- [Brad] It's lunchtime,
and this is Brad Anderson's Lunch Break.
(whimsical music)
If you work with technology, you've probably been to
more than a few conferences in Orlando.
When I got invited to speak at Citrix Synergy,
I booked a flight and called a few really smart people
to meet up for lunch.
Today, I finished talking with Mark Bowker,
Senior Analyst and Mobility Expert at ESG.
(whimsical music)
- Do you see organizations
moving to a solution where they're gonna
start using their smartphones even more than PCs?
- I do.
So I've been a believer in this one for a while.
So we did some research about this,
and we asked that.
- Cool, and what'd you hear? - Is, you know,
over 50 percent said they'd be either likely,
or very interested in that exact thing.
So, here's the problem.
We walk around with way too many devices.
It's crazy, right?
I open my bag and I've got, you know,
a couple of laptops, tablets, everything.
- Tablet, you're on your phone.
- And I think that's changing.
And I think this is why.
So, remember the day Brad, you know,
when you got your first computer,
and you're excited to get your cord and mouse?
I think that keyboard and mice as an input,
still very important.
But if I could take my phone and essentially dock it
with the bigger screen,
and have mouse and keyboard, I think it's great.
But, now all of a sudden we go somewhere,
I want touch-enabled.
They're so powerful of what I can do.
And then the other thing I think I see,
that you're gonna see more and more,
is really voice and vision, right?
Now, I've got keyboard and mouse docked with the big screen.
I've got touch-enabled, if I'm kind of just have to
do something quick in between things.
And now, I think what you'll see is voice and vision,
now I'll be able to speak command.
- [Brad] I bet this is already how you work.
- It is, it's totally how I work.
- I mean, this is how I work, as well.
- It totally is.
- I talked to P.J. about this in case,
so we have permission to talk about this.
- All right, all right.
- It's a game we call, This or That.
And so, I'm gonna give you two nouns or two objects,
- Yeah.
- And then, I'm gonna give you a set of phrases
and you're gonna say, which is it describing,
is it one, is it two, or is it both?
- Okay.
- Okay, and the topic here is gonna be
the Citrix Partnership or Alligator Farms.
Has been going strong for over 25 years.
- Can I say both?
- Absolutely!
That's the right answer! - Both!
- [Brad] Full of remorseless reptiles.
- I'm gonna, man, I wanna say Citrix (mumbles).
(laughter)
Alligator Farm.
- Okay, ah you're being politically correct,
I get it, alright.
If you've ever seen in person, it's incredible,
but there's a lot more laying around than you expected.
- I would really hope that that's the Alligator Farm.
- Occasionally, some of the individuals involved
try to rip each other's heads off.
- I think that I'm in...
That's just in good spirit of anything,
so I'd say that's both.
- That's right.
- I think that's good for business,
and yeah, if you have passion--
- If you're passionate, you're gonna have,
you're gonna have passionate conversation.
Because you mentioned your boys.
- [Mark] Yep.
- With what you see happening right now in the market
and all this view that you have,
what kind of career advice are you giving them?
- Those are some interesting conversations.
The number one career advice I give them,
and they're, by the way, they're nine and 13.
So think about it, they're young boys,
their brain's still growing.
The number one thing I talk about, Brad, is communication.
They are going to be able to differentiate themselves
so much amongst other kids,
and when they go to get their job,
that they can communicate well.
Because how are they communicating now?
They're looking down at their device--
- On their phone.
- And I have rules, yeah. - It's on their X-Box Live.
- I have rules.
If you're gonna communicate with somebody on your phone,
when you see them in person, you have to speak with them.
And you have to shake their hand, and you look in their eye,
and you communicate well.
So I think that's the biggest thing
that I think is gonna help differentiate those kids
to really help them as they grow up.
- That's a really good perspective.
When I meet with college students,
one of the things I tell them is, you know,
your communication skills,
no matter whether you're an Engineer,
whether you're a Salesperson,
whether you're in marketing, whatever,
you're always selling.
- Have to be!
- Selling an idea, selling a new architecture,
selling a product, but you are always selling
and communication, written, verbal.
- Yeah.
(whimsical music)
- Well, it has been awesome
to spend some time together again,
and it seems like we'll see each other you know,
two or three times a year?
- [Mark] Absolutely. Thanks for the ride in the big truck.
(laughter)
- [Brad] Yeah, you're welcome.
- Will you go get a bigger truck next time?
A faster car?
Motorcycle?
Motorcycle and sidecar!
So maybe the next one will be on Segways, okay?
- Let's start planning it.
All right, Mark.
- Thank you Brad, have a great day.
- Yeah, you too. - Have a great Synergy too.
- We will, we will, looking forward to it.
All right, bye-bye.
(whimsical music)
- [Brad] Next time on Brad Anderson's Lunch Break.
- You know, I had a (mumbles) field of technology,
and I took that as a responsibility.
I could go safe, but why would you build stuff you know,
that you're gonna have to be replacing very soon?
- That's an example that you can never do without
the power and the (mumbles) the cloud brings.
- Yeah.
- Because you know, AI and all these things,
it really is processing over an incredible amount of data.
The amount of computing that you have to have
in order to do that,
you need to able to spin that up,
and spin that down on demand.
- Yeah.
(whimsical music)