Speaker

Andrew Welch

Andrew Welch

CTO + Founder @ Cloud Lighthouse | Microsoft MVP

London, United Kingdom

Cloud technology leader, founder and CTO of Cloud Lighthouse, Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional), speaker, published author, and regular writer of essays and white papers on cloud technology including Strategic Thinking for the Microsoft Cloud, Crafting your Future-Ready Enterprise AI Strategy, and the multi-edition Power Platform Adoption Framework. Andrew works directly with CXOs, Microsoft partners, Microsoft product engineering groups, technologists, and investors to guide cloud strategy and ecosystem architecture. His previous service includes that as CTO, global Vice President, Practice Director, and VP of Operations, and other tech and business focused roles at various Microsoft partners. He’s led some of the world’s largest Microsoft adoptions on all seven continents (yes, including Antarctica), serving startup to Fortune 100 organizations, public sector agencies, and global NGOs. Based in London and Boston, Andrew makes frequent visits throughout the United States and Europe.

Awards

Area of Expertise

  • Business & Management
  • Information & Communications Technology

Topics

  • Microsoft
  • Microsoft Cloud
  • Azure
  • Power Platform
  • Microsoft Fabric
  • Ecosystem Architecture
  • Cloud Ecosystems
  • Cloud Strategy

Five strategies for integrating Power Platform with your organization's data

Power Platform solutions are increasingly integrating with an organization's existing data, not just operating on their own. This session will cover five key ways to connect Power Platform to other services. This is especially useful for architects, developers, and IT decision makers to understand which method to use and how to combine them effectively. These methods are:

- Point-to-Point: Direct connections between services

- Data Consolidation: Bringing data together in one place

- Master Data Node: Using a central source for all data

- Data Landing Zone: A staging area for data before use

- Data Distribution: Spreading data out to where it's needed

We'll discuss each method's advantages, disadvantages, and typical technologies used, focusing on Dataverse and Microsoft's data integration tools. This knowledge will you help scale Power Platform solutions and leverage Power Platform data for enhancing AI capabilities within organizations.

Principles of Cloud Ecosystem Architecture: Real-World Examples and Best Practices from Industry

Wave periods between major innovation in the cloud are growing shorter. We no longer have the luxury of waiting it out, of adopting later. Cloud ecosystems built on strategic foundations create the conditions to absorb successive waves of change. This session introduces the emerging concept of ecosystem-oriented architecture across Power Platform + Azure + Fabric + Microsoft 365 + Dynamics 365 + AI, share core principles of this architectural approach, apply these principles in real-world scenarios, and navigate the latest "reference ecosystem" and other tools available to ecosystem architects and strategic cloud decision makers. These are essential concepts as solutions are increasingly tied together in the cloud ecosystem rather than architected in isolation, generating vast datasets built as "single sources of truth". This session will get you thinking like the world's boldest enterprise architects as we explore real-world examples of how organizations have knitted their workloads together into an ecosystem, best practices for doing so, and lessons learned along the way.

This session is geared to solution and enterprise architects really pushing the bounds with real examples of how organizations are building ecosystems of tier-1 solutions, and also for business users trying to "go big" using the Microsoft Cloud to modernize their organizations.

Tyranny of the Deliverable: Short stories on why many orgs struggle going big with Power Platform

Forrester research released in August 2022 confirmed the huge economic value that organizations receive "going big" with premium Power Platform. But many IT departments are still struggling to achieve that value. This session draws on our experience working with organizations worldwide sharing stories of three major challenges we see almost everyone encounter: Use Case Death Spiral, IT Tower of Babel, and the Tyranny of the Deliverable. We'll then finish with tried-and-true approaches to overcoming these barriers. This is an essential session for those working in Microsoft customer organizations, as well as consultants who guide those customers.

I co-created this concept and content with Microsoft's Global Blackbelt (GBB) team, and it draws on their experience as well as mine working with organizations in the United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Romania, and more worldwide. I've written the following deep dive on this topic, so many themes here will be carried through the session (though session will have the most up to date content): https://www.andrewdwelch.com/blog/tyranny-of-the-deliverable.

Strategic Thinking for the Microsoft Cloud

I have come to understand strategic thinking as more art than science. Strategy is surely informed in part by data, but I find that our society in general and the technology industry specifically too often confuse data and wisdom, that we foolishly (though understandably) seek heuristics or processes so that we can turn the art of strategic thinking into a game of color by numbers so simple that anyone can do it. When it comes to strategic thinking, better that we seek methods of framing our thoughts rather than shortcuts to the answers themselves. This session offers practical approaches to injecting strategy into your organization’s Microsoft Cloud journey, indeed, a selection of the same approaches I take with my clients. We explore a wide range of topics, including the impact of AI on the strategic landscape, how organizations have ever-decreasing time to absorb waves of innovation into their operating models, the transition from activity-based to system-based value, and how governance fits. We’ll then investigate a model for weaving strategic intent into the ongoing cloud journey, and explore industry-specific ecosystem maps that illustrate how other organizations have found success doing this.

I co-created this concept and content with Microsoft's Global Blackbelt (GBB) team, and it draws on their experience as well as mine working with organizations in the United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Romania, and more worldwide. I've written the following deep dive on this topic, so many themes here will be carried through the session (though session will have the most up to date content): https://www.andrewdwelch.com/blog/strategic-thinking-for-microsoft-cloud.

Five strategies for integrating Power Platform and the Azure Data Platform

Convergence and integration of technical services are coupling with modern organizational models for accelerating rapid application development to create more and more scenarios where Power Platform and the Azure Data Platform are inextricably linked. Put another way, the data platform has grown ever more sophisticated whilst at the same time solutions developed in Power Platform demand access to more and more enterprise data. This session explores five strategies for integrating these two technology sets in the Microsoft Cloud: Point to Point, Direct to Master Data, Master Data Node, Data Landing Zone, and Modern Data Platform. We’ll consider ideal scenarios, advantages, and disadvantages of each before concluding with real-world examples of organizations who have done this in practice across several industries.

I am collaborating with colleagues and Microsoft and HSO--and with technical leaders in the community--on a white paper going deep on this topic, which I expect to release mid-2023. The evolving nature of this topic will make for an increasingly evolved session over time!

Crafting your future-ready enterprise AI strategy

It is as yet unknown if artificial intelligence is more akin to a “great invention” of the 19th and 20th centuries, or if it will ultimately represent another more incremental evolution of existing capabilities. The former—as seems more likely given the immense investments being made today—will present significant challenges to nearly every organization that, having become accustomed to incremental change, is suddenly faced with a “great inventions” caliber paradigm shift that AI seems to portend. Or, as I continue to remind the CIOs with whom I work closely, the grace period for organizations to get their act together and position themselves for the next wave is growing much shorter, the margin for error much more narrow. In this session we will explore AI strategies that are flexible, able to absorb tomorrow what we don’t fully grasp today, strategies that offer value to the organization beyond specific AI-driven workloads because the nature and value of these workloads will remain unclear for some time. We will understand core concepts behind AI acting on enterprise data, present a framework of five pillars upon which future-ready AI strategies are built, and discuss concepts and approaches to mitigate risk in your organization’s AI strategy.

This session is based on a piece I published at https://cloudlight.house/blog/intro-ai-strategy, and reflects my latest work on the topic. It will be the subject of a white paper upcoming later in 2023.

ColorCloud Hamburg 2024 Sessionize Event Upcoming

April 2024 Hamburg, Germany

Nordic Summit 2023 Sessionize Event

September 2023 Copenhagen, Denmark

Dynamics 365 & Power Platform User Group - Paddington, London - June 8th 2023 Sessionize Event

June 2023 London, United Kingdom

Iberian Technology Summit Sessionize Event

April 2023 Olhão, Portugal

Dynamics 365 & Power Platform User Group - London - November 17th 2022 Sessionize Event

November 2022 London, United Kingdom

South Coast Summit 2022 Sessionize Event

October 2022 Southampton, United Kingdom

Dynamics 365 & Power Platform User Group - London User group Sessionize Event

June 2022 London, United Kingdom

Scottish Summit

Presented "An App or an Ecosystem? Scaling Microsoft’s “Cloud Application Platform"

June 2022 Glasgow, United Kingdom

Power Platform User Group - Ireland

Presented "An App or an Ecosystem? How to scale Microsoft's 'Cloud Application Platform'" with Lee Baker.

May 2021

Power Platform Virtual Happy Hour

Led a "Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance ROUND TABLE" with Keith Whatling.

April 2021

Virtual Scottish Summit 2021 Sessionize Event

February 2021

Microsoft Cloud (South Coast) User Group

Presented "An App or an Ecosystem? How to scale Microsoft's 'Cloud Application Platform'" with Lee Baker.

February 2021 Southampton, United Kingdom

Microsoft BizApps @ Speed

Presented "An App or an Ecosystem? How to scale Microsoft's 'Cloud Application Platform'" with Lee Baker.

January 2021 London, United Kingdom

Healthcare 365 Summit 2020

Presented closing session "Pandemic Lessons for Rapid + Scaled App Development on Power Platform" with Keith Whatling and Emily Cartner.

December 2020

Power Platform User Group London

October 2020 London, United Kingdom

CDS Saturday

Your Guide to Making the Business Case for Power Platform in your Organisation

October 2020

Power Platform Summit North America

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

October 2020

European SharePoint Community

Power Platform as a First Class Citizen in the Cloud Transformation + App Modernization Journey

August 2020

Power Platform Summit Europe

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

June 2020

Power Platform Virtual World Tour

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

May 2020

Microsoft Business Applications Summit (MBAS)

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance (co-presenting with Manuela Pichler)

May 2020

Power Platform World Tour DC

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

March 2020 Washington, Washington, D.C., United States

Scottish Summit Sessionize Event

February 2020 Glasgow, United Kingdom

Scottish Summit 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

February 2020 Glasgow, United Kingdom

United Nations Tech Innovation Day

Power Platform as a First Class Citizen in the Cloud Transformation + App Modernization Journey

February 2020 Genève, Switzerland

Super Power Saturday London

Presented the morning keynote alongside Manuela Pichler, topic was "Power Platform as a First Class Citizen in the Cloud Transformation + App Modernization Journey"

February 2020 London, United Kingdom

Microsoft Technology Expo Sessionize Event

January 2020 Portland, Oregon, United States

Power User Days Belgium 🇧🇪

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance (co-presenting with Lee Baker)

January 2020 Brussels, Belgium

Microsoft Ignite 🇺🇸

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Migrating Legacy InfoPath to Power Apps

Power Platform Management and Governance Round Table

November 2019 Orlando, Florida, United States

Power Platform World Tour Dublin 🇮🇪

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

October 2019 Dublin, Ireland

Power Platform World Tour Vienna 🇦🇹

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

October 2019 Vienna, Austria

Power Platform Summit North America 🇺🇸

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Design best practices when getting started with a new Power App

October 2019 Orlando, Florida, United States

PowerPlatform Saturday Sweden 2019 Sessionize Event

October 2019 Stockholm, Sweden

Power Platform Saturday Sweden 🇸🇪

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

October 2019 Stockholm, Sweden

Power Platform User Group London 🇬🇧

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

September 2019 London, United Kingdom

Dynamics 365 Saturday D.C. 2019 Sessionize Event

September 2019 Reston, Virginia, United States

Power Platform World Tour Toronto 🇨🇦

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

September 2019 Toronto, Canada

365 Saturday Washington DC 🇺🇸

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

September 2019 Reston, Virginia, United States

Power Platform World Tour - London 🇬🇧

Power Platform Adoption, Enterprise Management, and Governance

Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Apps

August 2019 London, United Kingdom

Microsoft Inspire 🇺🇸

Presented the Power Platform Adoption Framework

July 2019 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Microsoft Business Applications Summit 🇺🇸

Hack4Good Charity Hackathon (Team Lead)
Migrating your legacy InfoPath and Access to PowerApps (Co-Presenter)

June 2019 Atlanta, Georgia, United States

365 Saturday Kyiv 🇺🇦

Presented "Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Platform".

May 2019 Kyiv, Ukraine

D365 Saturday Dubai 🇦🇪

Presented "Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Platform", and assisted facilitating "App in a Day" (AIAD).

April 2019 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Power Platform World Tour - Chicago 🇺🇸

Presented "Ten Best Practices for No-Code / Low-Code Development on Power Platform" and represented PowerApps as part of the expert panel to close the conference.

April 2019 Chicago, Illinois, United States

Power Platform World Tour - Washington DC 🇺🇸

Presented "Enterprise Management of Power Platform" and "Introducing the Power Platform Adoption Framework".

April 2019 Reston, Virginia, United States

Microsoft Cloud Symposium 🇺🇸

Presented "Microsoft’s Power Platform and the Future of Business Application Software".

December 2018 Redmond, Washington, United States

Andrew Welch

CTO + Founder @ Cloud Lighthouse | Microsoft MVP

London, United Kingdom