Welcome to The Wrap Podcast – where Bridget Courneya, Aaron Back, and John Foley recap their week and the latest from the business and tech market. Today’s episode is brought to you by the Predictions Edition of the Winter 2021/2022 Journal. In this episode, the team reflects on major moments from the 2021 year and looks ahead at the year to come.
Highlights
01:16 – The biggest highlight of the year: the Acceleration Economy was launched in 2021! Over this past year, Acceleration Economy has grown – the team, the channels, the Analyst Network, Battlegrounds, the Journal, and more.
02:49 – In the Winter 2021/2022 Predictions Journal, our analysts share their unfiltered prognostications about what to expect in the year ahead.
03:27 – There were several events this year, many of which are available now on-demand:
- Industry Cloud Battleground
- Tomorrow’s CFO
- Automating Finance Battleground
- Community Summit North America 2021
- State of Tax Automation 2021
- The Future of Finance Automation
- Industry Cloud Battleground Week
04:19 – We merged with Cloud Wars in August 2021, welcoming Bob Evans to the team.
05:20 – The Battleground events will continue in 2022! In January, Acceleration Economy will host the Cloud Database Battleground digital event. The Higher Education Battleground digital event will occur in February. Also, the Cybersecurity Battleground will be in March.
05:56 – Acceleration Economy launched channels spanning various themes, including:
- Cyber Security as a Business Enabler hosted by Chris Hughes and Robert Wood
- Data Revolution hosted by John Foley
- Enterprise AI Impact hosted by Aaron Back
- Future Office of the CFO hosted by Bridget Courneya
- Acceleration Economy en Español hosted by Pablo Moreno
08:19 – There has been increased breaking news pertaining to Industry Clouds. For instance, within the last couple of weeks, Oracle announced plans to acquire Cerner.
08:55 – Recently, John Foley published an article covering venture funding of cloud databases. Also, he broke down funding in 2021 for 10 database startups.
12:27 – To stay up-to-date on newly-released content and upcoming events in 2022, subscribe to the Acceleration Economy Newsletter using the homepage sign-up. Also, you can follow along through the Acceleration Economy LinkedIn page.
14:26 – Aaron shared his recent Enterprise AI Impact Report, outlining how AI is going to be a major key player in 2022.
14:50 – In the coming year, industry lines will become more blurry as Bob Evans covers in his Industry Cloud Predictions piece.
15:19 – Save the Date for Cloud Wars Expo in June. The Community Summit in-person event will also return in 2022.
16:38 – As mentioned in the Predictions Journal, Bob Evans suggests that the term “digital transformation” is hitting its retirement age. Now, we are moving towards the term “digital optimization”—promoting the maximization of an investment rather than making a switch to a new tool.
17:38 – There has been an acquisition boom, particularly in the cloud space. How are vendors going to monopolize the market? What role will startups play? Which key players will continue making big investments?
