Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I look at how Microsoft is helping schools move from AI experimentation to effective deployment.

Highlights

00:08 — There isn't a sector that AI hasn't impacted, and with the proliferation of these technologies, it's important to examine individual sectors and analyze the effect of AI on them, both positive and negative.

00:23 — To understand where things are working and where they aren't. And that's what Microsoft has done with its 2026 "AI in Education" report. I want to share some of the key findings from that report with you today. Ultimately, AI has become mainstream in education, with 92% of students and education leaders, and 88% of educators, having used AI for school-related purposes.

00:60 — Adoption is increasing. In fact, 58% of education leaders report that their institutions are already implementing or scaling AI initiatives. According to the report, the biggest gap identified is the need for training, with both educators and students requesting more structured support. In fact, 66% of educators want AI training on a monthly or quarterly basis.

01:15 — While 52% of students are also seeking regular AI training. The priority highlighted in the report is responsible AI use, with 41% of students and 42% of educators citing academic integrity as a leading concern. Now, in response, Microsoft has announced new AI capabilities across Microsoft 365 Education and its broad education platform.

01:40 — These include AI-assisted unit planning for teachers, student AI guidelines, learning groups, enhanced classroom experiences in the Learning Zone, Copilot Notebooks, and a Study and Learn agent in Copilot Chat. The overall message from this research is that the focus in education is shifting from access to AI to its responsible deployment, with improvements needed in training, governance, and classroom-ready tools.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I examine why Google Cloud and Palantir have become the fastest-growing companies in enterprise AI.

Highlights

00:01 — Now that we are more than halfway through the year, we've got Q2 earnings season coming up, and a couple that I'm looking for in particular are Google Cloud and Palantir because their growth rates have been so much above the norm. I think what we see in those growth rates and in the numbers behind those is a reflection of what customers really want from AI and the cloud here in the AI revolution.

00:52 — Let's look at numbers for Google Cloud, the number one company on the Cloud Wars Top 10. Palantir is number five. For Google Cloud, in the quarter ended a few months ago, March 31, its growth rate was 63%. Its revenue was $20 billion. Q4: 48%, $17.7 billion. Going back to Q3: 34%, Q2: 32%, and Q1: 28%. So we see, for the last five quarters, Google Cloud has soared over the last couple of quarters

01:57 — Now let's look at Palantir with those same five quarters, going back to Q1 of 2025, and up through Q1 of this year. So, most recently, 85% growth rate with over $1.6 billion in revenue, 70% before that, 63% before that, 48%, 39%. So in both cases, we see the company, even as its revenue base gets bigger, growing much, much faster moving forward.

03:22 — Palantir is 24 years old. This is not a startup company, although it's just sort of burst onto the scene. I wonder if, in some ways, Palantir's technology was out ahead of where the market was. But now that the AI boom has swept the world, Palantir's technologies are now suitable for  companies of any size to help take what they have and use that as a foundation to build into the future.

04:37 — Innovation in going to market, as well as in technology, means  some new approaches to things. I think particularly Google Cloud here has been an extraordinary example of this. And I refer in this article to their recent disclosure that while OpenAI and Anthropic, AWS, and Microsoft are all launching deployment units to pull off these big AI projects, Google Cloud is relying 100% on its ecosystem.

05:11 — I'll be eager to see how these companies do in Q2, and we'll follow up with those and the other Cloud Wars Top 10 companies on how they've done in calendar Q2. But I really take my hat off to Google Cloud and Palantir because, in this very intense time, with an enormous market and everybody going after it, their growth rates are soaring.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I preview the coming wave of Q2 earnings while highlighting the extraordinary growth reshaping cloud computing.

Highlights

00:03 — We're on the verge of having a lot of calendar Q2 financial results released, so just in advance of that, I wanted to offer a snapshot of where things stand now regarding the world's hottest cloud and AI vendors. Right now, we've got Palantir in the number one spot, Google Cloud number two, Oracle number three.

00:42 — I've also got a chart in there showing backlog, or RPO, which is future booked business that's fully contracted, fully committed, among the four hyperscalers that now totals over $2 trillion. But in the here and now, here's where it stands for the Cloud Wars Top 10 companies. Palantir is in the number one spot for Q1.

01:56 — We've got Microsoft with an enormous performance here: 29% growth and $54.5 billion in quarterly cloud revenue. AWS had a very strong quarter: 28% growth and $37.6 billion in revenue. Salesforce is in the number nine spot with 13% growth, while OpenAI remains an estimate because it is not yet publicly traded.

03:05 — You know, you see some of these numbers, and as I referred to a moment ago about the backlog numbers, which are truly just mind-bending, we become immune to being amazed by the size and the volume here. I do not throw around the phrase "the greatest growth market the world has ever known" lightly.

03:55 — The former applications companies are now racing to become agentic companies and data companies. Huge change and transformation within the Cloud Wars Top 10 is helping customers participate in, succeed in, and potentially thrive in the AI economy. I don't expect any massive changes in this lineup, but the growth numbers will be very interesting over the next few weeks.

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In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, John Siefert, Founder and CEO of Cloud Wars, is joined by Cedric Wells, IT leader and former Senior Manager of Infrastructure and Operations at Gorilla Glue. Together, they explore how AI is reshaping IT leadership, software development, governance, and enterprise transformation. Wells shares why continuous learning, balancing strategic vision with execution, and maintaining strong security and data governance will define successful organizations in the AI Era. Their conversation also reflects many of the leadership themes that attendees explored at the 2026 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA.

Key Takeaways

Growth mindset is becoming the most valuable IT skill. Wells believes technical expertise alone is no longer enough. The speed of AI innovation requires professionals at every level to continuously refresh their knowledge and remain adaptable. He explains that technologies evolve so rapidly that learning has become a permanent responsibility rather than a periodic exercise. As Wells notes, "Having a mindset that's really around learning as much as I can as things are changing" is essential. He also reminds listeners, "It's changing so fast," making curiosity and adaptability foundational qualities for future IT leaders.

AI enhances leadership — but doesn't replace technical understanding. Wells argues that AI is helping close the gap between technical specialists and business leaders, allowing executives to understand complex technologies more quickly. However, leaders still need enough technical context to ask intelligent questions and make informed decisions. As he explains, "Being able to really as a leader leverage AI as much as possible" creates significant advantages. He also emphasizes that "bridging that gap with your leadership skills and leveraging AI on the technical side" will define successful IT leadership moving forward.

Governance and security are becoming even more important. Throughout the conversation, Wells repeatedly emphasizes that AI initiatives require close collaboration between infrastructure, information security, governance, and data teams. Without proper oversight, organizations risk exposing sensitive information, creating compliance issues, or building unreliable AI systems. Wells reminds listeners that "It's very important to make sure that those two departments are aligned" and warns that "Employees are doing it whether or not you like it," making proactive governance and secure enablement far more effective than restrictive policies alone.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I look at why Salesforce's new Help Agent represents a major shift toward performance-based enterprise AI.

Highlights

00:03 — Salesforce is launching the Agentforce Help Agent, a pre-built AI customer service agent that customers can deploy in a matter of minutes. It's designed as an alternative to custom-built agents, connecting to existing Salesforce knowledge articles and support content, which means only minimal configuration is required.

00:23 — I'm going to walk you through the features of this new agent before getting to the part I'm most excited about, and I think you will be too. The agent was built on the Agentforce platform and uses the Salesforce Data Cloud and CRM data for context, incorporating the responsible use and governance policies there too.

00:43 — It delivers enterprise-grade customer support by answering customer questions, troubleshooting issues, escalating complex cases to a human support agent. Salesforce validated the agent internally before the launch, and the company has reported that its own Help Agent handled 4.3 million customer conversations and resolved around 70% of inquiries autonomously, really showcasing its effectiveness.

01:16 — Here's the kicker: the new Help Agent operates on a resolution-based pricing model. This means that customers are only charged when the agent successfully resolves a customer's issue. There's no charge if the conversation is handed off to a human agent before resolution, and this approach is quite groundbreaking. In many ways, Salesforce is testing a new pricing model for enterprise AI.

01:50 — From an AI in the workplace perspective, this agent operates on a performance-based pricing scenario, similar to how a gig worker is paid for successful tasks completed, right? So, Salesforce is not the first company to use outcome-based pricing for software, but bringing it to Agentforce and pushing it further into enterprise AI is remarkable stuff and a great step forward from Salesforce.

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