Bryan.Kirschner

Contributor

Bryan Kirschner is Vice President, Strategy at DataStax. For more than 20 years he has helped large organizations build and execute strategy when they are seeking new ways forward and a future materially different from their past. He specializes in removing fear, uncertainty, and doubt from strategic decision-making through empirical data and market sensing.

In 2006, he was named the first Director of Open Source Strategy in the history of Microsoft. The company’s reorientation toward constructive engagement with Open Source developers, users and buyers drove significant advances in business results, engagement with customers, and standing with regulators. Later he was instrumental in a task force that resulted in then-CEO Steve Ballmer’s 2010 landmark speech declaring that Microsoft was “all in” on cloud computing.

Bryan founded the Apigee Institute in 2013, bringing Apigee customers, world-class experts, and groundbreaking research together to help enterprises accelerate digital transformation. Following the company’s acquisition by Google, he led research and strategy for Google Cloud Developer Relations and DevOps Platform.

A frequent speaker at industry events on digital transformation and platform strategy, he has cultivated strong relationships with leading academic researchers on these topics for over a decade.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Yale University and lives in Seattle, Washington.

Articles by Bryan.Kirschner

Ecosystems: when digital transformation grows up
Adapting to the New Digital World

Ecosystems: when digital transformation grows up

CIOs know digital transformation is important — but it's also a vague mandate that doesn't always lead to specific action steps. Luckily, ecosystem strategies are emerging as a more specific, robust and actionable take on the digital transformation narrative. rn
By Bryan Kirschner May 22, 2017
Adapting to the New Digital World

The not-so-secret strategy behind Walgreens’ ecosystem advantage

Some business successes rely on trade secrets. Others, like Walgreens' vision to unite digital and physical experiences, rely on something simpler: the flexibility of APIs mixed with old-fashioned execution and passion.
By Bryan Kirschner February 6, 2017
Where APIs and empathy meet
Adapting to the New Digital World

Where APIs and empathy meet

How APIs and empathy contribute to Ticketmaster's digital ambitions.
By Bryan Kirschner October 20, 2016
Adapting to the New Digital World

APIs provide innovation and inspiration for IT leaders

Apps are getting smarter at a ferocious pace; so why don't CEOs want to take advantage of these new technologies? I discuss API ecosystems and innovation with Sanjay Parthasarathy, CEO of Indix, a startup making structured product information accessible as a data-as-a-service API.
By Bryan Kirschner August 23, 2016
IT must think like an app developer
Adapting to the New Digital World

IT must think like an app developer

Given that pragmatic programmers have prized code reuse and “designing for services” for decades (tips enshrined in the 1999 book of the same name), it should come as no surprise that developers have taken to a world of abundant, cloud-based, mash-up ready APIs like kids in a candy store. It’s high time IT professionals do the same and adopt the mindset (and passion) of an aspiring “API ninja.”
By Bryan Kirschner August 3, 2016
Adapting to the New Digital World

Get on the cloud bus or get in the clown car

An embrace of cloud a decade ago may have been considered “skating to where the puck was going to be.” Today, anything but going “all in” is like skating toward where your grandfather’s memoirs say the puck might once have been.
By Bryan Kirschner May 27, 2016
To get digital, be the dog
Adapting to the New Digital World

To get digital, be the dog

As executives, strategists and implementers within an enterprise, we may be tempted to imagine ourselves as the ones conditioning consumers to instinctively turn to products and services during their mobile moments. But we may be the ones who need to learn new reflexes and build new muscle memories for how we invest in technology.
By Bryan Kirschner May 11, 2016
Adapting to the New Digital World

Can your CEO pass the digital strategy laugh test?

If Kim Kardashian can win a top spot in the App Store, Global 2000 CIOs ought to be held to high bar for delivering compelling digital experiences at scale. Here's a by-the-numbers look at competitive digital strategies.
By Bryan Kirschner March 30, 2016
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