The principles of ITIL are still relevant in an agile cloud world. This episode of Cloudspotting takes a deep dive into how ITIL can benefit organizations by helping to protect infrastructure and provide service stability.

Recommended reads

https://www.axelos.com/for-professionals/publications
https://www.vanharen.store/itsm-process-assessment-supporting-itil-tipa

Special Guest: Paul Jackson.

This episode of Cloudspotting takes a deep dive into the latest AI and machine learning trends for businesses to leverage. With voice capabilities becoming readily available and edge technology growing in popularity there are many ways for businesses to benefit.

Show notes

Recommended reads:
• Data Science on AWS by Chris Fregly, Antje Barth https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55769407-data-science-on-aws

Special Guest: Mark McQuade.

If you believe in equal opportunities, then we have a long way to go in IT. Creating stronger female networks is one way forward. In a special #WomenInTech Cloudspotting episode, Sai and Alex are joined by four members of the Professional Organization of Women Empowerment at Rackspace Technology (POWER).

Show notes

• Rackspace Technology POWER Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXK8KWNgW1Msvv2LcWVp7xGgjJeSev45g

Recommended reads:
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13588356-daring-greatly
• How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Julie King https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430725-how-to-talk-so-little-kids-will-listen
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish, Kimberly Ann Coe https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/769016.How_to_Talk_So_Kids_Will_Listen_Listen_So_Kids_Will_Talk
• Little Girls Can Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-proof Girls in the Early Grades by Michelle Anthony, Reyna Lindert https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7607611-little-girls-can-be-mean
• Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34890015-factfulness
• Corporates Are from Mars, Charities Are from Venus. By Kay Allen with Tanja Rasmussen https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15939995-corporates-are-from-mars-charities-are-from-venus-kay-allen-with-tanja

Special Guests: Danielle Rudden, Gavin Bounds, Jo Glass, and Vanessa Thompson.

Your business is sitting on an untapped data goldmine. But how do you transform your organization into a mining machine? In the latest episode of Cloudspotting, three data experts join podcast hosts Alex and Sai to break down the complex topic of utilizing data in your organization.

Show notes:

• Recommended read - The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/44333183-the-unicorn-project
• Recommended read - Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and Tensorflow by Aurélien Géron https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40363665-hands-on-machine-learning-with-scikit-learn-keras-and-tensorflow
• Recommended read - The Rack We Built: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of Creating Company Culture by Lorenzo Gómez https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55681761-the-rack-we-built

Special Guests: Ben Morgan-Smith, Mark McQuade, and Nirmal Ranganathan.

The surge in demand for online goods and services means that many companies are now experiencing Black Friday numbers on their websites every day. Cloudspotting hosts Alex and Sai are joined Wesley Lomax, Larry Hau and Will Parsons, to discuss the ecommerce boom from a technology perspective.

Show notes:

• Our first pod on ecommerce (and first ever pod!) featuring Will Parsons https://cloudspotting.fireside.fm/1
• Podcast about SRE/CRE https://cloudspotting.fireside.fm/11
• Recommended read - Winning Is Not Enough by Jackie Stewart https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2331618.Winning_Is_Not_Enough
• Recommended read - Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Handbook: How SRE implements DevOps by Stephen Fleming https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42934361-site-reliability-engineering-sre-handbook
• Recommended read - The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397483.The_Devil_in_the_White_City
• Recommended read - Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3228917-outliers

Special Guests: Larry Hau, Wesley Lomax, and Will Parsons.

Authenticity enables us to build trust and lays the foundation for quality relationships in the working world. In the latest Cloudspotting episode, Diane Dowdell, Professor of Marketing and Management at St. Mary's University, joins the Cloudspotting team to discuss authenticity and building trust in the machine age.

Show notes:

• Podcast on continuous improvement with Matt Stoyka https://cloudspotting.fireside.fm/17
• Recommended read - Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26329.Emotional_Intelligence
• Recommended read - The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23316526-the-second-machine-age

Solution Architects (SAs) play an major role in solving the most complex modern business challenges. In this episode of Cloudspotting, find out what it means to be a SA, what makes them tick and what attracts them to extremely complex business challenges.

Recommended reads:

• S.U.M.O. (Shut Up, Move On) by Paul McGee https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205541.SUMOShutUpMoveOn
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468377-thinking-fast-and-slow
• Building Microservices by Sam Newman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22512931-building-microservices
• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37976541-bad-blood

Special Guests: Markus Schmid and Simon Roberts.

Our podcast hosts Alex and Sai are joined by Jeff DeVerter, Rackspace CTO and host of Cloud Talk, to discuss how the current pandemic has been a catalyst for more cloud adoption and usage. The IT enthusiasts look back and imagine how we would have coped with the current situation even 20 years ago. Listeners are then brought up to the modern day where cloud technology is helping us share vital information, stay connected with friends and family, and adopt a new way of working from home. The conversation then looks to the future and why it's going to be even more cloudy, after a necessity-driven shift from IaaS to SaaS.

For the latest CloudSpotting episode, we recruited Dan Pitman, Principal Security Architect at Alert Logic, to join our timely discussion about security. With everything moving so quickly in tech, the truth is organisations are more vulnerable than ever and attacks are always imminent. In fact, despite all our modern cybersecurity, breach dwell time is higher than ever. Dan explains the importance of enhancing the detection and response process, as a locked door is no longer enough, we need to bring in the guard dogs!

Here's some links we mention:
Previous security episode with Danny O'Neill: https://soundcloud.com/user-741930142/keepingitreel
The MDR Manifesto: https://www.alertlogic.com/docs/the-mdr-manifesto.pdf

Alex and Sai welcome Anchal Kaushal, Engagement Manager and Mental Health First Aider at Rackspace, on to the podcast. Anchal is a steering member of Rackspace Lavender, a volunteer group with the mission to support mental wellness and physical abilities in the workplace. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us Anchal!

In this episode of CloudSpotting, Sai and Alex are joined by our experts in productivity tools and collaboration solutions Jonathan Lui and Nigel Choji.

Listen to get tips, quick fixes and practical advice on how to improve your organisation's working from home strategy and how to work from home more effectively.