Amazon’s Twitch has hired Kate Jhaveri, who previously held marketing positions at Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft, as senior VP of marketing.

Jhaveri reports directly to CEO Emmett Shear and oversees global marketing and communications for the company, which is focused on live video game broadcasting. Matthew DiPietro, who had been SVP of marketing and communications, will take on a new role at the company; a rep did not have details on DiPietro’s new role at Twitch.

Most recently, Jhaveri led global consumer marketing at Twitter, where she was responsible for brand, growth and consumer marketing programs, channels and experiences. She left Twitter last August.

Prior to joining Twitter in 2013, Jhaveri worked at Facebook for three years and led consumer brand strategy and management as well as mobile product marketing. Before that she spent seven years at Microsoft, heading up consumer marketing and communications teams for products including Windows and Office. Jhaveri also led marketing teams at Dell, after she began her career as a management consultant with AT Kearney.

“Twitch’s primary strength has been looking to its community to help shape the direction of the brand,” Jhaveri said in a statement. “This has led to a lot of compelling emerging content beyond gaming. Given this constant evolution, my goal is to ensure we shine a light on all of the incredible content that continues to redefine the Twitch experience, as well as our extensive road map of products.”

Currently, Jhaveri also serves as secretary of the national board for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and is an adviser to early-stage tech companies. She holds an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from College of the Holy Cross.

Other recent senior executive hires by Twitch have included Michael Aragon, formerly with Otter Media’s Ellation and Sony’s PlayStation Network, as SVP of content; and Matt McCloskey, former COO of Microsoft’s 343 Industries, as VP of commerce.

A company marketing a new fitness aid for children has been accused of encouraging them to take up pole dancing.

Furious parents have gone online to object to Gympole Active, a portable pole, saying they were « sexualising » young girls.

Taking to social media they compared the equipment to that used by strippers in pole dancing clubs.

The Daily Post has seen the video but chosen not to include it in the story.

The Gympole Active, marketed by Gympole.com, is designed to take the weight of adults however the ad in question only features young girls.

The 35 second video shows slow-motion footage of the children – who appear younger than the age of ten – swinging round the pole and performing, wearing shorts and crop tops.

Pole fitness is now a popular form of exercise, however many have criticised the decision to use children to promote the product given the fact that the practice is often associated with strip clubs.

The ad has already attracted thousands of comments on social media – mainly a backlash at the choice to use minors to endorse the pole.

One woman, while acknowledging pole fitness as a sport disagreed with the decision to use children to promote it: « I have no issue with this now being a sport for kids. But fact of the matter is, the pole is associated with strippers.

« So if you wish to change that public perception. I hardly think using kids in skimpy clothing is the way to do it. »

Another accused the company of exploiting children, saying: « How does it feel to contribute to sexualising children with a shameless, lame ad to sell products? »

One commenter felt that the company was deliberated provoking a reaction to push their campaign: « This advertisement is feeding into pedophile culture.

« I mean I guess you got the reaction you wanted to create a buzz, but all I see is little girls at the strip club. »

However some have defended the ad, stating that it is the perception of the viewer that is wrong, not the company.

One commenter jumped to support the firm, saying: « I absolutely love that the advertisement is featuring kids! A great way normalize it.

« My daughter has taken interest in my pole fitness journey and it gives me confidence she will be met with respect in the future for what she learns. »

Another likened the sport to other mainstream activities: « Have you actually watched gymnastics or a dance recital before? Those girls are wearing literally the same exact thing, hair and makeup done, looking like grown women. Should we just make the pole horizontal and then it’ll be okay? »

A representative from Gympole said: « We just wanted to promote juniors in pole sports as we think they are super talented. The intention was to promote kids in the pole sports as well. »

The video has been viewed almost two million times since it was uploaded at the start of the month. The ad is promoting the brands portable pole which can be screwed into the ground for outdoor use.

Moving from early professional life to a mid-career phase comes with vast changes. One realizes that roles aren’t always set in stone, and much depends on carving your own role and path ahead. Often, responsibilities shift from areas of core technical expertise to broader areas such as strategy, management and revenue. One is no longer expected to ‘perform tasks’, but to ‘set’, ‘lead’ and ‘drive’. At this stage, professionals can feel ill-equipped or sometimes just unsure. Furthering one’s education can bridge this gap, providing the skills and the cross-functional knowledge needed to step up.

Participating in a residential management program means taking a sabbatical – a challenging proposition at this stage of the career. Additionally, there’s a very real opportunity cost of forgoing your income for the period while paying for the education. For self-employed professionals and entrepreneurs, it may be altogether impossible to halt business or move cities.

HBX, the online learning initiative of Harvard Business School (HBS), provides business education to meet exactly these needs, while solving for the constraints of location and time. A variety of self-paced management courses, built on the tenets of the innovative HBS classroom pedagogy, offer an immersive and challenging learning experience through its interactive online learning platform. What makes it fun and effective is that the platform provides opportunities for, and organically supports, peer learning and knowledge-sharing across a global network.

Is ‘business knowledge’ required?

For mid-level professionals, who have typically spent 5-10 years in a specific industry and developed skills in a core discipline, the next level of growth demands familiarity with many other aspects of business – strategy, operations, negotiation, and finance to name some. Individual contributors need to develop a more generalist approach to make better business decisions.

For example, when a mid-level doctor or healthcare professional working for a hospital transitions to a senior or leadership role in hospital management, she needs to be able to make decisions, weighing multiple aspects, for several functions of the organization. This requires skills such as interpreting data, studying the market landscape and developing differentiated offerings, understanding the financial implications of operational decisions and analyzing pricing and consumer behavior. If she is comfortable with business concepts and armed with the right tools, she can drive better operational performance and profitability, as well as enhance patient experience at the hospital. This ultimately leads to achieving both individual and business growth.

As Nupur Kohli, Doctor and Healthcare Entrepreneur (and an award winning TEDx speaker from Netherlands), who participated in the HBX programme says, “As a medical doctor, I never received a business education. However, in healthcare it is very relevant and important to have business knowledge, especially if one at some point wants to start their own practice. I now have a better insight into how a business should function and with that, I also better understand the business aspects of a medical practice or hospital.”

This extends across industries. For example, an IT professional working for a tech company could help his organization develop innovative ideas and diversify revenue sources by developing a more holistic view of the business and its services.

Active learning from a rich virtual platform  

HBX facilitates a holistic understanding of business through courses that are designed for real-world problem-solving, active and social learning. These courses are delivered through an online platform that leverages the HBS ‘case-based pedagogy’. Students watch short, highly produced videos with professors and industry experts, and utilize innovative interactive tools to deepen their learning of the course concepts.

Instead of starting with theory, HBX participants start by grappling with a business problem – with real world data and the complexity in which a business leader would have to make a decision – and learn the theory inductively. Working professionals find it instantly relatable and easier to apply learnings to their immediate contexts.

Says past HBX participant Aravind Sivashankara, Assistant General Manager, Product Development, at Flytxt, India (a big data analytics software products company), “One of the most insightful components of this course was the detailed case studies on other companies that had similar challenges. I can use the concepts directly in my day-to-day job. Concepts like “jobs to be done” can be directly applied in building product roadmaps, product specifications for new products, and in creating marketing collaterals. Concepts such as “RPP” (Resources, Processes Priorities) are evergreen and can be directly applied in competitive profiling and strategic planning.”

Questions, based on case studies, can be in the form of either a poll or reflections. Everyone’s answers are then visible to the ‘classroom’. In the words of Professor Bharat Anand, Faculty Chair, HBX, “This turns out to be a really important distinction. The answers are being updated in real-time. You can see the distribution of answers, but you can also see what any other individual has answered, which means that you’re not anonymous.” Students have real profiles and get to know their ‘classmates’ and learn from each other. The social learning aspect brings forth perspectives and insights from other participants with diverse backgrounds who are working in different markets and industries. For professionals, this is a significant difference from learning on the job. They imbibe learnings from contexts different from theirs and are exposed to things that they may not discover on their own.

Programs Offered Today 

HBX currently offers a variety of programs such as CORe (Credential of Readiness), which consists of three courses – Business Analytics, Economics for Managers and Financial Accounting – Negotiation Mastery, Leading with Finance and Disruptive Strategy. The HBX portfolio is growing, and new courses will be added in the coming months.

Course durations range from 6 to 17 weeks. The courses are flexible, allowing participants to study on their own schedules while meeting regular weekly deadlines. The deadlines ensure that the cohort remains on roughly the same schedule, facilitating the social aspect of learning.

Upon successful completion of the courses, students will receive a Certificate from HBX and Harvard Business School. They will also be invited to the annual on-campus HBX ConneXt event to meet peers from around the world, hear from faculty, and experience the HBS campus.

Interested candidates must submit a free, 10-15-minute application that is reviewed by the HBX admissions team by the deadlines noted on the HBX website. For more information and frequently asked questions, please review the HBX website.

This article was produced by the Scroll marketing team on behalf of HBX and not by the Scroll editorial team

iOS marketing costs fell 7 percent from the previous month in May, but May marketing costs rose 28 percent on Android as the platforms continue to diverge when it comes to user-acquisition campaign costs, according to mobile marketing firm Fiksu DSP.

The iOS data shows that mobile marketers are becoming savvier about creating efficient marketing campaigns for apps and games, Fiksu DSP said. More marketers are launching video ad campaigns that efficiently target the right users, and that is driving down the cost per purchaser (CPP), a measure of the cost of acquiring users who make purchases in games or mobile apps.

“Game developers that take advantage of the efficiency of video ads will get the best bang for their marketing buck,” said Matt McGinty, chief revenue officer of Fiksu DSP, in a statement. “With users that are already receptive to visual, immersive experiences, game apps are perfectly suited for video-based mobile ad campaigns.”

Cost per mille (CPM, the cost to buy media) fell 21 percent on iOS to $5.94 while it rose 14 percent on Android to $2.34.

CPP decreased year over year by 25 percent on iOS and 28 percent on Android. And CPM rose by 24 percent on iOS year over year and fell 16 percent on Android.

With an overall decline in competition on iOS, media costs (CPM) fell 21 percent since last month. While CPM increased year over year, the recent trend suggests marketers are creating more efficient mobile campaigns, Fiksu DSP said. At the same time, both CPP and CPM rose on Android for the first time in months. Due to the overall decreased competition on Android, as compared to iOS, marketers are taking advantage of the bargain prices to acquire new users, which is driving up costs.

“iOS has been the gold standard for mobile marketing. However, marketers are starting to place more value on Android. With more bang for their marketing buck, marketers are able to reach users on Android without paying premium prices,” said McGinty. “As this trend continues, we expect media costs to eventually rise in tandem with the competition. Summer is typically marked by slower months for competition on mobile, and marketers will likely take advantage of this opportunity to reach new users at a low cost while still creating the highly visual video content that users love.”

While marketers are seeing the value of Android, the upcoming release of iOS 11 will present an opportunity for app marketers to reach new users. The new update is rumored to save users 50 percent of their storage by minimizing the size of videos and photos. Fiksu DSP’s most recent survey indicated that more than half of consumers deleted an app because they wanted more space for future apps, so this increased space could result in consumers’ willingness to download new apps.

“New device and software launches have a significant impact in the real-time bidding market and the fluctuation of media costs. We expect the highly anticipated release of iOS 11 to result in an upsurge in spend on iOS to reach these users,” said McGinty. “This new opportunity to reach new users who otherwise may have been unreceptive to downloading new apps is sure to drive up both competition and media costs.”

He added, “Brands and agencies are always looking for self-serve options when it comes to app marketing. We’re now seeing more gaming-app marketers ask for this as well in order to have total control over [whom] they target and [whom] they exclude from campaigns.”

Above: Fiksu measures the results of mobile ads such as this one.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Recently, a spate of studies about social video populated my inbox, mainly from companies that offer tools for the art of catching attention with moving pixels. Not surprisingly for many reasons, the theme was social video marketing is vital for businesses today.

“Businesses need to learn to ‘speak video’ fluently if they want to connect with their customers on social media, » says Brad Jefferson, CEO of Animoto, in a press release behind the online video creation company’s survey.

But where and when to speak that fluently is another question, according to Lux Narayan, CEO of Unmetric, a social analytics platform, which did a study of Facebook vs. YouTube in regards to major brand video success.

« The most important consideration for brands when creating and publishing videos, » says Narayan, « is to look to data to make the most informed decisions on the right content and channel. »

Okay, you might have noticed a trend already: Both companies claim their findings support the overall mission of their services. That’s a given with these studies, but if you look over the findings, important insights await. After all, companies like Animoto and Unmetric, as well as video creation platform Wyzowl, know their field and how to collect information about it. And when they all come out with studies around the same time, important trends emerge.

Here’s what they found:

It’s getting crowded

According to data from a Wyzowl survey, video marketing creation is not only growing among business marketing professionals, it also a preferred way to consume.

When asked, « Where both text and video are available on the same web page, how would you prefer to learn about a product or service? »

• 80 percent said video.

Great! But here’s the other key answer Wyzowl found:

When companies were asked … « Does your business use video as a marketing tool? »

• 63 percent said yes.

That means the other third of companies are at a critical point. Either they will never have a video strategy or they’re late. Because for those who are using video, almost 99 percent said they plan to continue to do so.

There is no one place to post

The boundaries of where social video can go pushes outward every day. But while Snapchat and Instagram are clearly getting marketers’ attention, Facebook and YouTube still dominate the conversation. According to Narayan, YouTube’s advantage of being the first to the masses still matters, at least for now.

View General Session: ▸ Here

DevOps – The Journey to Value Stream

Software is changing every industry. Think about Tesla disrupting the automotive industry, Airbnb, and Uber, the list goes on. Each leads with software to create an entirely new experience for the customer. This radical shift is causing traditional companies in all sectors to innovate and compete-they know that better customer experiences fuel business, and software lets them deliver those experiences to win, delight, and keep customers.

So organizations’ quest to deliver better experiences through faster, better software by using DevOps tools and practices. As they strive for continuous delivery, continuous integration, continuous testing, continuous monitoring and continuous feedback, they discover an ingredient is missing. What is it?

View General Session: ▸ Here

What would allow development practices to stay continuously aligned to business objectives? Measurement. Good measurement comprises the ability to integrate the many tools within DevOps, analyze and associate the myriad of events, and report on the findings and measure the value an organization is receiving from these tools and processes. Organizations recognize this and are exploring the discipline of value stream mapping (VSM), a lean measurement technique, to ensure that the software they are producing is poised to offer continuous improvements to customers’ experience of products and services.

In his General Session at @DevOpsSummit at 20th Cloud Expo, Thomas Hooker, Silicon Valley technologist and vice president of marketing for CollabNet, presented his popular talk titled « DevOps – The Journey to Value Stream. » This educational session provided a deep look into the market drivers behind DevOps and enterprise Agile management today.

View this general session and learn exactly how your organization can benefit by applying value stream mapping to DevOps initiatives, tools, teams, and processes to tap the full business potential of DevOps.

Speaker Bio:
Thomas Hooker is vice president of marketing at CollabNet. As the head of CollabNet’s marketing team, he oversees demand generation, brand, customer marketing, public relations, analyst relations, product marketing, and corporate communications. A 20+ year veteran of high-tech Thomas has held Marketing, Product Management and Engineering positions at a variety of leading companies including BMC, Boole Babbage, Tidal Software and Cisco.

Download Show Prospectus ▸ Here

DevOps at Cloud Expo taking place October 31 – November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world.

Must Watch Video: Recap of @DevOpsSummit New York Javits Center

The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development cycles that produce software that is obsolete at launch. DevOps may be disruptive, but it is essential.

Nutanix DevOps Booth at @DevOpsSummit New York Javits Center

DevOps at Cloud Expo will expand the DevOps community, enable a wide sharing of knowledge, and educate delegates and technology providers alike. Recent research has shown that DevOps dramatically reduces development time, the amount of enterprise IT professionals put out fires, and support time generally. Time spent on infrastructure development is significantly increased, and DevOps practitioners report more software releases and higher quality. Sponsors of DevOps at Cloud Expo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:

• Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers.
• Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
• Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35 minute technical session
• Online advertising in SYS-CON’s i-Technology Publications
• Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage.
• Unprecedented PR Coverage: Editorial Coverage on DevOps Journal
• Tweetup to over 75,000 plus followers
• Press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts.

For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.

Most Popular Video: Sheng Liang’s Containers Talk

@DevOpsSummit at Cloud Expo taking place October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and is co-located with the 21st International Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world.

@DevOpsSummit 2017 Silicon Valley
(October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)

@DevOpsSummit 2018 New York
(June 12-14, 2018, Javits Center, Manhattan)

With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend 21st Cloud Expo, October 31 – November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.

Track 1. Enterprise Cloud | Cloud-Native
Track 2. Big Data | Analytics
Track 3. Internet of Things | IIoT | Smart Cities
Track 4. DevOps | Digital Transformation (DX)
Track 5. APIs | Cloud Security | Mobility
Track 6. AI | ML | DL | Cognitive
Track 7. Containers | Microservices | Serverless
Track 8. FinTech | InsurTech | Token Economy

Speaking Opportunities

The upcoming 21st International @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY announces that its Call For Papers for speaking opportunities is open. Themes and topics to be discussed include:

• Agile
• API management
• APM
• Application delivery
• Cloud development
• Configuration automation
• Containers
• Continuous delivery
• Continuous integration
• Continuous testing
• DevOps anti-patterns
• DevOps for legacy systems
• DevOps skills and training
• DevOps system architecture
• Docker
• Enterprise DevOps
• Identity and access
• IT orchestration
• Kubernetes
• Load testing
• Microservices
• Mobile DevOps
• Monitoring
• Network automation
• Quality assurance
• Release automation
• Serverless
• Scrum
• Service virtualization
• Teaming
• Test automation
• WebOps, CloudOps, ChatOps, NoOps

Submit your speaking proposal today! ▸ Here

Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo 2017 Silicon Valley
(October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)

Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo 2018 New York
(June 12-14, 2018, Javits Center, Manhattan)

Download Show Prospectus ▸ Here

Every Global 2000 enterprise in the world is now integrating cloud computing in some form into its IT development and operations. Midsize and small businesses are also migrating to the cloud in increasing numbers.

Companies are each developing their unique mix of cloud technologies and services, forming multi-cloud and hybrid cloud architectures and deployments across all major industries. Cloud-driven thinking has become the norm in financial services, manufacturing, telco, healthcare, transportation, energy, media, entertainment, retail and other consumer industries, and the public sector.

Cloud Expo is the single show where technology buyers and vendors can meet to experience and discus cloud computing and all that it entails. Sponsors of Cloud Expo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:

• Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers.
• Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
• Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35-minute technical session
• Online advertising in SYS-CON’s i-Technology Publications
• Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage.
• Unprecedented PR Coverage: Editorial Coverage on Cloud Computing Journal.
  
• Tweetup to over 75,000 plus followers
• Press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts.

For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.

The World’s Largest « Cloud Digital Transformation » Event

@CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo 2017 Silicon Valley
(Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)

@CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo 2018 New York
(June 12-14, 2018, Javits Center, Manhattan)

Full Conference Registration Gold Pass and Exhibit Hall ▸ Here

Register For @CloudExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite

Register For @ThingsExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite

Register For @DevOpsSummit ▸ Here via EventBrite

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsors of Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:

• Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers
• Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
• Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35 minute technical session
• Online targeted advertising in SYS-CON’s i-Technology Publications
• Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage
• Unprecedented Marketing Coverage: Editorial Coverage on ITweetup to over 100,000 plus followers, press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts

For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez (@GonzalezCarmen) today by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.

Secrets of Sponsors and Exhibitors ▸ Here
Secrets of Cloud Expo Speakers ▸ Here

All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices – computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors – connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades.

With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, October 31 – November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-4, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.

Delegates to Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo will be able to attend 8 simultaneous, information-packed education tracks.

There are over 120 breakout sessions in all, with Keynotes, General Sessions, and Power Panels adding to three days of incredibly rich presentations and content.

Join Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo conference chair Roger Strukhoff (@IoT2040), October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, for three days of intense Enterprise Cloud and ‘Digital Transformation’ discussion and focus, including Big Data’s indispensable role in IoT, Smart Grids and (IIoT) Industrial Internet of Things, Wearables and Consumer IoT, as well as (new) Digital Transformation in Vertical Markets.

Financial Technology – or FinTech – Is Now Part of the @CloudExpo Program!

Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 21st Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech, which will incorporate machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and blockchain into one track.

Financial enterprises in New York City, London, Singapore, and other world financial capitals are embracing a new generation of smart, automated FinTech that eliminates many cumbersome, slow, and expensive intermediate processes from their businesses.

FinTech brings efficiency as well as the ability to deliver new services and a much improved customer experience throughout the global financial services industry. FinTech is a natural fit with cloud computing, as new services are quickly developed, deployed, and scaled on public, private, and hybrid clouds.

More than US$20 billion in venture capital is being invested in FinTech this year. @CloudExpo is pleased to bring you the latest FinTech developments as an integral part of our program, starting at the 21st International Cloud Expo October 31 – November 2, 2017 in Silicon Valley, and June 12-14, 2018, in New York City.

@CloudExpo is accepting submissions for this new track, so please visit www.CloudComputingExpo.com for the latest information.

About SYS-CON Media Events

SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com) has since 1994 been connecting technology companies and customers through a comprehensive content stream – featuring over forty focused subject areas, from Cloud Computing to Web Security – interwoven with market-leading full-scale conferences produced by SYS-CON Events. The company’s internationally recognized brands include among others Cloud Expo® (@CloudExpo), Big Data Expo® (@BigDataExpo), DevOps Summit (@DevOpsSummit), @ThingsExpo® (@ThingsExpo), Containers Expo (@ContainersExpo) and Microservices Expo (@MicroservicesE).

Cloud Expo®, Big Data Expo® and @ThingsExpo® are registered trademarks of Cloud Expo, Inc., a SYS-CON Events company.

View General Session: ▸ Here

Optimizing Alignment – Dovetailing DevOps and the Cloud

As DevOps methodologies expand their reach across the enterprise, organizations face the daunting challenge of adapting related cloud strategies to ensure optimal alignment, from managing complexity to ensuring proper governance.

How can culture, automation, legacy apps and even budget be reexamined to enable this ongoing shift within the modern software factory?

View General Session: ▸ Here

In their general session at @DevOpsSummit at 20th Cloud Expo, Aruna Ravichandran, VP of Global Marketing and Strategy at CA Technologies, Anne Hungate, President of Daring Systems, Courtney Kissler, Vice President of Retail Technology at Starbucks, and Tracy Bannon, Senior Architect at Deloitte Consulting, shared their insight into an emerging set of best practices that lie at the heart of today’s digital transformation. Specific topics addressed included:

• Standing up self-service infrastructure to enable DevOps
• Leveraging DevOps to drive complex apps to the cloud
• Integrating DevOps toolchains to automate cloud delivery

Join us for this influential panel that offered hands-on expertise from those individuals who have presided over the complicated marriage of cloud and DevOps strategies to advance and win in the Application Economy.

Speaker Bios

Aruna Ravichandran is Vice President of Global Marketing and Strategy at CA Technologies. She has over 20 years of experience in building and marketing products in various DevOps markets spanning all walks of the software development life cycle. She started her career as an engineer at Hewlett Packard 22 years ago and is very involved in promoting DevOps best practices while at the same time helping organizations address the key challenges around DevOps – Cultural changes, identify the metrics needed for success. Aruna earned her Master’s in Computer Engineering and MBA from Santa Clara University.

Anne Hungate discovered her passion for quality engineering working in multiple IT roles such as developer, analyst, and program manager. Most recently, she led the global quality team for a financial services organization. She has presented at local and national conferences, sharing the lessons through DevOps implementations. Anne holds DevOps Foundation certification.

Courtney Kissler is the Vice President of Retail Technology at Starbucks. She’s accountable for the global POS and retail store technology experiences. Prior to Starbucks, she spent 14 years at Nordstrom with her last role being the Vice President of E-Commerce and Store technologies where she drove a technological transformation essential for outpacing the demands of today’s Omnichannel consumers. She was accountable for program management, delivery, and support for all customer facing technologies including in-store, Web, and mobile touch points. She joined Nordstrom as a security engineer in 2002 and held a variety of leadership roles across the technology organization. Courtney is a graduate of Eastern Washington University with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems and worked at two startups, CyberSafe and WorldStream Communications, prior to joining Nordstrom.

Tracy L. Bannon is a Senior Architect with Deloitte Consulting with over 24 years of experience in multiple commercial/public sector markets. She helps her client organizations understand the importance of #InevitableArchitecture as well as the techniques and critical success factors for implementing software systems including advantages of cloud platforms. DevOps and Cloud-Native/Cloud-Ready Application Architecture are her specialties with experience crossing multiple technologies and platforms. Leveraging smart architectural patterns like API Gateway and Microservices and knowing the impact on DevOps is a core part of Tracy’s guidance to clients.

Download Show Prospectus ▸ Here

DevOps at Cloud Expo taking place October 31 – November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world.

Must Watch Video: Recap of @DevOpsSummit New York Javits Center

The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development cycles that produce software that is obsolete at launch. DevOps may be disruptive, but it is essential.

Nutanix DevOps Booth at @DevOpsSummit New York Javits Center

DevOps at Cloud Expo will expand the DevOps community, enable a wide sharing of knowledge, and educate delegates and technology providers alike. Recent research has shown that DevOps dramatically reduces development time, the amount of enterprise IT professionals put out fires, and support time generally. Time spent on infrastructure development is significantly increased, and DevOps practitioners report more software releases and higher quality. Sponsors of DevOps at Cloud Expo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:

• Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers.
• Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
• Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35 minute technical session
• Online advertising in SYS-CON’s i-Technology Publications
• Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage.
• Unprecedented PR Coverage: Editorial Coverage on DevOps Journal
• Tweetup to over 75,000 plus followers
• Press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts.

For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.

Most Popular Video: Sheng Liang’s Containers Talk

@DevOpsSummit at Cloud Expo taking place October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and is co-located with the 21st International Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world.

@DevOpsSummit 2017 Silicon Valley
(October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)

@DevOpsSummit 2018 New York
(June 12-14, 2018, Javits Center, Manhattan)

With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend 21st Cloud Expo, October 31 – November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.

Track 1. Enterprise Cloud | Cloud-Native
Track 2. Big Data | Analytics
Track 3. Internet of Things | IIoT | Smart Cities
Track 4. DevOps | Digital Transformation (DX)
Track 5. APIs | Cloud Security | Mobility
Track 6. AI | ML | DL | Cognitive
Track 7. Containers | Microservices | Serverless
Track 8. FinTech | InsurTech | Token Economy

Speaking Opportunities

The upcoming 21st International @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY announces that its Call For Papers for speaking opportunities is open. Themes and topics to be discussed include:

• Agile
• API management
• APM
• Application delivery
• Cloud development
• Configuration automation
• Containers
• Continuous delivery
• Continuous integration
• Continuous testing
• DevOps anti-patterns
• DevOps for legacy systems
• DevOps skills and training
• DevOps system architecture
• Docker
• Enterprise DevOps
• Identity and access
• IT orchestration
• Kubernetes
• Load testing
• Microservices
• Mobile DevOps
• Monitoring
• Network automation
• Quality assurance
• Release automation
• Serverless
• Scrum
• Service virtualization
• Teaming
• Test automation
• WebOps, CloudOps, ChatOps, NoOps

Submit your speaking proposal today! ▸ Here

Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo 2017 Silicon Valley
(October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)

Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo 2018 New York
(June 12-14, 2018, Javits Center, Manhattan)

Download Show Prospectus ▸ Here

Every Global 2000 enterprise in the world is now integrating cloud computing in some form into its IT development and operations. Midsize and small businesses are also migrating to the cloud in increasing numbers.

Companies are each developing their unique mix of cloud technologies and services, forming multi-cloud and hybrid cloud architectures and deployments across all major industries. Cloud-driven thinking has become the norm in financial services, manufacturing, telco, healthcare, transportation, energy, media, entertainment, retail and other consumer industries, and the public sector.

Cloud Expo is the single show where technology buyers and vendors can meet to experience and discus cloud computing and all that it entails. Sponsors of Cloud Expo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:

• Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers.
• Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
• Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35-minute technical session
• Online advertising in SYS-CON’s i-Technology Publications
• Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage.
• Unprecedented PR Coverage: Editorial Coverage on Cloud Computing Journal.
  
• Tweetup to over 75,000 plus followers
• Press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts.

For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.

The World’s Largest « Cloud Digital Transformation » Event

@CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo 2017 Silicon Valley
(Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)

@CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo 2018 New York
(June 12-14, 2018, Javits Center, Manhattan)

Full Conference Registration Gold Pass and Exhibit Hall ▸ Here

Register For @CloudExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite

Register For @ThingsExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite

Register For @DevOpsSummit ▸ Here via EventBrite

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsors of Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:

• Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers
• Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
• Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35 minute technical session
• Online targeted advertising in SYS-CON’s i-Technology Publications
• Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage
• Unprecedented Marketing Coverage: Editorial Coverage on ITweetup to over 100,000 plus followers, press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts

For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez (@GonzalezCarmen) today by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.

Secrets of Sponsors and Exhibitors ▸ Here
Secrets of Cloud Expo Speakers ▸ Here

All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices – computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors – connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades.

With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, October 31 – November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-4, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.

Delegates to Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo will be able to attend 8 simultaneous, information-packed education tracks.

There are over 120 breakout sessions in all, with Keynotes, General Sessions, and Power Panels adding to three days of incredibly rich presentations and content.

Join Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo conference chair Roger Strukhoff (@IoT2040), October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, for three days of intense Enterprise Cloud and ‘Digital Transformation’ discussion and focus, including Big Data’s indispensable role in IoT, Smart Grids and (IIoT) Industrial Internet of Things, Wearables and Consumer IoT, as well as (new) Digital Transformation in Vertical Markets.

Financial Technology – or FinTech – Is Now Part of the @CloudExpo Program!

Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 21st Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, and June 12-14, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech, which will incorporate machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and blockchain into one track.

Financial enterprises in New York City, London, Singapore, and other world financial capitals are embracing a new generation of smart, automated FinTech that eliminates many cumbersome, slow, and expensive intermediate processes from their businesses.

FinTech brings efficiency as well as the ability to deliver new services and a much improved customer experience throughout the global financial services industry. FinTech is a natural fit with cloud computing, as new services are quickly developed, deployed, and scaled on public, private, and hybrid clouds.

More than US$20 billion in venture capital is being invested in FinTech this year. @CloudExpo is pleased to bring you the latest FinTech developments as an integral part of our program, starting at the 21st International Cloud Expo October 31 – November 2, 2017 in Silicon Valley, and June 12-14, 2018, in New York City.

@CloudExpo is accepting submissions for this new track, so please visit www.CloudComputingExpo.com for the latest information.

About SYS-CON Media Events

SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com) has since 1994 been connecting technology companies and customers through a comprehensive content stream – featuring over forty focused subject areas, from Cloud Computing to Web Security – interwoven with market-leading full-scale conferences produced by SYS-CON Events. The company’s internationally recognized brands include among others Cloud Expo® (@CloudExpo), Big Data Expo® (@BigDataExpo), DevOps Summit (@DevOpsSummit), @ThingsExpo® (@ThingsExpo), Containers Expo (@ContainersExpo) and Microservices Expo (@MicroservicesE).

Cloud Expo®, Big Data Expo® and @ThingsExpo® are registered trademarks of Cloud Expo, Inc., a SYS-CON Events company.

by Surur

 

@mspoweruser