#cloud

Now they are a cloud company? HAHAHHAHAHAHHA! Who the heck would trust those momo's with enterprise workloads.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-meta-giving-up-on-cutting-edge-ai-wall-street-is-divided-over-potential-cloud-pivot-7c5ffc5d

It's the argument a company has to make if
they really never even boarded the Cloud train.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/06/11/ibm-thinks-your-data-is-too-stubborn-to-move-and-a/

Another beautiful day in the market: software companies are flying, AI names are glowing, cloud stocks are breathing fire and OpenText is politely digging downward like it has a strategic partnership with gravity.

At this point, the stock chart looks less like a technology company and more like a management performance review written by shareholders. Everyone else is selling future growth, AI excitement, and cloud confidence. OpenText is selling adjusted EBITDA, restructuring vocabulary, and the spiritual experience of watching ten years disappear from a portfolio.

But don’t worry. I’m sure another leadership memo will arrive soon explaining how this is all part of a bold transformation journey. Because apparently, when the stock falls while the sector rises, that’s not failure, that’s unlocking long-term value very, very slowly.

When other software companies are being rewarded for cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and recurring revenue, OpenText is somehow managing to look like a company that brought a fax machine to an AI conference. OTEX is around $20.65 USD today, with the stock still weak despite reporting Q3 FY2026 revenue of about $1.28B and cloud revenue growth of 6.6% year over year.

Alphabet shares declined after reports of job cuts. The company reduced positions within its cloud unit. This move aligns with reinvesting in AI growth areas. Some cloud workers and Google's Threat Intelligence Group members were affected. Alphabet regularly reviews internal structures to meet industry needs.

https://www.tradingview.com/news/gurufocus:0bbfb903f094b:0-alphabet-stock-slides-after-report-reveals-cloud-division-layoffs/

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4600557-ibm-google-team-up-to-provide-agentic-ai-solutions-to-enterprises

It certainly looks like IBM is exiting “enterprise cloud solutions”

The ORCL DP Dinosaur Bones and 22% a year support is being exposed.

OPED in today's WSJ. I think Verizon will likely see another big round of layoffs in the fall. SMH.

Algi Febri Sugita/Zuma Press

Two weeks ago I laid off more than 20% of my workforce. I didn’t do it because Cloudflare is struggling. We posted record revenue growth, have strong free cash flow and are adding an unprecedented number of customers around the world. I did it because business is changing, and to win the future, Cloudflare needs to change with it.

We haven’t found another example in U.S. business history of a public company growing at more than 30% that laid off more than 20% of its workforce. Yet what we did is likely going to become the norm over the next year. This is a story about artificial intelligence, but executives and commentators are misunderstanding how it will disrupt business and who will be affected.

To understand the issue, I went back to a book published in 1954, 20 years before I was born: Peter Drucker’s “The Practice of Management.” Drucker explores the different roles inside every business, which I would categorize as builders, sellers and measurers.

Builders create products. Sellers sell those products. Measurers do everything else: internal audit, revenue recognition, finance, legal, compliance, middle management, operations and on and on.

Contrary to what some analysts predict, builders aren’t going anywhere. If an engineer on my team can now be 10 times as productive, I’m going to hire as many as I can find.

Sellers, too, are safe from extinction. Humans still control budgets, and they want to buy from people who take the time to understand their needs, build trust and fix whatever goes wrong.

Measurers are also critical to a business, but different from the other two. The best are hard to find. They work tirelessly behind the scenes, don’t seek the recognition of a front-of-house role, and ideally have a perspective independent from the rest of the organization. Drucker argues that measuring business is important, but customers are earned through building and selling. The best businesses would maximize investment in those two functions.

AI isn’t coming for builders or sellers, but it is coming for measurers. Tireless, independent, efficient and available, AI systems can now measure an organization with a level of objective detail and precision that was previously impossible even for the best employees.

For Cloudflare, internal audit previously picked a handful of business risk areas to scrutinize each quarter. Now we’re moving to a system in which every business risk is audited continuously. We’re closing our books faster. We’re making fewer mistakes and catching the ones we do more reliably. And, as CEO, I’ve never had better tools to measure exactly how the business is performing, including identifying our rising stars.

The vast majority of those we laid off last week were measurers. We cut middle managers across the organization because AI allows us to have more direct reports per manager while still measuring and mentoring our teams effectively. We consolidated our operations functions into a single group that can support teams across the business, using AI to gain specific expertise when needed. We significantly reduced our marketing team, which, like in most companies, was teeming with measurers. Across our finance team, we found opportunities to consolidate and automate.

But the layoff wasn’t about reducing headcount. In fact, we have a record number of open positions. In coming years I expect our number of employees will continue to grow. With fewer people needed for measuring, we can now invest more in people in the areas that drive growth.

We received almost a million applicants for 1,111 paid internships this summer. The interns we hired are extremely qualified and AI-native. They’re all builders or sellers, and we expect that the majority will get full-time offers.

They’re the next generation who will invent ways to drive our business. With AI we can now better measure their contributions and accurately identify those who will be tomorrow’s leaders. AI isn’t the harbinger of bleak youth unemployment—it is quite the opposite.

AI won’t ki-l all jobs. But it will change every business. Ultimately, it will prove Drucker right. AI will allow us to better measure our organizations so the humans on our teams can focus on where they create and capture value: building and selling.

Mr. Prince is CEO of Cloudflare.

FIS is making fool of US based employees by providing Cloud Academy or Skill Builder etc.

The management has made clear that all the hiring will be done in India/ Philippines.

US based employees can spend time in learning, but they will never get chance to apply the gained knowledge.

FIS is providing this benefit, in case employees start class action that they were not provided growth opportunities. FIS will provide SkillBuilder / cloud Academy as cover to say that opportunities were provided

As the title suggests, rumor in my dept is it will primarily be people on cloud teams and sales.

Cloudflare announced layoffs for over a thousand employees. The company cited increased AI usage as a primary reason. Cloudflare's AI usage grew by over 600% in three months. The job cuts are not for cost-cutting or performance assessment. Cloudflare's stock dropped 18% following the announcement.

San Francisco, California

https://www.kron4.com/news/technology-ai/sf-tech-company-cloudflare-to-cut-over-a-thousand-jobs-cites-ai-as-reason/

We have Simon, the Mission CEO now. He is on the senior leadership team so at least we have a smart person in charge of things around here. I think the whole cloud thing is really going to finally take off!

In my opinion, that start of Humana shifting from being a great place to work to being not so great a place to work are the following three factors entering the scene of the corporation.

—DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion)
—Cloud & AI (Artificial Intelligence)
—Outsourcing (H1B, Overseas, Contracting)

There’s been a lot of discussion lately around compensation concerns. One potential path to address this is by transitioning to the Cloud Migration team under the Head of Cloud Transformation (A.C.). This group is strategically positioned within the organization and maintains strong alignment with executive leadership, including the CIO.

For those aiming to significantly increase their compensation, roles such as Technical Senior Product Manager or Principal Engineer within Cloud Transformation appear to offer substantial upside. Many individuals in these positions have recently received promotions, recognition awards like “Legends,” and compensation packages reportedly in the $300K–$500K range. Some team members also benefit from flexible, home-based arrangements, with less emphasis on traditional cloud delivery work.

Additionally, there seems to be less concern around return-to-office expectations for this group, as both the leader and their direct reports are viewed as operating within a more flexible or privileged setup. There are even instances where individuals have received top recognition despite not being directly involved in cloud delivery.

IBM is in a strong financial position, backed by consistent cash flow, disciplined capital allocation, and a well-managed balance sheet under CFO Jim Kavanaugh. The company continues to invest strategically in high-growth areas like AI and hybrid cloud while maintaining financial stability, showing that its transformation is being executed from a position of strength—not weakness.

SAP is in freefall because investors are reacting to weaker-than-expected cloud backlog growth and a softer 2026 cloud outlook, which raised fears that near-term growth is slowing. The selloff was also amplified by analyst downgrades/target cuts after SAP’s recent results. Is this doomsday for SAP?

If RTO policies are enforced with strict measurement, tracking, and compliance expectations across employees, why doesn’t the same rigor apply to Cloud leadership (Head of Cloud and his directs)?

GL17/GL18 leaders—many already significantly compensated from prior Amazon equity and long industry tenure—operate with materially less visible accountability, while execution is heavily dependent on engineering teams under them or contracting firms.

The pattern is consistent: delivery is externalized or engineering team , credit is cloud leadership , and accountability becomes diffused.

If operational discipline is the standard, it cannot be selective. It must apply uniformly across all levels—including senior leadership—based on measurable impact, not hierarchy.

Otherwise, it stops being governance and becomes structural protection of the top layer.

CK warned Thursday that the company’s AI transition would be as painful as its shift to the cloud.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-10/sap-extends-chief-people-officer-contract-after-bonus-complaints

The What IBM does today section is illuminating. . .

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/what-does-ibm-do

What do you think will be the impact for Cloud Software Group ?

there is a ton of chatter right now about software companies, saas, cloud and company valuations. valuations are dropping fast (e.g., ibm dropped 15% the other day, salesforce is underpressure, snow, etc.)

i am not sure if we fit into any of these categories (or we fit in all of them).

where do you see us 2 yrs from now? on top? the same? falling behind???

What functionality still runs on the mainframe and what has been ported to Cloud?

Cloud Service team should be fired. What a terrible account system they designed or managed…. Why is so complicated… And people in the team are rude, lazy and ignorant

Does logging into Cloud PC effect your time that is counted toward the 8 hour per day in office requirement? Have heard different things.

I’m curious about these numbers that are shared during the analyst meetings etc. Is there any breakbown of the number or percentages,of existing clients moving to the cloud, and net new clients signing contracts? That would really provide a health check. Is SAP merely cannibalizing the client base, or is there a reasonable amount of net new clients coming in?

All those supposedly great security and cost saving decisions by moving to the cloud without knowing what was being done or securing it made by Legg and Baich just keeps on giving... why didn't their heads roll while staff did?

https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/02/att-breach-data-resurfaces-with-new-risks-for-customers

Going to be a large number of Microsoft layoffs announced soon.

Looking at this article: https://www.indmoney.com/blog/us-stocks/oracle-layoffs-30000-employees-to-lose-jobs, here are the roles most affected by the upcoming layoffs:

Who Will be Impacted By Oracle Layoffs?

The layoffs are expected to primarily impact legacy software roles and overlapping support functions, while AI, cloud, and core enterprise teams are likely to remain relatively insulated.
Roles likely to face pressure

Legacy on-prem software support
Overlapping management layers
Non-core operations tied to older product lines

Roles likely to be protected or expanded

Cloud infrastructure engineering
AI and machine-learning teams
Enterprise sales and client delivery
Security, compliance, and data governance

This points to a reshaping of the workforce rather than a retreat from growth.

SAP Stock Drops 15% After Earnings. Europe’s Tech Darling Can’t Play With the Big Boys.

SAP stock tumbled Thursday after the German software company reported better-than-expected earnings but disappointed investors with weaker-than-anticipated cloud revenue growth.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/sap-earnings-stock-price-6e124de8

SAP’s American depositary receipts fell about 15% in early trading to roughly $200, putting the stock on track for its steepest one-day decline in more than five years. The S&P 500 was roughly flat.

The company reported fourth-quarter non-IFRS earnings of 1.62 euros per share on revenue of €9.68 billion, up 3% from a year earlier. Analysts had expected earnings of 1.51 euros per share on revenue of €9.75 billion, according to FactSet.

The primary concern for investors was SAP’s cloud business, which has benefited in recent years from demand tied to artificial intelligence. Cloud revenue rose 19% year over year to €5.61 billion, but came in slightly below Wall Street expectations of €5.64 billion.

For the current fiscal year, SAP forecast cloud revenue of between €25.8 billion and €26.2 billion. The midpoint of that range is slightly above analysts’ consensus estimate of €25.98 billion.

The company said several large customers, including Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce Holdings, signed deals during the quarter. Still, SAP acknowledged some hesitation among customers amid geopolitical uncertainty. Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam said the company saw deal slippage in the quarter due to rising geopolitical tensions.

SAP’s results followed a weak reaction a day earlier to Microsoft’s cloud earnings, which also raised concerns about slowing growth in the sector.

The company’s board authorized a new share buyback program of up to €10 billion, set to run from February 2026 through the end of 2027.

SAP is one of Europe’s largest technology companies, with a market value of about $267 billion. That is significantly smaller than Microsoft, but comparable to large U.S. software peers such as Oracle and Salesforce.

Through Wednesday’s close, SAP shares were down 9.1% for the year. Over the same period, Salesforce shares had fallen 9.4%, Microsoft was down 11%, and Oracle had dropped 37%.

Amazon inadvertently announces cloud unit layoffs in email to employees

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/01/27/amazon-inadvertently-sends-email-to-employees-confirming-wednesday-layoffs.html

Autodesk announced layoffs affecting approximately 1,000 employees. This impacts roughly 7% of its global staff. The action completes a multiyear sales restructuring. Autodesk anticipates $160 million in restructuring costs, mainly for severance. The company plans to reinvest savings into AI and cloud technologies.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/autodesk-layoffs-san-francisco-21309967.php

I was impacted by the recent layoff after nearly seven years as a cloud security engineer. During that time, I worked hands-on across architecture, automation, and platform security, often supporting end-to-end execution.

One reflection I’m sitting with is how, during reorganizations, decision-making can shift toward newer leadership roles that may not always have deep technical context — even when long-tenured engineers have been heavily involved in keeping systems running and helping teams ramp up.

Curious how others have seen this play out:
• How do experienced technical ICs stay effective as orgs change?
• In security teams, how much does deep technical ownership still factor into decisions today?

Appreciate any perspectives.

Does anyone know if the in office reporting is working correctly for cloud users? Does it show 8+ even if you didn’t stay that long?

When the bldg300 data center is finally (after 8+ years of false starts and lack of business case) in the cloud, the new ongoing costs will become apparent. And my prediction is that the executive level “surprise” at the true costs will be enormous. Of course there is no leaving the cloud once you are there at scale, so the issue will be figuring out how to pay for it. Some will say re-negotiation will be needed, but is likely unsuccessful with Microsoft as the provider. The cloud migration may result in a migration of more employees out of the company.

Its just comedy at this point. Fourth P1 ive seen this peak season where the entire Optum tech ecosystem cant hit endpoints, all from this vendor tech that we didnt need that ESRO forced everyone to switch to.

A P1 during peak season used to be rare, now its a almost weekly occurrence here. This company is a mess and is gonna lose all its customers

Hate the game, not the player...

If you’ve ever tried to keep all the flavours of SAS ticking over at scale, you’d have a bit more empathy for the hiding to nothing that team is on.

The model is properly broken, no doubt. But it isn't the staff... it’s the lack of joined-up thinking from the top—pushing offers that shouldn't even exist. The top brass will nod along and say there are issues, but point out that Cloud makes us $x00m a year. And they aren't wrong, unless they finish the sentence... it makes SAS hundres of millions but it should be making us billions.

SAS has been flat for 15 years. Let me state that again, SAS has been flat for 15 years... because the mentality you have is shared by the ELT... who don't get any steer or love from Dad. The cloud offer here is a shambles of execution... across the whole company, not just the division. Let me state that again, SAS has been flat for 15 years...

With that in mind, no need to stick the boot in. We should at least be decent to one another as we shift the deck chairs around... makes the time on a sinking ship a bit more bearable.

This deserves its own thread. OP:@12j+1kbnvhbm6

How is the landscape looking right now? Is it akin to the hunger games?

First thing is the cloud stuff. We were told to go full hog to the cloud so we did. Now the outages are insane, and leadership is regretting it for our area, but with on prem set for decomm, there is no turning back. Not to mention the costs are through the roof with offshore misconfiguring it and cranking up the bill.

Secondly is the AI stuff. Feels like every team is just publicly declaring they are cramming AI into everything, attempting to, and then failing and trying to cover it up.

Will Candyman actually face accountability for this disaster? I have yet to see a working demo or plan that made any sense since he took over.

I also was told yesterday that PW's organization is set to deploy "hundreds of AI agents" to production next year who will be giving us business and funding, which i frankly find extremeley hard to believe.

OpenAI won’t deliver $100B to Oracle, struggling itself. So no backlog no pay off of data center nor Stargate. The apps are being replaced by smaller SaaS solutions much cheaper. The AWS and Google connection ki-ls the rest multi cloud. AI theme is not financially valid and AI agents in Apps are just another feature. Nobody new buys apps because AI agents… that’s true.
Time will tell.

Grok Avaya Update December 2025
-- Quoting a November 2025 discussion board that details about 19 U.S.-based cuts on November 17, attributed to leadership decisions and talent exodus in sales and design teams.
-- Avaya, a communications software firm, has executed multiple workforce reductions in 2025, including voluntary exit packages in September and over 30% staff cuts at its India hub in October, amid restructuring post-2023 bankruptcy
-- A separate Union-employee specific layoff announcement from October targets an unspecified number effective December 8, 2025, reflecting ongoing cost pressures in the #cloud and #AI-driven tech sector despite $1 billion annual revenue.

https://www.arctera.com/press-releases/cloud-software-group-completes-acquisition-of-arctera