Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to be invited, among a small posse of technology journalists, to participate in a private lunch at Shannon Bennett’s Vue de Monde. (Yes, this job certainly has its perks.)
However, in terms of lasting impressions, it wasn’t the view, the beef wellington or the chocolate fondant lamingtons that are likely to stay with me for years to come.
Okay, I might be telling my grandkids about the chocolate fondant lamingtons but, for the purpose of this post today, it was a remark made by our host, the CEO of NetSuite since 2002, Zach Nelson, that really got my entrepreneurial brain ticking.
Here’s what he said (paraphrased):
“Every business is now a cloud business. And, if you’re not thinking this way, another business, that is thinking this way, will certainly kill you.”
Nelson has worked for companies such as Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and McAfee/Network Associates. He was named one of the 10 Visionary CEOs of 2008 by InternetNews.com, after guiding NetSuite through its 2007 IPO. He helmed the company through its rise from startup to one of the world’s leading cloud computing companies.
So, it’s not surprisingly that he should hold this view.
Yes, he is biased. But is he wrong?
