Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss how Google Cloud customers can access OpenAI models and Codex agents while leveraging their existing cloud investments.
Highlights
00:03 — OpenAI and Google Cloud are partnering to make OpenAI's models and Codex coding agents available through Google Cloud's Model Garden. Model Garden is part of the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, formerly known as Vertex AI — you'll be forgiven for struggling to keep up with all those name changes.
00:26 — But, back to the news regarding OpenAI. Now, the company says the integration will give customers native access to these models to power complex agentic workflows at scale, backed by Google Cloud's data governance and high-performance infrastructure. So, in practical terms, that means businesses will be able to build AI agents, automate workflows, and improve software development.
01:01 — Now, from a commercial standpoint, customers will be able to purchase OpenAI models through Google Cloud Marketplace and apply spending towards their existing Google Cloud commitments. This can make it easier for businesses already invested in Google Cloud to access OpenAI's technology without having to rethink their existing arrangements regarding the cloud and cloud spend.
01:25 — Now, this is another example of the amazing synergy that we're seeing in the AI Revolution. Here, OpenAI is expanding its enterprise reach, while Google Cloud is giving customers more choice when it comes to AI models. Both companies stand to benefit, and customers gain greater flexibility.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I reveal why Microsoft is falling behind AWS, Google Cloud, and Oracle on two of the most important measures of cloud growth.
Highlights
00:03 — Now that the hyperscalers have all recently issued quarterly numbers, I wanted to take a look at how some of those stack up against each other on some key metrics. And one of the big things that jumped out to me was that Microsoft, despite being the biggest of the hyperscalers, is falling way behind Google Cloud, AWS, and Oracle on some key growth metrics.
01:00 — So, Microsoft, for the quarter ended September 30, its fiscal Q1, but calendar Q3 for everybody — $63.9 billion in revenue and a 30% growth rate. In a vacuum, that is incredible. AWS, however, $46 billion, 39% growth rate, growing significantly faster. We see Google Cloud,$30.7 billion in revenue, grew over 100%, and then Oracle, while much smaller, still a growth rate of 62%.
01:49 — What is going on here with Microsoft? Let's look at a parallel point. This has to do with backlog, or RPO. In Q2, Microsoft's RPO was $678 billion. Q3, it went down by a billion to $677 billion.
02:55 — We see that AWS, Q2, just under $500 billion, jumped to $578 billion. So, it went up $82 billion in backlog, Q2 to Q3. Google Cloud, $514 billion to $561 billion. That's up $47 billion in the same period that Microsoft RPO, or backlog, went down a billion. Oracle, $638 billion to $664 billion.
03:40 — This has been going on for several quarters, and in a very detailed article I've got later today on CloudWars.com, I break those down. Comparing these quarterly revenue growth rates and also the RPO numbers across that time, I do a comparison there.
04:28 — Now, RPO backlog is a measure of future business, right? Contracted business not yet recognized as revenue. So, Microsoft is lagging on that, even though it has the biggest number. It's growing much more slowly than the others, and the same here with quarterly revenue. It's got the biggest revenue, but it's growing more slowly. And again, size does not account for all that.

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In today's Cloud Wars Agent and Copilot Minute, I explore how Microsoft's new AI-powered phishing detection in Teams could transform cybersecurity while raising important questions about user privacy.
Highlights
00:10— Microsoft is introducing a new AI feature to Teams that will detect phishing attempts and scams by analyzing conversations. Now, rather than relying solely on traditional methods of detecting malicious links and files, it uses behavior-based detection to identify suspicious activity in messages.
00:28 — The feature will initially run silently in the background, with warnings potentially appearing when phishing is detected. It will also prioritize conversations with new contacts, as the risk here is generally higher. This is a great use of AI. It shows how companies can use the technology to approach problems differently. In this case, by analyzing behavior at scale to strengthen a company's cybersecurity defenses.
01:03 — Microsoft says message content won't be retained for AI training or other secondary uses, and it says the feature will only be used for security purposes. Now, the rollout is due to begin in November 2026, with general availability expected in the first half of December this year. Crucially, it will be enabled automatically, without requiring IT administrators to configure it.
01:31 — And that's where, for me, things get interesting, complicated. Think back to Microsoft Recall. That's that controversial AI feature that took screenshots of users' screens and was initially planned to be enabled by default. Now, following some pretty significant privacy and security concerns, Microsoft went back to the drawing board and made saving screenshots on Microsoft Recall an opt-in feature.
01:51 — So, introducing another automatically enabled AI feature that analyzes, again, conversations raises an obvious question: Has Microsoft learned from its past mistakes, or is it repeating them?

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In this special episode of Cloud Wars Live from Workday Rising 2026, Bob Evans speaks with Rupesh Ahluwalia, Vice President of HR Information Systems at Concentrix, about how artificial intelligence and enterprise technology are transforming human resources. With more than 430,000 employees across over 80 countries, Concentrix is reimagining how HR supports its global workforce while expanding its technology-driven business. Ahluwalia discusses the company's decade-long relationship with Workday, the growing importance of workforce adaptability, and why meaningful AI transformation must go beyond automation to deliver more intuitive, people-centered employee experiences.
Workday Powers HR Transformation
The Big Themes
HR Becomes a Strategic Driver: At Concentrix, HR is far more than a traditional back-office function. With more than 430,000 employees across over 80 countries, the company recognizes that its people are its greatest asset. Ahluwalia explains that HR has consistently held a prominent role in organizational decision-making, particularly as Concentrix has expanded through mergers and acquisitions. Rather than separating HR from technological innovation, the company actively integrates its approximately 3,000 HR professionals into technology adoption and business transformation.
Adaptability Becomes the Essential Skill: Hiring more than 200,000 people annually creates significant workforce planning challenges, especially as emerging technologies introduce roles and skills that barely existed a year earlier. Ahluwalia highlights an unusual recruitment dilemma: How does a company interview candidates for positions when the necessary expertise does not yet exist internally? His answer emphasizes adaptability over mastery of any particular programming language or technical function.
AI Transformation Must Go Beyond Automation: For Ahluwalia, the greatest opportunity presented by AI is not simply making existing workflows faster. While automating manual tasks and improving efficiency remain valuable, he argues that organizations must question whether certain processes need to exist at all. Concentrix is exploring how AI can fundamentally redesign work rather than merely optimize established procedures. This distinction becomes particularly important at scale, where approximately 50,000 managers still perform activities such as employee performance reviews. Instead of focusing exclusively on simplifying those tasks, Ahluwalia challenges his team to envision a future in which technology completes some activities on employees' behalf.
Big Quote: "We are not looking at saying, okay, can we automate this workflow and reduce 5% of the headcount? We are looking at can we automate that workflow, which reduces the friction in the process and people use the systems better."
Learn More About Concentrix and Workday:
Check out this information on Workday AI and learn more about Concentrix.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I challenge Oracle's skeptics and explain why its aggressive AI infrastructure investments could position the company for extraordinary growth.
Highlights
00:03 — Oracle made a significant announcement last week. It had nothing to do, really, with its technology or partnerships, although those have been remarkable. It had to do with what I have called the monkey on its back, the negative cash flow monkey on its back. And in light of that announcement, I'm recommending to all the Oracle skeptics out there: just breathe.
01:06 — Oracle's already got the incredible demand in the form of contracted business, almost as much as Microsoft has built up in this cloud and AI backlog. No other company ever in the tech industry, in any other industry, has ever assembled a backlog as big as the one Oracle has.
01:47 — In the next three years, that backlog will convert to $332 billion of revenue. So, this is a company with a huge business, customers lined up, demand is there. It's building out the capacity to meet that. To do that buildout, it had to borrow some money, but the big thing is the demand is there.
03:29 — Its RPO is already, like I said, $664 billion. The only company with a bigger RPO backlog is Microsoft, which is $677 billion. So, you know, Oracle's almost on pace with them, bigger than AWS, bigger than Google Cloud. So, at AI World, they had this ambitious product blitz and also partnerships at AI World that are showing that Oracle's not sitting back.
04:00 — Its whole huge portfolio is now 100% oriented around AI. The partnerships are going to push them into new areas, new capabilities. It's partnering with Google to use Google TPUs. It had Sam Altman from OpenAI there. It's infusing OpenAI's technologies throughout all of Oracle's software suite. Its database business is picking up, especially with the Oracle AI Database coming out now.
04:29 — I think that you know I understand why some people say, "Huh, nobody's done this before. What if it doesn't work?" But, Oracle's way of doing things is always say, "Hey, nobody's done this before. We will make it work", and I've got a link in this article to a great presentation at the Oracle Investor Day by the president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Mahesh Tiagarajan, in which he explains how they're doing that to scale the build out of these data centers.

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