S3E01: Solving Problems With Technology Instead of Creating Them

Episode Summary:

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 1 of Don't Break the Bank. In this episode, we speak with Joe Baguley, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, EMEA, at VMware. In his own words, Joe is the connection between R&D and the field, our customers, and our partners.  He drives all things around that, in terms of where we're going, what we're doing, what's next, and leading the technical community within VMware in EMEA.

Joe shares his insights on what the customers he meets with are telling him, the future of IT, and the role of VMware transformation in the cloud era. He discusses the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation, the importance of security and compliance, and how organizations can leverage technology to stay ahead of the competition. He digs into the use of the cloud and its future adoption and whether it has gone too far.  He also talks about how sustainability is becoming an economic requirement, as well as the rise and expanded use of automation in business.

3 Takeaways:

• Digital transformation is not just about technology, but also about people and processes. Companies need to develop a clear strategy, invest in the right skills, and build a culture of innovation to succeed in this rapidly evolving landscape.
• Security and compliance are critical components of digital transformation. Organizations must integrate these requirements into their plans from the outset to avoid costly and damaging security breaches in the future.
• The role of the CTO is evolving from a purely technical role to a more strategic one. As technology becomes more central to business strategy, the CTO is becoming a more strategic partner to the CEO and other business leaders. This requires a different skillset and mindset than traditional IT, including a deep understanding of business strategy and the ability to communicate effectively with non-technical stakeholders.

Key Quotes:

• "We're moving from a world where infrastructure was defined by hardware to a world where infrastructure is defined by software. The rise of cloud computing and software-defined infrastructure has enabled us to abstract the underlying hardware and treat it as a pool of resources that can be dynamically allocated to meet the needs of applications and workloads. This has made IT more agile, flexible, and scalable, and has enabled organizations to move faster and innovate more rapidly than ever before."
• "We need to think about security as an enabler of innovation, not a barrier to it. In today's world, security is not just a technical issue, it's a business issue. Customers and partners are increasingly asking about security and privacy as part of their due diligence process, and they want to work with companies that can demonstrate a strong security posture. By building security into our products and processes from the start, we can differentiate ourselves in the market and create new opportunities for growth."
• "One of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today is how to balance the need for innovation with the need for operational excellence. It's not enough to just have a great idea, you also need to be able to execute on it reliably and at scale. This requires a different set of skills and processes than traditional IT, and it requires a culture that values both innovation and operational excellence. By balancing these two priorities, we can create sustainable value for our organizations and our customers."

Best Career Advice:

• Focus on building relationships and collaborating with others. Success is not just about what you know, but who you know and how well you can work with them. This is especially important in the technology industry, where innovation often happens at the intersection of different disciplines and perspectives. You need to be able to communicate effectively, build trust, and work together to achieve common goals.

Bio:

Joe Baguley

Company: Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, EMEA, VMware

Joe Baguley is VMware’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for EMEA, joining VMware in July 2011. He helps develop and communicate VMware’s strategy and vision with customers and partners, using his wealth of experience to help organisations reduce costs and better support users and business needs. As part of VMware’s Office of the CTO and its representative in EMEA, Joe assists VMware’s customers in understanding how to use today’s advances in technology to deliver real business impact as well as working with them to inform VMware’s R&D processes.

Joe is a recognised leader within the European technical community and considered one of the top 50 most influential leaders in UK IT. He won an award for data leadership in ‘Infrastructure & Protection’ in the 2016 Data 50 Awards and appeared in the Computer Weekly UKtech50, the Information Age Top 50 Data Leaders and the Cloud World Series’ Cloud 100 community board. He has played a key role in CloudCamp and other events, communicating how cloud technology fits into the broader IT landscape. Joe previously spent ten years at Quest Software where he was CTO of EMEA, shaping its direction and strategy.

In addition, Joe is also on several advisory boards at the European Commission and ETSI and is a founding committee member of the Data Centre Specialist Group at the British Computer Society which helped shape the European Code of Conduct for Data Centres.

Joe is based in the UK but his remit is across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

For more information:

Follow Joe on Twitter - @JoeBaguley

and on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joebaguley

Joe’s most recent blog: https://blogs.vmware.com/be/2023/02/2023-top-it-observations-by-joe-baguley-cto-emea-vmware/

------------

About the Hosts

Matthew O'Neill is a husband, dad, geek and Industry Managing Director, Advanced Technology Group in the Office of the CTO at VMware.

You can find Matthew on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Brian Hayes is an audiophile, dad, builder of sheds, maker of mirth, world traveler and EMEA Financial Services Industry Lead at VMware.

You can find Brian on LinkedIn.

‍