3. Mike Walkey, Veritas

Our 2023 cloud predictions also made the top of the list of most popular stories for the week. This included prognostications from Mike Walkey, channels and alliances chief at Veritas Technologies.  

“Widespread cloud adoption has triggered a rapid pace of innovation across the IT industry, setting the stage for GSIs to extend their capabilities and have a major seat at the table in the new year,” Walkey said.

He made waves with the following prediction:

“Cloud providers are continuing to innovate at a breakneck pace and as a result, organizations are struggling to keep up with the latest developments. To keep pace with competitors on their cloud transformation journeys, businesses will look to outside influencers with the experience, knowledge and connections to help implement transformational IT strategies across their organizations in a timely manner. With solid reputations in the industry and with the experience to back it up, GSIs will play a larger role in providing strategic counsel and services capabilities to empower their customers to choose the right cost-optimized solutions and design successful modern architectures. In 2023, GSIs are well-positioned to step up and help organizations capitalize on their cloud initiatives.”

Kelly Teal lays out several more cloud outlooks here.