What happens when you bring together the cloud’s most innovative minds to exchange ideas, share success stories, and dream big about the next wave of AI? Well, we’re about to find out. SADA Ground School commences September 12, with a packed schedule of talks, demos, fireside chats, and keynotes all focusing on how your business can get the most out of the cloud in the age of AI. And guess what? Registration and attendance is free.
This will be the fifth iteration of SADA’s stellar symposium, back with a program that raises the bar. The theme this year is to AI and beyond, with many of the sessions exploring the capabilities and use cases of groundbreaking solutions like Gemini for Workspace and Vertex AI.
Who should attend this year’s spectacular program? Anyone involved in an organization that has any presence in the cloud, in whatever capacity. As with past years, sessions are broken down into roughly two tracks–technical and business. If you are eager to get into the weeds with LLMs and code, there’s plenty to latch onto at this year’s event. If you’re more interested in business use cases, launching a pilot program, or developing an overarching AI strategy for your organization, we’ve got you covered, too.
Let’s get even more granular. Here are the top 3 reasons to get excited about this year’s SADA Ground School, with detailed information on some of the sessions we’re most looking forward to.
1. Keynote and general sessions (aka, Ryan Reynolds brings his AI game)
- Building brands for the future: disruption, storytelling, and innovation: By now, you may have heard that actor, entrepreneur, and writer Ryan Reynolds will be kicking off Ground School in style with a fireside chat keynote with SADA CEO Tony Safoian. Their conversation will dig into how Ryan has identified and capitalized on emerging trends, including the potential of AI as a tool for further disruption. Drawing on his multifaceted career, Reynolds will offer invaluable insights for anyone looking to push boundaries and achieve success.
- Shaping the future of AI: a conversation on business, ethics, and innovation: Explore the future of AI with SADA CTO Miles Ward and Google Fellow Urs Hölzle. This fireside chat features two industry veterans as they deep dive into the practical applications of AI, touching on real-world examples, and the critical importance of responsible AI development. This session will provide valuable insights for technical leaders seeking to build a successful AI strategy.
- The future of work: The rise of AI and the evolving role of developers: Is AI fundamentally changing the developer landscape? SADA CTO Miles Ward and author and researcher Gene Kim will explore the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence on the IT industry, the rise of LLMs, and the potential to reshape the role of developers at all levels.
- Google Cloud in the Cloud Wars landscape: opportunities and strategies for your business: The cloud landscape is constantly evolving, with Google Cloud playing a key role. Join Bob Evans, a renowned analyst from Acceleration Economy, for an insightful exploration of Google Cloud’s position within the Cloud Wars.
- Navigating the multicloud landscape: a fireside chat with SADA & Insight CTOs: Join SADA CTO Miles Ward and Insight Enterprises CTO for North America, Juan Orlandini, for an exclusive fireside chat. As the multicloud landscape evolves, this dynamic session will equip you with the insights you need to navigate its complexities and achieve success. Whether you’re a seasoned IT professional or embarking on your cloud journey, this discussion is for you.
2. Deep-dive technical sessions and partner solutions
- From buzz to business results: How to start harnessing generative AI for business growth: The world is buzzing with the transformative power of generative AI, and your business can’t afford to be left behind. Join this session, hosted by SADA Associate CTO Simon Margolis, to discover how to unleash your creativity, streamline operations, and enhance customer experiences with this cutting-edge technology.
- Taming the multicloud and GenAI frontier: a deep dive into Security Command Center Enterprise: The modern cloud landscape is a complex web of multicloud environments and emerging technologies like generative AI. Traditional security tools struggle to keep pace, leaving organizations vulnerable to new attack vectors and compliance risks. Enter Security Command Center Enterprise (SCCE): Google Cloud’s comprehensive solution for securing your cloud workloads across Google Cloud, AWS, and beyond. In this session led by John Giglio, Director Cloud Security and Tarun Sharma, Partner Security Specialist, we’ll unravel the power of SCCE for both seasoned security practitioners and directors.
- No-code queries with BigQuery Data Canvas: Transform your data analytics with Google BigQuery’s new Data Canvas feature. This game-changing no-code interface empowers users of all skill levels to seamlessly explore and visualize their data without writing a single line of SQL. By harnessing an intuitive, visually interactive experience, Data Canvas transforms complex data analysis into actionable insights, making data-driven decision-making faster and more accessible than ever. Join SADA Senior Solutions Architect Ramon Kidd to see how Data Canvas democratizes data exploration, unlocks hidden patterns in your data, and sets a new standard for agility in data-driven innovation–all without writing a single line of SQL code.
- Recipe for human-centered intranet: Are you looking to get the most out of your Google Cloud investments? LumApps is the only intranet recommended by Google that leverages Google Vertex, Google Workspace, and numerous other Google Cloud technologies. This session unpacks all the benefits of this Gartner and Forrester endorsed intranet solution. Hosted by LumApps leaders John Lawler, Director of Partnerships, North America and Billy Volpone, Pre-Sales Engineer, North America.
- AI isn’t replacing your SOC. But it can supercharge it: In this session, we’ll dive into how Material Security has incorporated AI into its email security platform, showcasing both its successes and challenges. We’ll also show how these AI-driven integrations, along with the broader Material platform, enhance/strengthen the protection of your email and files and discuss the implications of these insights for your SOC.
- What 600 admins think about AI, security, and more: Discover insights and trends from a recently completed report that surveyed over 660 IT admins on how they are adopting AI, security, spending, and more to benchmark your AI goals. This session will showcase how Unicity, working with SADA, was able to increase their security goals by extending Google Workspace with JumpCloud.
3. Customer stories and business outcomes
- AI and the art and science of the possible: We’ve all been wowed by examples of how AI can greatly accelerate certain day-to-day tasks. But what if we use it to discover opportunities hiding in an organization’s data? In this session, hosted by SADA’s AI leaders Simon Margolis and Chris Hendrich, we’ll reveal how to use AI as an ideation powerhouse when you train it on your data. With examples from one of SADA’s own internal projects, we’ll look at a variety of use cases that are applicable to any business that’s embracing powerful new AI capabilities.
- Unicity makes a big move with SADA and Google Cloud: What does it take to migrate 7.38 TB of data comprised of 17,496,022 mail items? In this process-oriented deep dive, we’ll hear from Unicity’s Zach Middleton and Kelly Wright of SADA about what it took to make it happen. Learn about what it takes to migrate a thousand users and their Sharepoint data from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace and live to tell the tale.
- Constant support and opportunity: Madhive and SADA Flex Services: Madhive’s infrastructure-as-a-service enterprise software continues to power modern media. Staying innovative and responsive to the market is a never-ending process. That’s why these media pioneers reached out to SADA Flex services for ongoing support. In this session, learn about how the challenges don’t stop coming after deployment, and how a nimble, knowledgeable team can troubleshoot and keep an eye on the horizon for even bigger opportunities.
- Tailored Brands and services that keep on giving: The services that matter most establish an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship between provider and customer. In this lively fireside chat, leaders from Tailored Brands and SADA will discuss how they found the services sweet spot, developing a cadence of problem-solving that led to big wins.
Register today for SADA Ground School
AI-driven game-changers, enterprise-level success stories, cloud innovation geek-outs–SADA Ground School 2024 has it all. Register today.
