

At the end of 2020, I wrote Big Idea 2021: SaaS Companies Will Create 10 Million Jobs with the central thesis that SaaS players would evolve into PaaS to create deeper moats around their core market positions and gain access to the related force multiplier.

To recap on the assumptions:

• IF 1000 SaaS companies open up their platforms as a service, PaaS, as Salesforce.com does, by 2025
• IF each platform lets startups sell through its marketplace, as Salesforce.com does, by 2025
• IF each platform empowers 1000 startups to build on its stack by 2025

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Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Jared Wray, Founder and CTO of Tier 3 (Part 1)

Businesses continue to move their operations to the cloud. So, the need for companies like Bellevue, Washington–based Tier 3 will continue to increase, as will the need for such companies to provide faster, more efficient cloud solutions. Tier 3 has provided large and small enterprises with an enterprise cloud platform that allows them to keep their business operations flowing smoothly since 2006. The company’s technology partners are VMWare and NetApp, among others.   >>>

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Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Lee Congdon, CIO of Red Hat (Part 1)

In 1994, Marc Ewing created his own distribution for Linus Torvald’s Linux, called it Red Hat Linux and released it in October of that year. After merging with  Bob Young’s ACC Corporation in 1995, the company was renamed Red Hat Software. Today, Red Hat is a global company that provides enterprises with technology and services via the open source model.

Sramana Mitra: Hi Lee. Let’s start with some context about Red Hat and about you to give our readers an idea about the cloud computing environment we’re dealing with, from what perspective we’re going to look at it and the scale of the problem for you. >>>

Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Mal Postings, CTO, IT Advisory Services, Ernst & Young (Part 1)

Arthur Young and Alwin C. Ernst never met in life, and their companies didn’t merge to form Ernst & Young until 41 years after they died within days of each other in 1948. But both men were innovators who believed in globalization. Today, the company provides professional services for its customers but on a much broader and, thanks to the advent of the cloud, more complex scale than anything that Ernst or Young could have imagined.

Sramana Mitra: Hi, Mal. Let’s start with some context about the scope of your work, the scope of the cloud computing footprint that you are dealing with, then we’ll go to your philosophy around it and so forth. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Jon Freeman, CIO of MyCroft, Inc. (Part 1)

The convenience of computers is undeniable, but the security issues that go along with using them can be mind boggling. That’s where companies like MyCroft, Inc. come in. MyCroft serves government, healthcare, insurance, finance, enterprise, and higher education industries. The company’s list of services include identity and access management, data protection, and managed security services, and offers compliance solutions in areas such as HIPAA and SOX. A global company that has been around for more than three decades, MyCroft has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and India.

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Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Indu Kodukula, Executive VP of Products and CTO, SunGard Availability Services (Part 1)

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have a lot of customer and employee data to maintain and sustain. Because they lack servers large enough to support rapid growth and expansion, they enlist the aid of companies like SunGard Availability Services. With offices in the United States, Ireland, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Sweden, SunGard helps SMEs to protect themselves against not only expected issues such as power outages, but also against the unexpected like hurricanes or earthquakes.

Sramana Mitra: Hi Indu, and welcome to the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. To begin with, let’s set some context for our readers on SunGard and your business, the scope, scale, and type of technology operations you are dealing with and some context about your personal background.

Indu Kodukula: And my role as well? >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: The Move To Cut Costs

In the past year or so, the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing (TLCC) series has hosted conversations with some of the top thinkers in our industry. It has become abundantly clear based on these discussions that cloud computing has graduated from hype to a significant driver of cost savings. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Jim Stikeleather, Chief Innovation Officer, Dell (Part 1)

Sramana Mitra:  Hi, Jim. Welcome to the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. To better understand the scope of the IT infrastructure you are running for Dell, would you talk a bit about this before we get into cloud computing in more depth?

Jim Stikeleather:  Hi, thank you. To introduce myself, I am the chief innovation officer for Dell. What I’m focused on, as opposed to the chief information officer, are future products and services for Dell. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Social CRM and Crowd Sourcing

There are many trends hitting large enterprises at the moment right in their bellies. Within the broad sphere of cloud computing, with the adoption of the social Web, one of these trends is crowd sourcing. The business function that is most acutely impacted by this trend is CRM. All the way from marketing to sales to customer support, the social CRM trend is becoming an avalanche, and for some industries the implications bear particularly serious consequences.

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Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Willie Tejada, Senior VP And GM Of The Enterprise Cloud Division, Akamai (Part 1)

The Web gets more crowded and complicated every day. As more businesses and individuals access the Internet and all that it has to offer, the need for companies like Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Akamai increases. Founded in 1998, Akamai accelerates content and business processes for a bevy of international clients such as NBC, Audi, and NASDAQ. Each time you access an article online or make a purchase, you probably have Akamai – or one of its competitors – to thank for it.

Sramana Mitra: Hi, Willie. Would you give us some context about your division within Akamai. What is the mission of the division?  >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dan Raju, CIO Of TradeKing (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Rajdeep Ramsay

Sramana Mitra: Hi, Dan. Welcome to our Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. Let’s begin by talking about what TradeKing does, and what your business is, and what is the scope of cloud deployment we are talking about for your company. Also, would you give us some background about you. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Steven John, Strategic CIO Of Workday (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg

About Workday
Workday’s mission is to build the next generation of enterprise business services—human capital management, financial management, and payroll—and deliver its solutions through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Founded by former PeopleSoft founder and CEO Dave Duffield with former PeopleSoft vice chairman and head of product strategy Aneel Bhusri in March 2005, Workday aims to offer a fresh approach for today’s global businesses. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Marc Ferrentino, CTA Of Salesforce (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg

About Salesforce
Salesforce.com is an enterprise cloud computing company headquartered in San Francisco that distributes business software on a subscription basis. Salesforce.com hosts the applications offsite. It is best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) products and, through acquisition, has expanded into the area of social enterprise. It has been one of cloud computing’s biggest champions through devising and delivering its cloud-based CRM, collaboration, and platform services to its customers.

Salesforce.com has its services translated into 16 languages and, according to Wikipedia, currently has 82,400 customers and more than 2.1 million subscribers. Its CRM solution is broken down into several broad categories: sales cloud, service cloud, data cloud (including Jigsaw), collaboration cloud (including Chatter) and custom cloud (including Force.com).

About Marc Ferrentino
Marc joined Salesforce.com in February 2007. His responsibilities included early-stage product development and marketing, evangelism of the Force.com platform, and promoting Salesforce.com’s open source initiatives. Marc is also involved with developing Salesforce.com’s collaboration and platform strategies. Prior to Salesforce.com, Marc served as the vice president of Engineering at Vettro Corp, a global leader in mobile on-demand applications. Prior to Vettro, Marc served as vice president of development at InternetCash.com. Over the course of his career, he has held technology positions at Goldman Sachs and Westinghouse/Cutler-Hammer.

Sramana Mitra: Hi, Marc. Welcome to the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. Would you please give us some background on your role at Salesforce and also on Salesforce’s perspective on the cloud today from where you are. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Jay Leader CIO, Of iRobot (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest authors Siddharth Garg and Rahul Nagpal

About iRobot
iRobot designs and builds robots that make a difference. iRobot was founded in 1990 when Massachusetts Institute of Technology roboticists Colin Angle and Helen Greiner teamed up with their professor Dr. Rodney Brooks with the vision of making practical robots a reality.

In 2010, iRobot generated more than $400 million in revenue and employed more than 600 of the robot industry’s top professionals, including mechanical, electrical, and software engineers and related support staff. iRobot trades on the NASDAQ stock market under the ticker symbol IRBT.

About Jay Leader
Jay Leader has nearly 25 years of international IT management experience. His areas of expertise include IT management, strategic planning and financial management, and infrastructure and security management. Prior to joining iRobot, Leader was CIO at Nypro Inc., a $1.2 billion injection molding and contract manufacturing firm with 66 locations in 18 countries. He was responsible for worldwide IT operations, managing support and development organizations in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and China. Earlier in his career, Leader served in IT management positions at Coopers & Lybrand LLP, Groundwater Technology Inc. and Data General Corporation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations and a master’s degree in business administration, both from Clark University. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Frank Modruson, CIO of Accenture (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest authors Siddharth Garg and Rahul Nagpal

In this interview we spoke with Frank B. Modruson, CIO of Accenture. He leads a high-performance global IT organization that directly supports the business goals of a $21.6 billion company. He oversees all business applications and technology infrastructure, helping to enable more than 223,000 employees in 52 countries worldwide to work anytime, anywhere. Modruson has transformed IT into a strategic asset for Accenture. Under his leadership, the IT organization has produced an ability to run IT as a business, implemented a comprehensive governance model, and streamlined the technology infrastructure, and more. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Diane Bryant, CIO Of Intel (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest authors Siddharth Garg and Rahul Nagpal

About Intel

Intel Corporation is an American global technology company and the world’s largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue.

Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, as Integrated Electronics Corporation and is based in Santa Clara, California. Outside of California, the company has facilities in 63 countries and regions internationally, including China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Israel, Ireland, India, Russia, and Vietnam.

Intel also makes motherboard chip sets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. >>>