"AIOps is a thing - apparently - but don't let the marketing hype machine turn you off completely. There's plenty of business value to be generated from the judicious combination of current technologies used for optimizing IT operations."

"Developers as the new kingmakers is now an established meme. But they should not be the arbiters of what is ethical programming. That debate has to be much wider."

"Knowing where your company is addressing needs is a recipe for success."

"There's a bright world ahead for SAP developers. How is this manifesting itself and what are the challenges?"

"A DSAG survey provides illuminating insights into how well aligned SAP is to its customers. It's not all smooth sailing but there are important areas of agreement that hold bright promise for the future. "

"SAP TechEd day one featured news announcements that implied a more open SAP. Serverless ERP, ABAP on the SAP Cloud Platform - we're a long way from NetWeaver. But big questions remain. Here's my illustrated day one review."

"Connected digital technologies are reshaping enterprise architectures around a platform of engagement functions & resources to support next-gen applications"

"Most companies still have a divide between business users and developers. Is that why so few cloud ERP shows have hackathons? Acumatica platform evangelist Mark Franks shares how to energize developers and bring business users into the mix - from hackathons to online engagement."

"MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria also told diginomica that the company is one of the few developer pure plays left - could well be of interest as an acquisition."

"Talend Connect brought heady conversations about avoiding cloud lock-in and realizing a multi-cloud, serverless potential. But as my conversation with CEO Mike Tuchen shows, it's really about a practical way to fund innovation within IT budgets - and deliver data assets to the business."

"This week: retailers get serious about data and analytics while Amazon gets called out on privacy. An Agile Manifesto author rails on "faux agile", debate ensues. Your whiffs include the perils of live mics, and the dumbest smart lock in the world."

"Matt Cain has uniquely positioned Couchbase as the ‘engagement database’ to enable digital transformation. But as CEO he is having to finely balance investment priorities."

"Industry watchers were surprised to see Steve Singh, formerly of Concur and SAP, take the CEO mantle at Docker. But as Singh explained during our sit down at Talend Connect, he couldn't pass up the chance to fundamentally change how apps are built and delivered."

"I have a stump speech about the problem of ending the IT conversation at efficiency. We need next-gen apps with a purpose. At Couchbase Connect 2018, found a good one with BD Digital Health, a digital team inside of BD getting things done with their Briight diabetes app."

"Matt Calkins claims that where Salesforce leads, Appian can not only follow, but tap into opened-up market opps."

"With its acquisition of MuleSoft complete, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff gave the audience at Connect 18 a taste of how things will change"

"Talend Connect 2018 was fueled by a bold vision of modern architecture, IT cost reduction, and shifting legacy investments into something better. To pull it off, you need to turn your unwieldly data swamps into a engine for transformation. TD North provided some proof points."

"It has been an interesting couple of days at its Knowledge18 in Las Vegas. Here’s a dive into why ServiceNow is hitting the right notes in the enterprise."

"My last talk with DataStax CEO Billy Bosworth left us with unfinished business. We address that by poking holes in disruption infatuation. Bosworth makes his case for a different model: transformative cloud apps powered by a hybrid cloud."

"The New York Times had been running its own data centers, but has since shifted to AWS and Google Cloud, prompting a cloud-native approach."

""Rip and replace your RDBMS" might make for a sexy headline, But DataStax CEO Billy Bosworth has a different agenda. Here's an update on DataStax's own CX shift - and how their customers build "right now" cloud apps."

"Accenture sees a bold new age of "citizen AI" ahead. But there's a warning attached: we better get testing right. Here's what Accenture told me about their efforts to root out data and algorithmic bias."

"The financial services sector has been comparatively slow to take up DevOps as a way to get solutions to market in a timely manner. That's changing as existential threats loom ever larger."

"At Connected Enterprise '17, Alex Barth of Mapbox shared their open source business model - and why augmented reality has traction."

"Customer experience is easily broken. But will AI, voice and bots make a difference? Not if we take a "tools will save us" mentality, says Bernard Chung of SAP Hybris."

"Matt Cain joined the company back in April and is hoping to make his mark in the competitive NoSQL by pushing Couchbase’s ‘engagement database’."

"DevOps is loaded with hipster terminology and adoption debates. Shippable thinks there is a better way. But will easing DevOps integration help us serve customers better?"

"When MongoDB Inc. started in New York 10 years ago, the initial plan was to create a full platform for managing data, though over time it narrowed its focus to a NoSQL database. Now it’s going back to that original vision.

“It’s like we took an eight-year break,” Eliot Horowitz, chief technology officer and co-founder, said in an interview."

"Appian has been around for nearly two decades, but its low-code approach to Business Process Management and applications development has finally found its time and place."

"Accenture is now 50% transitioned to The New of cloud and digital services. But the Trump administration's failure to deliver on public sector reform is taking a toll."

"We speak to Sahir Azam, VP of cloud products at MongoDB, about how Stitch is aimed at making lives easier for developers."

"Ross Mason explains the benefits of making your IT assets consumable and reuseable via the use of MuleSoft’s API integration platform."

"For those businesses starting out on the job of transitioning their IT to a cloud-based environment, the news and business information provider advises that a Tapas approach, rather than an all-in, 4-burger pig-out, is the way to digest the job."

"Sharing public health care data sounds straightforward. But when you're trying to do it visually at massive scale, that's another matter entirely. At the MariaDB user conference, I got the inside view of how IHME powers its interactive health visualizations from Andrew Ernst. It's a story of open source tools, including MariaDB ColumnStore, and the attempt to turn data into lasting change."

"Agile and DevOps have put developers at the forefront of collaborative teamwork in the digital enterprise. So what tools do they use? I ask IT toolmaker Chef."

"Spanish start-up takes big data approach to enabling retailers and consumer brands to identify in-store hot zones, blind spots and new opportunities to improve layouts."

"MariaDB's first annual user conference in New York City found MariaDB CEO Michael Howard in a confident mood. I decided to push issues, like whether "the revenge of relational databases" favors the incumbents, and see if I could find any cracks. I didn't get those, but I got some spicy/illuminating responses. I also learned why MariaDB thinks its "open source mandate" will carry the day."

"One of the best things about MariaDB's first annual user conference (M|17) was hearing from open source advocates who flew in from APAC countries to tell their stories. Alibaba presented on how they use open source at monster cloud scale. I also got some interesting views on why some open source database projects are a lot better than others."

"Our survey of digital enterprise collaboration ends with a look at the far-reaching impact of agile teams in DevOps and the merits of Atlassian's platform."

"Three things I thought I'd never write about in one article: cannabis, DevOps and cloud ERP. But at Privateer Holdings, these three make a good mix - and a recipe for growth. At the Acumatica Summit, CIO Cuba Flowers told me their story."

"NoSQL continues to grow in relevance amongst enterprise buyers and Basho wants to target those making IoT investments.'

"Welcome to your holiday highs-and-lows edition of hits and misses. It was a surprisingly terrific week as writers went all-in. Picks include Google and IBM versus AWS, and the low-code "business developer" debate. Your whiffs include Alexa-gone-wild, and selfies-gone-wrong - again."

"Dev Ittycheria explains how he is now seeing companies migrate their existing workloads away from existing databases to MongoDB."

"Effective collaboration is foundation for digital transformation but where's the playbook for digital teamwork? Atlassian just moved us closer to finding it."

"Microsoft turned in a solid result for Q1 FY2017 but the underlying numbers are all over the map."

"This summer, I had an intriguing, impromptu encounter with a real-time event processing startup in New York City. Here's the story of my on-site visit with Concord co-founder Shinji Kim."

"Size matters when it comes to data centers and the cloud. Microsoft's EVP Cloud and Enterprise sets out the firm's stall against AWS and Google with some bold claims."

"Now that DevOps has gone from fringe to hot, every tech resume seems to have the keyword. But that doesn't make hiring true DevOps talent easier. Logicworks CTO Jason McKay gave me four keys to hiring DevOps pros. He also explained why the best DevOps engineers are "lazy," but in a good way. Yep, it's all about automation."

"Wells Fargo's head of R&D and innovation Bipin Sahni on the mix of approaches that connect smart minds inside the bank with new ideas and technologies from outside."

"At MongoDB World, we got an update from David Strickland of MyDealerLot, who moved his entire platform off NoSQL into the cloud, and can now speak to some real results. The ties between cloud, analytics and customer experience are a highlight of his story."

"Microsoft's Imagine Cup for student developers is an interesting study of the company's past failures and future hopes. But is the event enough to spur the imagination of young developers?"

"Cloud services are booming and LinkedIn's about to open up new opportunities. Microsoft's Satya Nadella is on upbeat form despite some of the challenges ahead."

"Swiss startup LzLabs releases software that it says will let enterprises move legacy mainframe applications and datasets unchanged to the cloud."

"Each year, MongoDB has some cool surprises in store with their Girls Who Code partnership. At MongoDB World, I sat down with MongoDB's Meagan Eisenberg and Francesca Krihely for an update. They also shared stories of their own career obstacles, and the prospects for change."

"When UPS acquired i-parcel, it wasn't a typical talent and code extraction. At MongoDB World 2016, UPS i-store's Yursil Kidwai told me how they moved from acquisition to innovation driver inside UPS. That journey also involves a move to MongoDB, and what Kidwai and his team call operations 2.0."

"Oron Gill Haus of Capital One came to MongoDB World to present on Hygieia, an open source DevOps dashboard built on MongoDB. Behind that dashboard lies an ambition to change the customer banking experience - no small feat. Prior to his keynote, Haus shared his team's story with me."

"In part one of this interview, Nutanix president Sudeesh Nair served the last rites on legacy enterprise software. In this concluding part, he expands on how this vision plays out in a world that’s not developer-centric."

"Wall Street wasn't too happy about Microsoft's numbers for the third quarter as the cloud business slowed down, but CEO Satya Nadella has an eye to the longer-term vision."

"Business Intelligence specialists are having a moment in the spotlight, say IT leaders, as senior executives at Hadoop Summit start to recognise their vital contribution to better decision-making."

"Helpful advice from ex William Hill now Lebara CTO Finbarr Joy on how enterprises can avoid pitfalls and find success when pursuing digital transformation."

"The role APIs will play in digital transformation is only just starting to be understood - but it promises to be massive, says Kapoor."

"Automation has been talked about for years and now it is set to make real in-roads into running IT infrastructure, leaving IT staff available to help their business colleagues run their businesses faster, cheaper, more effectively."

"All of this is just another indicator of the rising importance of NoSQL, which is growing fast. According to a recent report from Allied Market Research, the global NoSQL market is expected to reach $4.2 billion by 2020 - an annual growth rate of 35.1% from 2014 through 2020. When done fairly and transparently, competitive benchmarks can help enterprises choose the right product for their particular set of requirements."

"A very good user conference for MongoDB, that is growing well in both product and go to market capabilities. Given some executive changes, including the CEO, quite a remarkable outcome, not many startups come out strong after management changes. On the product side there has been more continuity with Horowitz at the helm and MongoDB is looking for more scale and growth of its subscription sales potential. By pointing to the popular visualization area, the vendor very likely is betting on a winner."

"We were lucky enough to have Vijay on the podcast again to talk about the unstructured world on MongoDB"

"To sum up, I expect the growing appeal to the business user via BI and analytics to be among the key takeaways of this Strata conference. Over the next year, especially in the more technologically progressive CA edition, I’ll be looking for increasing uptake of the Berkeley data analytics stack (Spark & friends), streaming tech, and in-memory data processing."