Cloud Wars
  • Home
  • Top 10
  • CW Minute
  • CW Podcast
  • Categories
    • AI and Copilots
    • Innovation & Leadership
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data
  • Member Resources
    • Cloud Wars AI Agent
    • Digital Summits
    • Guidebooks
    • Reports
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Tech Analysts
    • Marketing Services
  • Summit NA
  • Dynamics Communities
  • Ask Copilot
Twitter Instagram
  • Summit NA
  • Dynamics Communities
  • AI Copilot Summit NA
  • Ask Cloud Wars
Twitter LinkedIn
Cloud Wars
  • Home
  • Top 10
  • CW Minute
  • CW Podcast
  • Categories
    • AI and CopilotsWelcome to the Acceleration Economy AI Index, a weekly segment where we cover the most important recent news in AI innovation, funding, and solutions in under 10 minutes. Our goal is to get you up to speed – the same speed AI innovation is taking place nowadays – and prepare you for that upcoming customer call, board meeting, or conversation with your colleague.
    • Innovation & Leadership
    • CybersecurityThe practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks.
    • Data
  • Member Resources
    • Cloud Wars AI Agent
    • Digital Summits
    • Guidebooks
    • Reports
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Tech Analysts
    • Marketing Services
    • Login / Register
Cloud Wars
    • Login / Register
Home » Next-Gen Cloud Barbarians at the Gate: Walmart and Goldman Sachs
Cloud

Next-Gen Cloud Barbarians at the Gate: Walmart and Goldman Sachs

Bob EvansBy Bob EvansJune 21, 20225 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
Walmart and Goldman Sachs Cloud
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

The greatest growth market the world has ever known has convinced the world’s largest corporation and one of the world’s top financial services firms to charge into the Cloud Wars with next-gen cloud offerings that will jolt an industry that’s grown accustomed to being the jolter rather than the joltee.

To the best of my knowledge, neither Walmart nor Goldman Sachs has released any formal announcement of their plans, but in a bright neon sign of our fast-paced digital times, both companies revealed their striking intentions through recruitment ads for world-class talent to (a) build the stuff and (b) sell it.

When globally renowned companies of the stature of Walmart and Goldman Sachs happen to decide to dive headlong into a market that is new to them and represents a wild revision of their traditional business model, then I’d say it’s very safe to assume that many other companies are going to follow.

The motivation for the gate-storming by these next-gen cloud barbarians — and while they’re really not barbarians in objective reality, they might well be perceived as that by the traditional cloud vendors located inside those gates — has multiple layers:

  • Both Walmart and Goldman Sachs are, like every other company on Earth, aggressively seeking new revenue streams that current channels and go-to-market approaches cannot reach;
  • Both are witnessing an extraordinary shift in how customers — even long-time and deeply loyal customers — are moving to digital-first evaluation, purchasing, and experiences;
  • Both are seeing big new opportunities to take their existing and highly differentiated assets and capabilities to market through new channels and partners;
  • Both are eager to be on the front edge of the cloud revolution rather than being sealed off from it by upstart newbies; and
  • Both have aggressively embraced the notion that under the right leadership and vision, IT in general and the cloud, in particular, can be a powerful source of innovation and culture-building and revenue growth rather than as a cost center to be pulverized over time.

So, exactly what the heck kinds of cloud games are these crazy cats going to be playing?

Goldman Sachs Enters the Financial Services Cloud Revolution

For Goldman Sachs, its shiny new object is the — and you have to admire the spartan and rather antiseptic nature of this name — Financial Cloud. I went into this in some detail last week in a Cloud Wars Minute video called Goldman Sachs Jumps into the Cloud Wars and in a more in-depth article on the 153-year-old icon’s revolutionary move into the cloud as a full-fledged B2B vendor of cloud products and services.

Here’s an excerpt from that exclusive analysis of the cloud aspirations of Goldman Sachs:

So, a quick recap:

  1. Goldman Sachs is creating a Financial Cloud that it will sell to businesses and that will offer a range of financial services and expertise. The Upshot: Goldman Sachs is a cloud vendor!
  2. The launch of that cloud is expected to turn some of Goldman Sachs’ IT spending from costs into revenue streams. The Upshot: IT is increasingly becoming a revenue driver rather than a measly cost center that needs to be pulverized!
  3. Goldman Sachs is now describing as “infrastructure” the banking, trading, and risk-management capabilities that have built it into a highly regarded firm with a market cap of $97 billion, annual revenue of almost $60 billion, and 45,100 employees. The Upshot: reimagine your business rapidly and aggressively, or your competitors will make you wish you had!
  4. And, Goldman Sachs has embraced Walmart as a partner. The Upshot: we are entering a very different world in which what you did in the past can mean little or nothing in regard to what you need to do in the future! (End of excerpt.)

Walmart: Turning Its Retail-IT Investments Into Revenue

Three months ago, I shared the rather stunning news that Walmart is aggressively gearing up to create and sell SaaS apps focused on retail and commerce. The prospect list will be, obviously, other retailers — and while we can wonder why any retailer that competes with Walmart would want to give money to its biggest competitor, I have no doubt that Walmart’s done extensive homework and figures that many retail companies would like to operate as effectively as Walmart does.

As I wrote in my March 22 analysis of what this move by Walmart means:

The stunning initiative from the world’s largest corporation came to light within a LinkedIn recruiting post from Walmart headlined “Head of Enterprise Sales, Walmart Commerce Technologies.”

While the job description did not offer many specifics about the types of products Walmart Commerce Technologies would be offering, some of the wording in the job profile made the retail giant’s industry-cloud intentions perfectly clear:

  • “As a part of Walmart Technology Commercialization, you’ll help bring a billion-dollar portfolio of cutting-edge technology developed and used at Walmart to market.”
  • “This opportunity will give you a foothold into the fastest growing technologies on the planet including Omnichannel retail solutions, SAAS platforms, artificial intelligence and computer vision.”
  • “This person will lead and build out the Enterprise sales team for Walmart Commerce Technologies group enabling other retailers to leverage technologies developed and used by world’s largest retailer.” (End of excerpt.)

Final Thoughts

While the ambitious and compelling cloud strategies of both Goldman Sachs and Walmart are profound in their own rights, the larger implication is that we will no doubt see more and more “non-tech” companies begin making similar expansive moves into the cloud market.

They’ll be doing that for two reasons: first, to meet the rapidly evolving and escalating digital demands of their customers; and second, because they want a piece of the greatest growth market the world has ever known.


Want to gain more insights from Cloud Wars Expo?
Starting on July 20th, more than 40 hours of on-demand cloud education content will be available for free to Acceleration Economy Subscribers.

CLIck here to get your cloud wars expo on-demand pass noW
Cloud Wars Expo header image

Cloud Wars Cloud Wars Archive featured financial services Industries Industry Clouds retail Walmart
Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
Founderuser

Bob Evans

Founder
Cloud Wars

Areas of Expertise
  • AI
  • Cloud
  • Digital Business
  • Innovation
  • Leadership
  • LinkedIn

Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans actively analyzes the Cloud and AI categories through video reports, in-depth analyses, and interviews with the Cloud and AI market’s leaders and innovators. He’s also the creator of the Cloud Wars Top 10, a ranking and ongoing analysis of the world's most influential tech companies driving digital business and the digital economy. Bob is recognized as a world-class strategic communicator focused on emerging business strategy, disruptive innovation, and forward-looking leadership.

  Contact Bob Evans ...

Related Posts

AWS Data Centers Opening in Coal Country: ‘AI-Industrialization’

June 24, 2025

Larry Ellison Declares Oracle Will Be #1 in Cloud Databases, Apps, and AI Data Centers

June 23, 2025

Larry Ellison’s Oracle To-Do List

June 23, 2025

IBM Tackles AI Data Complexity with New watsonx.data Integration and Intelligence Software

June 20, 2025
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts
  • AWS Data Centers Opening in Coal Country: ‘AI-Industrialization’
  • Larry Ellison Declares Oracle Will Be #1 in Cloud Databases, Apps, and AI Data Centers
  • Larry Ellison’s Oracle To-Do List
  • IBM Tackles AI Data Complexity with New watsonx.data Integration and Intelligence Software
  • Enterprises Ramp Up Use of Multiple AI Models, Third-Party Apps, and AI-Native Innovators

  • Ask Cloud Wars AI Agent
  • Tech Guidebooks
  • Industry Reports
  • Newsletters

Join Today

Most Popular Guidebooks

Accelerating GenAI Impact: From POC to Production Success

November 1, 2024

ExFlow from SignUp Software: Streamlining Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and Business Central with AP Automation

September 10, 2024

Delivering on the Promise of Multicloud | How to Realize Multicloud’s Full Potential While Addressing Challenges

July 19, 2024

Zero Trust Network Access | A CISO Guidebook

February 1, 2024

Advertisement
Cloud Wars
Twitter LinkedIn
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Get In Touch
  • Marketing Services
  • Do not sell my information
© 2025 Cloud Wars.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

  • Login
Forgot Password?
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.