The Consumer sector has undergone radical changes over the last two years, with Brexit, the pandemic, and now the cost-of-living crisis creating the perfect storm of uncertainty. However, with change comes opportunity. In the first episode in season 5 of the cloud speed podcast, we discuss the need for digital and cloud transformation in the consumer space, and how businesses that have adopted new strategies are benefitting.

Since launching the Cloud Speed podcast back in 2020, lots has happened! However, one theme that we’re still yet to discuss is talent in the Cloud industry, whether this is within consultancies, service firms or product companies. Cloud Speed is excited to be joined by Prathmesh Jadhav, Customer Delivery Architect and Laura Hyatt, Solutions Architect from AWS for our final episode of the series.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity is rapidly growing across the globe, with more than 92% of respondents expecting deal volume to increase or stay the same over the next 12 months according to Deloitte’s 2022 Future of Mergers and Acquisitions Trends survey. This episode of Cloud Speed provides further insight into M&A activity, to educate you further on this topic.

Converge Prosperity is Deloitte’s innovative financial services offering, built on multiple cloud-native technologies. This offering allows our clients to imagine, design, assemble, and deliver the first production release of their next-generation digital bank at pace. This episode of Cloud Speed shares insight into Converge Prosperity, to educate you further on this new offering.

Deloitte’s recent Tech Trends report found that 72% of IT leaders already use edge computing, with an increasing amount of enterprise data now being created using edge computing and Cloud. This episode of Cloud Speed explores the topic of 5G and edge computing and why we are asking ourselves ‘where is my Cloud?’

Over the last year, we have seen an increase of people shifting from working in an office, to fully working remote from home. Insights from our recent survey on the topic of people’s remote work behaviour, strongly suggests that this shift to remote and hybrid working will outlive the pandemic. Globally, half of all employed adults (53%) say they can do their job remotely and prefer a 60-40 hybrid working routine. So, what technologies are pivotal in helping companies that support hybrid working, to stay present and connected with their colleagues?

Cloud is powering every digital transformation, but it’s how we deliver the future of work, enhance the customer experience, harness the power of analytics, and achieve the agility that is most important. Deloitte’s 2021 Cloud Survey, across 200 UK executives, highlights an internal skill gap, as 1 in 3 Cloud adopters admitted to feeling concerned about their internal lack of ability to execute on their digital strategies. So what skills are organisations looking for to execute their digital and Cloud strategies and how will these change in the coming years?

Cloud adoption operates at a fast pace and there’s no sign of this slowing down. Research from Gartner predicts that public Cloud spending in 2026 will exceed 45% of all enterprises’ IT spend, which is 17% up from 2021. As enterprises become more and more dependent on Cloud, it’s rapidly becoming the most expensive contract for many IT functions. What should enterprises think about when they establish contracts with their Cloud providers? Our guests for this episode are Stephen Reeves, Director in the Commercial and Technology team at Deloitte Legal and George Tilbrook, Senior Manager in the Deloitte Tech Sourcing and Commercial Management team.  Key questions explored in this podcast: What are your views on the big topics in the world of Cloud Contracting for your clients right now? From a legal perspective, what are the crunchy areas that need tackling when supporting clients through the contracting process itself? From a sourcing perspective, what’s important for clients right now? With Cloud contracts getting larger, are you seeing a change in the Hyperscalers’ approach to contracting? A lot of work goes into getting the right contract in place. From an on0going operational perspective, what advice is there for our listeners? What’s the number 1 take away for our listeners from this episode?

Understanding how Cloud adoption by consumers differs from that of enterprises helps us appreciate the lessons we can draw from the varying adoption styles. These include, what are the key hindrances for this adoption and how can we accelerate and drive further adoption by enterprise? In this episode we also take a look at the impact that connectivity has on consumer adoption in Cloud.

In an ever-changing regulatory and risk landscape, Financial Services organisations in the UK that are creating value through the exploitation of Cloud services need to navigate a number of complex topics. Cloud is increasingly becoming an enabler for Financial Services organisations to address their growth ambitions and in this episode we’ll be exploring what businesses should be focusing on and how they should approach it. Our guest for this episode is Deloitte’s Edward Litchfield, Director in the Digital Risk team and Deloitte’s Kyle Irvine, expert in Cyber Transformation Practice in Risk Advisory. Key questions explored in this podcast: What are your views on the key themes in Digital and Tech risk for financial services organisations? The requirements from regulators seem to be adapting to the increasing consumption of Cloud. What, in your view, is different about Cloud that’s driving this change? And are there particular timescales around these requirements? For those organisations that also have operations outside of the UK - what are we seeing in other geographies? How are we helping our clients navigate these topics surrounding digital and tech risk for financial services? Where can listeners go for more information on this topic?