I’ve recently taken up fly fishing and it’s more complicated than I expected. There’s a whole host of variables to factor in: stream flow, temperature, depth, seams, riffles, pools. Not to mention a dizzying variety of flies and the puzzle of selecting one that effectively imitates a particular insect. It’s a mixture of relaxation and frustration. Connecting with nature and cursing at knots. Muttering absurd phrases like “that looks like some fishy pocket water, maybe I’ll try a hopper dropper with a chubby Chernobyl and a bead-headed pheasant tail” while standing alone in a crystal-clear mountain stream.
There’s one variety of fly called a streamer, which mimics small fish the bigger fish like to eat. When fishing with a streamer, you make your cast, let the fly flutter in the current, and strip it back to tempt an opportunistic trout. One tip for increasing your odds? Add a little wiggle action to the fly during your retrieve. Fish love the wiggle.
As it turns out, the humble wiggle can also be a successful tactic in your social media marketing. In a stream of static social posts, a touch of motion can be just the thing to motivate scrollers to bite on your content. At 2A, we call these posts wiggles. These short GIFs perform exceptionally well at reeling in traffic and linking to long-form content. A recent series we created for the Microsoft Power Platform team gained a cascade of impressions on LinkedIn and Twitter—and no one had to put on waders or spend hours standing in a cold river.
Looking to cast your content further on social? The marketing guides here at 2A know how to read the water and help you land the big ones.
Suzanne Calkins, a senior designer at 2A, always knew she wanted to follow a creative path. After earning her degree in studio art, she first worked as a studio assistant to professional artists. But something was missing. “I was drawn to educational environments and the community-building aspects of art,” she says. This landed her in the role of junior designer at a music and performing arts school.
Driven by the desire to contribute, Suzanne also took a part-time job at a community arts nonprofit, which required her to commute hours from her home in Los Angeles to Joshua Tree and other small towns in California. She fell in love with those small desert and mountain towns and eventually left the city to settle in one of them. “I wanted to feel connected to the work I was doing and the effect it was having in the community,” she adds. “I can feel this impact much better in small towns. I ended up in a town where I could experiment and try a lot of different things when it comes to community building and the arts.”
After a detour in environmental education, Suzanne found her way back to art as a freelance graphic designer. Eventually, she found 2A, whose community-centered values reflect her own. A natural collaborator, Suzanne was drawn to 2A’s culture. “I was impressed by how well everyone worked together,” she notes.
A collaborative approach to design
Suzanne enjoys the camaraderie of the creative brainstorming process. She also appreciates 2A’s approach to design projects. “Coming into a team with good processes in place and great communication has allowed me to fall back in love with graphic design,” she explains.
A great listener, she delights in engaging with her clients, learning their vision, and understanding the emotional impact they want to make. “I love this phase because it allows me to pull in the storytelling element,” she says. She also has a knack for seeing the big picture while also managing the details—a skillset she honed as a freelance designer.
Suzanne draws on her community-building skills when feeling out the aesthetic direction her clients want to go in—innovative and experimental, stylized, techie, human-centered, or something else—even if they don’t initially know. “Sometimes clients have a hard time verbalizing exactly what they want, so my role is to guide the conversation in a way that pulls out the core of what they’re trying to say,” she says. She then collaborates with fellow 2A designers to bring those ideas to life—whether it’s an infographic or ebook, or a full-blown visual identity.
Finding inspiration everywhere
Outside of work, Suzanne finds inspiration in the natural environment that surrounds her home near the Sierra Nevada foothills. She also enjoys volunteering at her local radio station, where she hosts a show that spotlights talented, lesser-known artists. “I love nerding out about music—going to live shows and finding new artists to listen to. DJing is a nice way to stay involved in my community and share the things that creatively inspire me,” she says.
Though Suzanne’s background is eclectic, collaborative storytelling and the arts are common themes. As she puts it, “I aspire to live a creatively fulfilling life, and working at 2A is a big part of that.”
Let’s get right to it. Things are looking up, but the 2023 macroeconomic climate started less than peppy. Tech layoffs in the first four months of 2023 exceeded 168K—that’s higher than all of FY 2022. Many business investments are paused. Yet, regardless of the size of your payroll, you can’t skimp on innovation. You can’t deliver less to your shareholders, customers, and team. So how do you do more without investing in a new tool or hiring an FTE? You need a cheer squad that can put that “rah rah” back in your workload. Need to do more with L-E-S-S? Now is the time to hire the B-E-S-T.
You’re busy. TLDR, it’s a good time to reach out to 2A:
We have the experience you want to hire:
Engage with a professional team of B2B tech experts, no employee onboarding required.
Work with storytellers, designers, consultants, and expert program managers that are handpicked for your project.
Rely on our practiced, tailored approach to asset and campaign creation.
We have the time you don’t:
Tell us what your marketing goals are, then sit back and trust the guidance of your 2A consultant.
Your consultant will bring you in at each stage. We’ll show you what we’ve been working on by set deadlines.
We thrive on feedback and can iterate with stakeholders or meet with SMEs for you.
We’re here when you need us (and only when you need us):
Connect with our bi-coastal team for breezy collaboration across time zones. You pick the platform (Microsoft Teams, Amazon Chime, Zoom, Slack).
Add more assets to our workstream or change priorities. We’ll work with you to get it done.
Reach out any time—we’re waiting for you.
Resources might be limited, put us in, coach.
At 2A, our expert team of creatives, project managers, and consultants form the perfect pyramid to power your marketing with fresh eyes and a lot of experience. Our number one passion is supporting the tech marketing goals of our clients and cultivating top talent by making 2A a great place to work. 2A is woman-owned business with a cup-winning culture. And, at our virtual table, everyone can sit with us. Let’s get started.
AWS is bleeding dudes!!! The dude that oversees AWS data centers globally peaced out abruptly—with no public explanation—after 13 years at the company. This comes at the same time as Puneet Chandok’s resignation; he was the head of AWS in India and South Asia. No update as to where these dudes are going, if anywhere.
Investors expressed concern over Microsoft’s (and Apple’s) unprecedented influence over the S&P 500—ya see, the two added $1T to their market value this year. This comes just after Microsoft announced it didn’t have the budget to give raises in 2023. Microsoft is practically cutting bologna slices in half to survive over there, huh.
Microsoft is calling upon the government to establish a regulatory body for AI, including licensing requirements for operating the most powerful AI technology. I’m sorry, you want the GOVERNMENT to oversee AI? Is this the same government that asked Mark Zuckerberg questions like “When I use the Google, can Facebook hear my advertisements on Alexa?”
The FTC says Microsoft violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act when it collected personal information about children who signed up for its Xbox gaming system. The cloud giant will pay $20M to settle the claim. So, it looks like this Activision acquisition is off to a great start.
PSYCH no it’s not. The FTC requested a temporary block on the deal and a judge granted it. This is huge because if this deal does not go through by July 18, Microsoft would have to pay Activision $3B dollars. Do you know how many violations of the Children’s Protection Act that would be? 150 violations.
AWS is Hungary for some European real estate and has opened an office in Budapest ::overly aggressive elbow nudge to make sure you acknowledge my word play::
For its first-ever fintech accelerator based in Africa, AWS has selected 25 startups in pre-seed and seed stage. Fun fact: of the seven unicorn startups to emerge from Africa, six are fintechs.
Japan’s NEC Corporation has expanded its strategic collaboration with AWS to include solution development, AWS training for NEC employees, and usage of AWS Direct Connect for hybrid environments.
Asia-Pacific BetterPlace is collaborating with Microsoft to “transform the employee experience” for frontline workers. It will use Microsoft’s enterprise Cloud and AI platform to assist with onboarding, compliance, payroll, and vendor management.
Wheelin’ and dealin’
Cantaloupe, everyone’s least favorite in a fruit salad but also a publicly traded software company, has moved to AWS. “We’ve experienced nearly zero downtime since moving to AWS,” their spokesperson said, inviting hackers everywhere.
A few months ago, search and analytics engine company Elastic was all like “Get off my lawn!” when it won a heated legal dispute against AWS. But that’s in the past now. They did some Ayahuasca together and decided to strategically collaborate to advance customers’ cloud journeys and do GTM stuff. Elastic also achieved its AWS Security Competency.
To accelerate healthcare IT, AWS is working with the Interoperability Institute to launch Interop.WORLD, a virtual innovation center, to “address the most pressing healthcare challenges of our time.” So…is this virtual innovation center going to rein in health insurance lobbying and big pharma, or pay nursing school tuition? No? Just information technology? Great. Can’t wait.
Legal, media, and accounting conglomerate Thomson Reuters is investing $100 million a year into AI, starting with integrating Microsoft 365, Copilot, and other AI tools into its legal products and productivity suite.
Multinational mining company BHP is improving “copper recovery” (do pickpockets “recover my wallet”?) in Chile using AI-based recommendations from the Azure platform.
New stuff
While voicing that we need to stem the tide of AI-driven human destruction, Microsoft’s Build event was full of AI tools for developers to “accelerate AI breakthroughs.” A reporter covering Build says Microsoft is “sprinkling OpenAI everywhere” to keep software engineers engaged.
You may be familiar with the AWS Snowball device, but there’s a new member in the Snow family. (Not you, JOHN, who just WALKED AWAY FROM YOUR RIGHTFUL THRONE.) Only available to the US military, “Snowblade” is a dense device that has all the mega compute power and storage that AWS loves to brag about PLUS it can withstand extreme temperatures, vibrations, and shocks.
Microsoft has released Microsoft Fabric, “an end-to-end, unified analytics platform that brings together all the data and analytics tools that organizations need.”
Another new product announced at Build is Microsoft Mesh, a mixed reality communication and collaboration platform. It’s in private preview. Is anybody actually asking for this stuff? Like, I don’t need to give status updates in a 3D environment. Enough already.
Amazon Security Lake, which helps customers centralize security data and simplify its management, is now available. Kyndryl and AWS have already collaborated on a threat intelligence platform that is powered by Amazon Security Lake.
Palantir, the lovechild of the CIA and some billionaires, has released its Foundry for Manufacturing on AWS. Panasonic is already using it.
Best Friends Forever
No surprise here, but AWS is “very focused” on getting partners to do generative AI stuff so it doesn’t have to. The plan is to continue to release relevant offerings, such as Amazon Bedrock and EC Inf2 instances, to help partners build generative AI thingamabobs.
But for every naysayer there seems to be three yea-sayers, starting with our friends at CrowdStrike and Automation Anywhere, which are all building generative AI solutions for cybersecurity and deployments, respectively. Microsoft Partner news:
Fraud detection company BioCatch has made its biometric intelligence solutions available for Mcirosoft’s Cloud for Financial Services.
Options Technology, which provides cloud-enabled managed services, achieved a Microsoft Solutions Partner Security designation.
Tech company Lumen is preparing to launch its Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams Phone. AWS Partner news:
Microsoft sounded the alarm that a Chinese hacking group has compromised critical US cyber infrastructure to gather intelligence. The group is named “Volt Tycoon”—cool name, NOT cool purpose. In response, China said, um, actually, YOU GUYS are the “champion of hacking”…and all of a sudden, this tension has turned into us throwing each other a bunch of compliments and kudos about how good we all are at being bad. I kinda like it. No, YOU have the most talented, strategic tech minds on Earth! NO, YOU DO!
AWS plans to invest nearly $13B in its presence in India, a key overseas market for the cloud provider, by 2030. It will create jobs in engineering, construction, and telecom.
Next door, Southeast Asia is seeing a surge in public cloud adoption. Get ready for those 1 a.m. meetings, Seattle. I’m gonna have to take my mouthguard out and everything.
Latin America is also on the AWS radar. While Brazil is its biggest market, the company is driving digital transformation through channel partners in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico.
Now let’s travel to the crumbling late-stage capitalist house of cards known as the United States. Originally, Oregon wanted to stick to its sustainable ways and was mulling whether or not to approve some more AWS carbon-spewing, energy-sucking data centers. Not only did Oregon approve five of them, but it also threw in $1B in tax breaks. ‘Cause it’s too late anyway, guys. It’s too late.
Microsoft has made concessions to appease EU regulators following complaints from Slack. The cloud giant will now charge different prices for Office with Teams and without Teams.
Good lord, the EU is on Microsoft like white on rice because all their competitors are tattling. Next target is Microsoft Azure, which has received a variety of complaints that include price gouging and restrictive licensing terms.
Gossip (for nerds)
Microsoft announced that “due to tough economic conditions” (which somehow include surpassing analyst expectations on the most recent earnings??) there will be no raises this year. But there will be bonuses, stock awards, and promotions.
These tough economic conditions for Microsoft must also include the $69B Activision Blizzard acquisition, which was FINALLY approved. The green light came after Microsoft agreed to some notable concessions.
Google doesn’t want to feel left behind following Microsoft’s Chat GPT/Bing integration. After the little (and by little I mean outrageously expensive) snafu with its AI, Google is now rolling out its AI to its core search engine, making this writer wonder how much meth the Google chef is sprinkling on all that free food. It’s like Salt Bae, but with meth.
If Google won’t be responsible then Microsoft will, surely. After gutting what was essentially its responsible AI team, the company wants to…hire a responsible AI team? I’m serious.
Wheelin’ and dealin’
Scepter—a self-proclaimed air monitoring entity—and ExxonMobil are working with AWS to develop a data analytics platform for measuring methane emissions in the United States. Since an oil company is involved, I feel completely confident that these measurements will be honest and exact. Because really, isn’t that what Exxon is known for? Honesty?
Enterprise cloud data management company Informatica is expanding its partnership with AWS to include GTM efforts, vertical solutions, and more integrations across data, analytics, and AI.
Microsoft is making like Amazon and doling out cloud credits to startups. “Pegasus” is an extension of Microsoft’s Startup Founders Hub and is a two-year program that goes beyond credits and into advice and stuff. Lots of advice. And sales help.
NVIDIA’s hardware has powered the rise of generative AI, including for Microsoft, but now the cloud giant is looking to get cozy with AMD to improve GPU capability. The details are scant but I SHALL keep an eye on this.
Time for a four-way starring Microsoft, Dell, VMware, and Red Hat. The foursome wants to help improve multi-cloud management and mobility of distributing apps and data via Dell’s Apex multi-cloud services portfolio.
New stuff
AWS has improved the price performance of its Amazon Aurora relational database and increased cost predictability by optimizing its data input and output operations.
Private access to the AWS management console is now in general preview. It’s a security feature that lets users limit access to the console from their VPC. Basically, the bouncer won’t let you into the club without the right IP address.
Getting into da club takes me to: IDs may be headed for the circular file. Since we all want to live in Blade Runner 2049, Amazon is preparing to launch a touchless payment device that lets you scan your palm and sign over your soul and alter your DNA for a beer.
Small businesses can now use a payment app in Teams. Microsoft says it lets SMBs “collect payments from within Teams on your desktop or mobile device during a meeting.” Uh…what kind of meetings are these? Am I the only one that sees the possibilities or…? I mean…have we all known people who “run small businesses” where they “collect payment” during a “meeting”?
Also coming to a Microsoft Teams channel near you is Collaborative Stageview. You’ll be able to open app content in a new window that participants can engage with.
Azure Container Storage is now in public preview. Organizations can use this cloud-based service to create and manage block storage volumes for container applications and workloads (how was that not a thing already?).
Miscellany
Antimetal, which is not an indie band but a startup, is going to reduce cloud wastefulness—starting with AWS users. Using a proprietary AI- and ML-based model, it’s promising customers they’ll save on their AWS bills by rooting out inefficiencies. Normally, companies sign yearslong contracts with AWS to bring cloud costs down…but now they won’t have to. In response, Jeff Bezos is currently charting a course to run over the founder of Antimetal with his yacht—the one parked inside the bigger yacht. If he used the bigger yacht, it would be too obvious. He has to use the smaller yacht. Which, again, is inside the bigger yacht. Little known fact: The smaller yacht is enjoyed by a miniature Jeff Bezos that lives inside the Jeff Bezos we all know and love.
Best Friends Forever
Fintech and security were the big winners in this round’s AWS Partner activities:
Global consulting firm Credera has achieved AWS Premier Tier Services Partner status. It can definitely cut the line at the hottest hand-scanning clubs.
Swiss financial software provider Temenos has integrated its core banking solutions with AWS.
FinTech company and SoFi subsidiary Galileo Technologies has added its solutions to the AWS Marketplace. And security and IT solutions provider Claro has put its Enterprise Cloud Connect solution on AWS Marketplace.
New Relic has a new AWS integration that will let users automatically deploy its monitoring infrastructure agent through some AWS…stuff. Benefit: one-time setup with automatic instrumentation.
“Cyber deception technology leader” Acalvio has successfully completed the AWS Foundational Technical Review and joined the AWS Partner Network, so it can unleash its deception in the cloud.
SAP and Microsoft are taking the next step in their relationship to collaborate on generative AI. What that really means is that SAP is integrating its SuccessFactors solutions with Copilot in Viva Learning and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
It’s not Suntory time, it’s Microsoft Partners time:
Enterprise AI SaaS company SymphonyAI has launched Sensa Copilot and integrated it with Azure Cognitive Search and Azure OpenAI services. The solution offers sophisticated AI assistance to financial crime investigators. Oof, better stay away from Congress amiright.
Palo Alto Networks unveiled its Next Gen Firewall for Azure as a fully managed service. Only a measly year and three months after it did so for AWS.
Orca Security is the inaugural cloud-native protection platform to be fully integrated with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Chat GPT-4.
Break out the breakfast pastry, because Danish master data management solutions provider Stibo Systems has joined the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program as an ISV.
Ma’am, I’m going to have to call security
Microsoft wants you to know about some stuff TrendMicro found Iranian hackers doing but more importantly, THESE NAMES! Lace Tempest (ooooh!), Mango Sandstorm (ahhhh!), and Evil Corp—leave some cool hacking names for me and Forsyth already. Then there’s the Azure-targeting group, UNC3944, which just sounds like someone who had the last pick of whatever AOL screen names were left over in 1999.
Just like a hearty meal, the impact of a quality interview will continue to reverberate long after it’s over. Meaty interviews generate answers of substance, which we use to build out all kinds of content—from case studies to solution briefs. For case studies, a meaty interview helps us accelerate the timeline by getting to the heart of the matter in minutes. For testimonial videos, they optimize the impact of a product testimonial video or simply leave clients with the assurance that we’ve truly heard them and are the right folks for the job.
Here are some foolproof methods for conducting an interview (with just about anybody) that will truly stick to the bones:
Do a double take: Pay closer attention to interviews on the radio or in podcasts that you enjoy. What about these styles of storytelling appeals to you? Is it the conversational tone? The jokes sprinkled between questions? We integrate some of those techniques into our approach.
Know your story: In our initial client calls we clarify what the story should be, and try to gain a clear sense of the client’s intention for the interview. We listen closely, debrief internally to make sure we’re on the same page, and use this information to guide us as we craft interview questions.
Strike a balance between questions and conversation: Interviews are not open-ended conversations. They also should not be staid question-and-answer sessions where neither party is really engaged or comfortable. We are intentional about finding a balance.
Have empathy: Being asked questions in front of a room of people, even virtually, can be nerve-racking. That’s why we devote some time to breaking the ice. We also try not to cut off the speaker if they begin to veer from the topic. (This is the fastest way to get them to clam up!) Once they’ve completed their thought, simply reframe the question to get the answer you’re looking for.
No, really have empathy: Interviewees don’t always answer the questions we ask. Before jumping in to correct, redirect, or insist, we make sure the answer to our question isn’t hiding somewhere in what they are already shared. This is especially critical in video interviews where the person’s comfort level directly impacts the quality of the asset.
Interviews are ultimately about learning something new and fostering stronger connections with our clients, colleagues, and other participants. This helps us produce the best projects we can, and that’s what 2A is all about!
When we shared what our writers learned from using generative AI tools like ChatGPT, our design team naturally decided to use generative AI to create the blog image. That led us down another rabbit hole around the pros and cons of integrating smart platforms into our design process—from choosing amongst the latest offerings, like Midjourney and DALL-E 2, to wrestling with the ethics of them.
As of now, here’s what we know about generative AI for image creation:
These things are freaking fast. When we say we’re wowed by the speed of generative AI, we don’t just mean it can whip up an image in mere seconds—we’re thinking about how quickly it gets our minds going. Working with technology companies means we need to generate images for a lot of abstract concepts versus physical items. How does one depict the Internet of Things (IoT) or access management?
Typically, if we’re really stuck, we might run a Google image search on these terms to get some inspiration. But now, we can just enter those terms into tools like DALL-E and it spits out visual representations. These get us thinking of more original design concepts in a fraction of the time—making it ideal for brainstorming sessions and mood board creation. Kind of like Google…but on steroids.
They ignore a crucial part of our process. One thing the 2A design team treasures and sees as essential to producing a stellar product that aligns with a client’s ask is the feedback loop. No first-crack design, whether human-created or AI-generated, is going to be the final product. Design is a process—and this is where generative AI is of no help.
You can ask the AI to change a shade of blue to be darker or lighter, but that leaves a lot of room for the AI—not you—to choose. Sometimes you ask it to change just a few pixels and it ends up changing other aspects of the design you didn’t want. To really address feedback with our signature eagle-eye attention to detail, we would’ve had to import and manually edit our AI-generated works in more traditional design software. Since DALL-E 2 only lets users download non-editable PNGs, it becomes challenging to think of effective ways to manipulate these flat images. Not only does this defeat the purpose of a fast and at-the-ready product that AI seems to promise, but it ultimately can take up more time. The limited 1:1 aspect ratio of DALL-E 2’s images also required us to continue our work in Outpainting, which extends the borders of artwork beyond its original frames. It also ate up all our credits.
We must find the words. Having design vocabulary and training is extremely helpful in crafting prompts, because how you word a request will entirely determine what you get in return. Not only will infusing design concepts in your prompt help you get something closer to what you want, but it will help to create a visual that is more distinct from what everyone else is getting.
For example, we found that Midjourney tends to generate images that have a similar underlying style. (To see for yourself, check out this Instagram account that generates AI images based solely on headlines from The New York Times.) The ones that felt unique included requests to take inspiration from particular artists or included design terminology. For our ChatGPT blog image, we asked DALL-E 2 to create an image of “women looking at computer” in Corporate Memphis style, but the results didn’t quite hit the mark. So we asked it to mimic the works of Magdalena Koźlicka, a Polish digital artist. While the result was neither Corporate Memphis nor that of our chosen artist, we like what it gave us. Getting to the final product took more than 30 iterations.
Here’s a peak at what we got throughout the process:
How we issue credit? After all is said and done, who deserves the credit? As creatives, we want to honor the rights that other artists have to their own creations. But generative AI has resulted in a grey area where images have more than one creator. For the blog visual we published, we decided to credit both our designer and DALL-E to show that our designer used AI in her creative process. While DALL-E did most of the work, the final product would not exist without the designer’s carefully crafted prompts, edits in Outpainting, and overall creative direction (and none of it can be copyrighted).
But with AI clearly pulling inspiration from existing art—and likely influenced by all the prompts that others submit—it’s clear this is an ethical question that doesn’t have an answer yet. And while this question may be new to AI-generated art, there are plenty of notable visual artists who conceive of a piece but don’t create it themselves, such as Sol Lewitt and Ai Weiwei, yet the credit is theirs alone. To sum it up, generative AI can speed up the creative process, but that involves an element of luck in how on-point its image generation is. And sometimes that saved time is spent editing files that are challenging to manipulate. We see generative AI in design today much like what the introduction of the calculator must have been like: did mathematicians feel like they were cheating? Was it still their work if they had assistance from a machine? It’s true that generative AI has helped us do our jobs—but is it doing our jobs? That’s one question we can answer—and the answer is no. For now, at least.
HSBC, the only ethical bank on the planet that has absolutely never moved nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels, is using machine learning powered by AWS for its new AI Global Tactical Index. “This means we can execute criminal acts and simply blame AI,” one exec said. “AWS is the best thing to happen to us since Pablo Escobar. I mean, Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah, Teddy Roosevelt.”
Ball Aerospace is working with Microsoft and Loft Federal (Ann Taylor for public servants?) on a mission to carry 10 satellites with “experimental payloads” (drugs?) to space (aliens on drugs?). Microsoft is providing productivity solutions, as well as cloud and ground station infrastructure. Interesting that Loft Federal’s website looks like a middle schooler did the bare minimum for a computer class 101.
Media giant Sinclair Broadcasting Group has announced its selection of AWS as its preferred cloud provider. Sinclair will use AWS to create more compelling local news (MY FAVORITE) and sports content. The company also said it would be using the new (take a big breath:) AWS Elemental MediaConnect Gateway.
Looks like Microsoft has a fever and the only prescription is more…healthcare software. Microsoft and EPIC, a leading EHR platform, are going to develop and integrate generative AI solutions. Microsoft launched a similar collaboration with healthcare personalization engine CueZen.
Fever is still high: “health enablement solutions” provider Lightbeam is adopting Azure SQL Database.
Bloomberg announced that customers can access real-time trading and other high-performance data using a private connection in the Azure Virtual Network.
Cognizant is expanding its partnership with Microsoft to build an integration roadmap between the two companies’ healthcare solutions. Cognizant will run its SaaS healthcare solutions on Azure and migrate clients there, too.
Gossip (for nerds)
Amazon’s CEO warned shareholders that the short-term is going to be rough (read: falling profits and projection shortfalls) because companies are putting their wallets away. Or as the CEO puts it, they are “cost-optimizing” 🤮 But not to worry, he says, because the new customer pipeline is robust—90% of global IT spending is still on premises and yet to migrate to the cloud.
The good news is that the government is still spending all your tax money like there’s not a care in the world (except if you need it for healthcare or children or education). Public cloud spending is up 22% from last year, according to Gartner.
Microsoft shares rose 9% after its third-quarter earnings call, surpassing expectations. Its foray into AI is the reason, analysts speculate.
Coincidentally, Microsoft is allegedly working on an AI chip, codenamed “Athena,” to support large language models.
Which is interesting considering the person who was responsible for that at Microsoft just left to go help Meta do its own AI chip thing.
He’s like the Voldemort of tech so I won’t even say his name, but he wants to launch a rival to Microsoft-backed ChatGPT. Hopefully it won’t catch on fire and crash itself like his other products. Not sure why this headline says he is doing it quietly, this man has never done anything quietly since that would require self-control. Anyway, in line with being the prince of petty, he’s also thinking about suing Microsoft because it’s pulling data from Twitter to train its AI.
Microsoft and Google have been the main cloud contributors to open-source projects, but AWS may be pivoting its strategy around customer obsession to include open-source efforts. Read the speculation here. Or read this one instead, which was written first. By a woman. And it’s better.
Generative AI-ish company SambaNova Systems has hired an ex-AWS managing director and an ex-VP of Google Cloud. I hope you’re sitting down for this shocking news, but they are both white dudes.
World domination
Oil-rich Bahrain made a slick move by transferring 85% of its government data to AWS. If gas prices go up maybe there can be a lil’ outage or somethin’, I dunno…just spit-balling scenarios and whatnot.
Who knew there was a UK wing of an Italian defense company? Leonardo will be the first major defense company in the UK to move to Azure. It will take longer than normal once you factor in two-hour lunch breaks/siesta hybrids, and then a three-month vacation.
AWS put its kilt on to sign a memorandum of understanding with The National Quantum Computing Centre in Edinburgh and the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. AWS will provide hardware to help establish a proof of concept that we can, in fact, bring Sean Connery forward through time.
Brazilian telecom group Vivo is working with Microsoft Azure OpenAI service to develop solutions in a lab of sorts that could apply to different use cases, such as helping agents understand customer queries faster.
New stuff
Big news for the AWS Well-Architected Framework!!! (Just as I wrote that I realized that this isn’t how I imagined my life, but I like it OK). A new version is out, and the same PR person who said budget cutting was “cost optimization” also came out with the term “enhanced prescriptive guidance” which makes it sound like the Well-Architected Framework is seeing a therapist. But no—it has just folded in some of the newer AWS services with 127 new or updated best practices, including implementation steps.
Amazon GuardDuty, the favorite child of AWS security offerings, has three new capabilities. After crawling through the vast desert of despair that was this press release, I got to the updates: new container runtime protection for Amazon EKS, extended coverage for data stored in Amazon Aurora, and support for serverless applications in AWS Lambda.
AWS announced the startups in its third cohort of its Space Accelerator program, and there’s a Seattle-based company in there. You can see the list here.
Ma’am, I’m going to have to call security
Phishing is so yesterday. It’s smishing now. Smishing steals the credentials of administrators using mobile devices to remotely log into accounts.
Microsoft is offering millions to any tech nerd who can find bugs in the new Bing chat. “Go get an English degree,” they said. “It’ll be great,” they said.
To address security concerns first discovered by Orca Security, Microsoft will tighten how Azure Functions works with Azure Storage.
Seeq, which offers IoT analytics software, has earned its AWS Manufacturing and Industrial Competency.
New to Azure Marketplace: Information risk management company HITRUST’s MyCSF subscriptions and connected healthcare cybersecurity platform, Cynerio.
Federal tech consulting firm Acuity has acquired its Microsoft Solutions Partner status in Digital & App Innovation. And Xoriant earned a designation as a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Security.
Semiconductor company AMD joined the AWS ISV Accelerate Program to co-sell integrated solutions.
Merkle, the customer experience company and not the much-missed German PM, achieved AWS Digital Customer Experience and Data and Analytics Competency statuses. Caylent also achieved a D&A Competency.
Arc XP, a digital experience platform, has earned its AWS Media & Entertainment Competency.
From buzzword-filled eBooks to websites that use more words than necessary to explain a simple concept, we have all been on the receiving end of marketing fluff. As a marketer with a multicultural background, I’ve spent my career recognizing the impact that words can have (or not have), particularly in creating lead-generating assets for clients. While fluffy marketing exists in every industry, tech is especially prone to weak messaging. Technology products often involve complex and rapidly changing components that may be difficult for marketers to explain to a broad audience. This leads marketers to rely on aspirational messaging and emotional appeals instead of technical details.
So, I joined our skilled storytellers in pinpointing the top four tips for writing about technology in a way that is both informative and fun to read.
1. Get factual with your figures: Want to make a bold statement about a tech product or service? Back it up with facts and figures. Use data, case studies, and research to support your claims and show your audience what makes your technology special. “Let’s say a process used to take 24 hours to complete, but now because of [enter tech solution] the process takes you one hour. Run the math on time saved as a percentage, and voila, you’ve got yourself a metric,” says our Editorial Lead Forsyth Alexander.
Don’t forget to place numbers in your titles, too (see what we did here?). “People like to see real numbers to denote benefits, improvements, or value, which increases your click rate,” Forsyth adds. Using this tactic is how we beef up case studies and eBooks to get more eyeballs on our clients’ stories. And they get a lot of eyeballs.
2. Buzzwords can be buzzkill: The tech industry has its own language, and it can be tempting to use buzzwords to sound like an expert. But resist the urge! When words are overused, our brains tend to skip them. Instead, explain complex concepts in plain, easy-to-understand language that everyone can follow. As 2A Storyteller, Richa Dubey, notes, “You might think you’re getting everyone’s attention by using buzzwords, but the reverse might be happening, and it can be counterproductive.”
For example, instead of describing something as agile or data-driven, demonstrate how your product or service enables those approaches.
3. Keep it short and sweet: No one likes to read a long-winded case study, especially when it comes to tech. Be concise and use examples to illustrate your ideas. As the 2A tech news troubadour, Jane Dornemann, puts it, “Fluff, to me, is too high-level and takes too long to get to the point. Don’t waste time explaining a scenario your audience is very familiar with. You don’t need to define CI/CD to developers, for example—just explain how you solve their problems, and don’t spend so much time expanding on what the problem is. They already know what it is.”
And, if you must use highly technical terms but don’t want to shut out a broader audience (like an IT lead), briefly explain them in simple terms, make them somewhat understandable in context, or link to another resource with more details—but don’t use precious real estate defining things that your reader likely already knows. It just becomes filler and makes your target audience feel like the content is meant for someone else.
4. Honesty is the best policy: Technology is amazing, but it’s not perfect. Don’t underestimate your readers’ ability to sniff out bravado. Avoid exaggerating the capabilities or benefits of a product or service and be transparent about its limitations. Our Managing Senior Storyteller Kimberly Mass suggests keeping it real. “Words have meanings. When you use precise language—exactly those words that mean what you intend to say—you have a much better chance of being understood and believed.”
For example, is your product really “leading edge,” as in “at the forefront of technological development,” or would it be more honest to simply call it new or upgraded? Your audience will appreciate your honesty and trust your brand more in the long run. Acknowledging a product is in beta and that not everything is going to run amazingly is OK, friend.
Ready to create content of substance and sizzle? Contact us.
Telling stories about robotics and artificial intelligence in an engaging and attention-grabbing manner is a rare talent. Chris Stetkiewicz, 2A Embedded Consultant (EC), has been applying this talent for the past two years as a writer and editor at Microsoft Research—one of only a few computer science research centers outside academia.
2A’s ECs are highly skilled and experienced professionals who function as contracted members of our clients’ teams, and Chris is one of our most accomplished. He and I recently sat down to talk about writing contests, robotics, and dog parks. Here’s a snippet from our conversation.
Kate: With all the groundbreaking work going on, Microsoft Research sounds like an incredible place to work.
Chris: It really is. I feel lucky to get to work with some of the most accomplished people in technology and science. I learn from them every day, and it makes my job interesting. I also work alongside some very talented writers and content creators, and I learn a lot from them too.
Kate: Working with some of the most renowned computer scientists in the world must be exciting, and slightly intimidating I imagine. How do you see your role?
Chris: I find it inspiring. For my part, I bring an external perspective and an appreciation for how people think about technology outside the company, which the researchers don’t always have. I help them understand what they’re doing in the larger context.
Sometimes I craft a story that isn’t exactly the story we were initially setting out to tell, but it’s an effective story to tell for our audience.
Kate: Can you share an interesting story you’ve worked on?
Chris: I recently completed a story on robotics. It’s about a technology called MoCapAct, which is a dataset intended to make it easier for robots to physically move the way people do.
There’s an existing database called MoCap, which stands for motion capture, in which technology is used to track and record people’s physical motions. It’s used to create animated films or computer-generated imagery (CGI). But it’s a lot harder to get robots to move in precisely the same way that people do. MoCapAct—motion capture in action—solves this problem.
Kate: You’ve been writing and reporting in some form or another over your entire career. What first drew you to writing?
Chris: Oh, I’ve been writing since I was a little kid, and I always enjoyed it. In elementary school, I would enter every writing contest and always win. When I took a high school journalism class, I had a letter to the editor published by a local newspaper. After that I was hooked! I knew I wanted to be a journalist. I would read three of our local newspapers every day, cover to cover.
Kate: Seems like news and writing are in your DNA. I understand you started your career as a journalist for news organizations. Now you’re writing for a tech company. What connections do you see between the two?
Chris: A good story is a good story, no matter who’s telling it. The only difference is how the content is delivered. At Microsoft Research, the biggest part of my job entails writing and editing blog posts and social media content, but I’ve also written video scripts, built newsletters, and launched new content programs.
Kate: Sounds like you need to be pretty versatile. On a different note, I know you‘re a dog owner. In fact, your dog has made some cameos in video meetings we’ve both been in.
Chris: Heh. It’s as if he arrives on cue. He knows when it’s a bad time to come and interrupt me, and there he is.
Kate: Ha ha. As a new dog owner, I can relate. Do you have any recommendations for good dog parks in the area?
Chris: I recommend the dog park at Marymoor Park in Redmond. It’s near the Microsoft campus, and it’s got great swimming options. There are multiple spots where you can go on down to the Sammamish River and let your dog take a dunk or get a drink.
Kate: Hmm. I’ve yet to discover if my dog likes the water. Sounds like there’s a good opportunity to find out. Thanks.
Chris: You’re welcome. This park has a way of turning unsuspecting canines into water-loving dogs. Watch out. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interested in becoming an EC? Check out our open roles, or submit a General Job Inquiry if you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for.
Want to hire an Embedded Consultant? Learn more here.
