One of the primary advantages of the cloud is that it allows organisations to stand up new applications extremely quickly - but just what does it take to build a cloud-ready minimum viable product? In this panel discussion, we talk to cloud experts, and CIOs who have done it themselves, to find out how to take an application from concept to production in the shortest possible time.
Adam Shepherd
Reviews and Community Editor, IT Pro
As reviews and community editor, Adam is responsible for coordinating all of the hardware and software reviews across IT Pro, Cloud Pro and Channel Pro, from laptops and smartphones, all the way up to enterprise-grade data centre servers and network management software. He also runs the IT Pro Panel, a flagship initiative which sees CIOs and tech leaders from the likes of Dominos, Oxfam and GoCompare sharing their experience and insight with the IT Pro community.
Alex Hilton
CEO, Cloud Industry Forum
With 25 years of business experience in the IT industry, Alex has developed diverse knowledge and skills in several commercial roles. After completing ICL’s graduate training he joined Microsoft, spending 12 years in roles varying from managing public and private sector enterprise customers, channel leadership roles and finally running the UK compliance business. In 2010 Alex joined Rise (part of 1&1) as Managing Director building their Cloud services IaaS proposition. He developed Rise in to a profitable Cloud business and in 2011 they were awarded the accolade of Microsoft’s world-wide Hosting Partner of the Year. In February 2013 Alex joined the Cloud Industry Forum as CEO responsible for strategy and day to day operations. He had been serving as non-Executive Director since 2008.
Lee James
EMEA CTO, Rackspace Technology
As Chief Technology Officer for Rackspace Technology EMEA, Lee James is an avid customer champion and vocal about our EMEA strategy, responsible for helping customers accelerate the value of their business through Rackspace's portfolio. He is the executive sponsor for a number of their largest EMEA customers, and leads the strategic development of Rackspace Technology EMEA products and services. Lee has more than 20 years of experience across large scale, multinational and agile-based environments, developing and implementing industry-leading DevOps, cloud, analytics, Edge, digital strategy and transformation to deliver significant business value to customers. His prior experience includes senior roles across BP, Betfair and GlaxoSmithKline. At Betfair, Lee was responsible for delivering a DevOps-driven platform that performed more transactions than all the European stock markets each day. At BP, he was recognized for building the company's first multi-cloud platform.
Matthew Leighton
Platform lead, CPG & manufacturing, Salesforce
Matt has been in the technology sector for over 20 years, leading e-commerce projects through the dot com boom, to leading development and sales teams and, more latterly, managing large, complex enterprise software deals for some of the world's largest companies. Over the last 7 years, Matt has been working closely with enterprise customers to help them deliver their vision on cloud platforms. This has involved a hefty dose of SaaS, AI & innovation, plus helped him indulge in his passion for user-centred design - Something Salesforce is equally passionate about - Putting the customer at the centre of everything they do.
Marc Pell
CTO, TempCover
Marc was tasked with re-engineering the existing Tempcover website when he joined the company in 2013. Marc was promoted to CTO in January 2019 and has total responsibility for the company’s technological strategy, direction and procedures.
