Mark Hurd's video: Mark Hurd at Oracle OpenWorld 2018: Accelerating Growth in the Cloud

Oracle Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd spoke with geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer on the impact of contemporary global events on the IT industry during his first Oracle OpenWorld 2018 keynote, titled “Accelerating Growth in the Cloud.” Hurd also spoke with Oracle customers about their success in transitioning to the cloud and solving today’s business challenges with innovative cloud-based solutions. Mark Hurd was first joined by Ian Bremmer to discuss geopolitical trends across the globe and their impact on IT. Bremmer is a political scientist and the founder of the Eurasia Group. Their discussion opened with an overview of the current global political situation, then focused on China’s economic growth and digital infrastructure investment. Hurd then revisited some predictions from previous keynotes, where he noted that recent analyst reports are in line with his estimates on the consolidation of market share among SaaS providers and a decrease in enterprise data centers, as well as the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into cloud services. Cloud adoption is in fact accelerating, said Hurd. The next segment of Hurd’s keynote showcased the potential of leveraging AI capabilities embedded into cloud solutions, creating a new innovation and productivity phase. He cited examples from several cloud applications, noting that AI-generated reports from Oracle ERP Cloud can save analysts 30 percent of their time. Hurd also highlighted the potential of integrating blockchain technology into applications. With 65 percent of supply chain managers’ time spent manually tracking goods, supply chain applications that offer blockchain functionality could free up more time for innovation and strategy while improving visibility throughout the supply chain. Hurd was then joined by Cummins CIO Sherry Aaholm to discuss the company’s implementation of Oracle’s cloud technology. Aaholm noted that Cummins has innovated its product offering through alternative and renewable power, given the increased focus on emissions regulation in the market. This evolution has brought new opportunities for customers, such as route optimization, made possible through increased data collection and analysis. This shift has highlighted the importance of IT across the company. Navindra Yadav of Tetration Analytics joined Hurd for a conversation on cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Yadav noted their usage of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) brought a 60x performance improvement to their work. This change also allowed Tetration to pass along cost savings to customers. Hurd then discussed AT&T’s evolution into a modern media company with Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Business. Arroyo identified the need for companies to maintain digital relevance to compete in today’s markets. AT&T Business has moved approximately 80 percent of its applications to the cloud, shifting from a transactional model to a more strategic focus. He emphasized that AT&T Business and Oracle are working together to push the envelope as they move AT&T databases into the cloud at an incredible scale, advancing autonomous features and capabilities while increasing performance and lowering costs. “Disruption is the new normal,” noted Arroyo, citing AT&T’s goal for their network to be 75 percent software-based by 2020 as part of a plan to transition their network to the cloud. The two CEOs also discussed the increase in cybersecurity threats and innovative techniques in information management. Hurd’s keynote concluded with his thoughts on the industry’s future with predictions for IT in 2025, including advances in artificial intelligence and automation. He predicted that all cloud applications would include AI by 2025 and that 85 percent of customer interaction would be automated. Finally, Hurd predicted that 60 percent of IT jobs available in 2025 have not yet been invented. Noting the advancements in robots, AI, the internet of things (IoT) and more, Hurd described new occupations such as robot supervisor, smart-city technology designer, and AI-assisted healthcare technician that are right around the corner. Hurd emphasized that automation would not replace all existing jobs, but actually create new career opportunities in the future. “I believe there will be more people in IT,” he said, “working on a different set of tasks.”