For years, big consulting firms have been selling "cloud and AI strategy" as if it were a product you can just buy off the shelf. In 2026, the jig is up. This video is your no‑nonsense buyer's guide to how large consulting firms should be engaged for cloud and AI work—what to let them do, what to keep in‑house, and where you're most likely to get burned.

We'll walk through the real incentives behind those "preferred partner" AI cloud recommendations, how vendor alliances quietly shape your architecture, and why so many roadmaps end up looking like a sales deck instead of an operating model. You'll learn how to structure engagements so you get industrial‑scale execution—landing zones, governance, migrations—without handing over your strategy, your data, or your future.

We'll cover the critical questions to ask before you sign, the red flags in proposals and SOWs, and how to demand deliverables that leave you stronger and more independent, not permanently dependent on the same firm. If you're a CIO, CTO, architect, or tech leader about to bring in a big consultancy for cloud or AI, watch this first. It might change how you buy—and what you're willing to buy.

Oracle is reportedly tied to roughly USD 56 billion in AI data-center financing, and Wall Street is treating it like a stress test, not a victory lap. In this video I break down why "build it and they will come" can turn into "borrow it and you will bleed." Data centers are fixed-cost monsters: power commitments, depreciation, and interest expense don't care if enterprise customers take six quarters to migrate workloads. If demand ramps slower than supply, Oracle's only lever is discounting—lower prices to fill empty capacity—which can crush margins right when debt service rises. That's how overbuilds become spirals: weaker cash flow leads to tighter financing, tighter financing forces cuts, cuts weaken competitiveness, and the cycle feeds itself.

I'll also compare Oracle's bet to the broader AI infrastructure boom—other builders using heavy leverage—and explain why a sector-wide capacity glut could trigger a price war. If you're an investor, operator, or just tired of AI hype, this is the cold-water analysis: what could go wrong, how it snowballs, and what signals to watch next. We'll talk contract reality, utilization math, and why "strategic capex" can become a balance-sheet hostage situation. Plus: the red flags—syndication strain, downgrades, and sudden price cuts.

In this crucial video, cloud security leader David Linthicum exposes a troubling statistic: 61 percent of cloud security incidents are completely preventable. Drawing on the latest security research, David reveals the most common—and avoidable—mistakes that leave enterprises vulnerable to cyberattacks, data leaks, and compliance violations. He breaks down the top culprits, from misconfigured cloud environments and weak access controls to lapses in ongoing monitoring and lack of employee training.

David explains why organizations often falter on basic security hygiene and shows how these oversights create easy targets for attackers. Importantly, he translates these findings into actionable solutions. Viewers will learn why regular audits, continuous education, and automated security tools are critical for reducing risk, and how building a security-first culture can close the door on costly incidents.

Packed with practical advice, this video gives IT leaders, security professionals, and business executives a blueprint for dramatically improving their organization's cloud security. Don't let your company become another statistic—discover how to avoid the 61 percent of incidents that should never happen, and transform the cloud from a weak spot into your enterprise's strongest line of defense.