>> We're here at the Data Cloud Summit 2020, tracking the rise of the data cloud. And we're talking about the ecosystem powering the next generation of innovation in cloud, you know, for decades, the technology industry has been powered by great products. Well, the cloud introduced a new type of platform that transcended point products and the next generation of cloud platforms is unlocking data-centric ecosystems where access to data is at the core of innovation, tapping the resources of many versus the capabilities of one. Casey McGee is here. He's the vice president of global ISV sales at Microsoft, and he's joined by Colleen Kapase, who is the VP of partnerships and global alliances at Snowflake. Folks, welcome to theCUBE. It's great to see you. >> Thanks Dave, good to see you. Thank you. >> Thanks for having us here. >> You're very welcome. So, Casey, let me start with you please. You know, Microsoft's got a long heritage, of course, working with partners, you're renowned in that regard, built a unbelievable ecosystem, the envy of many in the industry. So if you think about as enterprises, they're speeding up their cloud adoption, what are you seeing as the role and the importance of ecosystem, the ISV ecosystem specifically, in helping make customers' outcomes successful? >> Yeah, let me start by saying we have a 45 year history of partnership, so from our very beginning as a company, we invested to build these partnerships. And so let me start by saying from day one, we looked at a diverse ecosystem as one of the most important strategies for us, both to bring innovation to customers and also to drive growth. And so we're looking to build that environment even today. So 45 years later, focused on how do we zero in on the business outcomes that matter most to customers, usually identified by the industry that they're serving. So really building an ecosystem that helps us serve both the customers and the business outcomes they're looking to drive. And so we're building that ecosystem of ISVs on the Microsoft cloud and focused on bringing that innovation as a platform provider through those companies. >> So Casey, let's stay on that for a moment, if we can. I mean, you work with a lot of ISVs and you got a big portfolio of your own solutions. Now, sometimes they overlap with the ISV offerings of your partners. How do you balance the focus on first party solutions and third-party ISV partner solutions? >> Yeah, first and foremost, we're a platform company. So our whole intent is to bring value to that partner ecosystem. Well, sometimes that means we may have offers in market that may compliment one another. Our focus is really on serving the customer. So anytime we see that, we're looking at what is the most desired outcome for our customer, driving innovation into that specific business requirement. So for us, it's always focusing on the customer, and really zeroing in on making sure that we're solving their business problems. Sometimes we do that together with partners like Snowflake. Sometimes that means we do that on our own, but the key for us is really deeply understanding what's important to the customer and then bringing the best of the Microsoft and Snowflake scenarios to bear. >> You know, Casey, I appreciate that. A lot times people say "Dave, don't ask me that question. It's kind of uncomfortable." So Colleen, I want to bring you into the discussion. How does Snowflake view this dynamic, where you're simultaneously partnering and competing sometimes with some of the big cloud companies on the planet? >> Yeah, Dave, I think it's a great question, and really in this era of innovation, so many large companies like Microsoft are so diverse in their product set, it's almost impossible for them to not have some overlap with most of their ecosystem. But I think Casey said it really well, as long as we stay laser focused on the customer, and there are a lot of very happy Snowflake customers and happy Azure customers, we really win together. And I think we're finding ways in which we're working better and better together, from a technology standpoint, and from a field standpoint. And customers want to see us come together and bring best of breed solutions. So I think we're doing a lot better, and I'm looking forward to our future, too. >> So Casey, Snowflake, you know, they're really growing, they've got a pretty large footprint on Azure. You're talking hundreds of customers here that are active on that platform. I wonder if you could talk about the product integration points that you kind of completed initially, and then kind of what's on the horizon that you see as particularly important for your joint customers? >> You have to say, so one of the things that I love about this partnership is that, well, we start with what the customer wants. We bring that back into the engineering-level relationship that we have between the two companies. And so that's produced some pretty incredibly rich functionality together. So let me start by saying, you know, we've got eight Azure regions today with nine coming on soon. And so we have a geographic diversity that is important for many of our customers. We've also got a series of engineering-level integrations that we've already built. So that's functionality for Azure Private Link, as well as integration between Power BI, Azure Data Factory, and Azure Data Lake, all of this back again to serve the business outcomes that are required for our customers. So it's this level of integration that I think really speaks to the power of the partnership. So we are intently focused on the democratization of data. So we know that Snowflake is the premier partner to help us do that. So getting that right is key to enabling high concurrency use cases with large numbers of businesses, users coming together, and getting the performance they expect. >> Yeah, I appreciate that Casey, because a lot of times I'll, you know, I'll look at the press release. Sometimes we laugh, we call them Barney deals. You know, "I love you. You love me." But I listen for the word engineering and integration. Those are sort of important triggers. Colleen, or Casey too, but I want to start with Colleen. I mean, anything you would add to that, are there things that you guys have worked on together that you're particularly proud of, or maybe that have pushed the envelope and enabled new capabilities for customers where they've given you great feedback? Any examples you can share? >> Great question. And we're definitely focusing on making sure stability is a core value for both of us, so that what we offer, that our customers can trust, is going to work well and be dependable, so that's a key focus for us. We're also looking at how can we advance into the future, what can we do around machine learning, it's an area that's really exciting for a lot of the CXO-level leadership at our customers, so we're certainly focused on that. And also looking at Power BI and the visualization of how do we bring these solutions together as well. I'd also say at the same time, we're trying to make the buying experience frictionless for our customers, so we're also leveraging and innovating with Azure's Marketplace, so that our customers can easily acquire Snowflake together with Azure. And even that is being helpful for our customers. Casey, what are your thoughts, too? >> Yeah, let me add to that. I think the work that we've done with Power BI is pretty, pretty powerful. I mean, ultimately, we've got customers out there that are looking to better visualize the data, better inform decisions that they're making. So as much as AI and ML and the inherent power of the data that's being stored within Snowflake is important in and of itself, Power BI really unlocks that and helps drive better decisions, better visualization, and help drive to decision outcomes that are important to the customer. So I love the work that we're doing on Power BI and Snowflake. >> Yeah, and you guys both mentioned, you know, machine learning. I mean, they really are an ecosystem of tools. And the thing to me about Azure, it's all about optionality. You mentioned earlier, Casey, you guys are a platform. So, you know, customer A may want to use Power BI. Another customer might want to use another visualization tool, fine, from a platform perspective, you really don't care, do you? So I wonder Colleen, if we could, and again, maybe Casey can chime in afterwards. You guys, obviously everybody these days, but you in particular, you're focused on customer outcomes. That's the sort of starting point, and Snowflake for sure has built pretty significant experience working with large enterprises and working alongside of Microsoft to get other partners. In your experience, what are customers really looking for out of the two joint companies when they engage with Snowflake and Microsoft, so that one plus one is, you know, much bigger than two. Maybe Colleen, you could start. >> Yeah, I definitely think that what our customers are looking for is both trust and seamlessness. They just want the technology to work. The beauty of Snowflake is our ease of use. So many customers have questions about their business, more so now in this pandemic world than ever before. So the seamlessness, the ease of use, the frictionless, all of these things really matter to our joint customers, and seeing our teams come together, too, in the field, to show here's how Snowflake and Azure are better together, in your local area, and having examples of customers where we've had win-wins, which I'd say Casey, we're getting more and more of those every day, frankly, so it's pretty exciting times. And having our sales teams work as a partnership, even though we compete, we know where we play well together, and I see us doing that over and over again, more and more, around the world, too, which is really important as Snowflake pushes forward, beyond the North America geographies into stronger and stronger in the global regions, where frankly, Microsoft's had a long, storied history at. That's very exciting, especially in Europe and Asia. >> Casey, anything you'd add to that? >> Yeah. Colleen, it's well said. I think ultimately, what customers are looking for is that when our two companies come together, we bring new innovation, new ideas, new ways to solve old problems. And so I think what I love about this partnership is ultimately when we come together, whether it's engineering teams coming together to build new product, whether it's our sales and marketing teams out in front of the customers, across that spectrum, I think customers are looking for us to help bring new ideas. And I love the fact that we've engineered this partnership to do just that. And ultimately we're focused on how do we come together and build something new and different. And I think we can solve some of the most challenging problems with the power of the data and the innovation that we're bringing to the table. >> I mean, you know, Casey, I mean, everybody's really quite in awe and amazed at Microsoft's transformation, and really openness and willingness to really, change and lean into some of the big waves. I wonder if you could talk about your multi-platform strategy and what problems that you're solving in conjunction with Snowflake. >> Yeah, let me start by saying, you know, I think as much as we appreciate that feedback on the progress that we've been striving for, I mean, we're still learning every day, looking for new opportunities to learn from customers, from partners, and so a lot of what you see on the outside is the result of a really focused culture, really focusing on what's important to our customers, focusing on how do we build diversity and inclusion to everything we do, whether that's within Microsoft, with our partners, our customers, and ultimately, how do we show up as one Microsoft, I call one Microsoft kind of the partner's gift. It's ultimately how do our companies show up together? So I think if you look multi-platform, we have the same concept, right? We have the Microsoft cloud that we're offering out in the marketplace. The Microsoft cloud consists of what we're serving up as far as the platform, consists of what we're serving up for data and AI, modern workplace and business applications. And so this multi-cloud strategy for us is really focused on how do we bring innovation across each of the solution areas that matter most to customers. And so I see really the power of the Snowflake partnership playing in there. >> Awesome. Colleen, are there any examples you can share where, maybe this partnership has unlocked the customer opportunity or unique value? >> Yeah, I can't speak about the customer-specific, but what I can do and say is, Casey and I play very corporate roles in terms of we're thinking about the long-term partnership, we're driving the strategy. But hey, look, we'll get called in, we're working a deal right now, it's almost close of the quarter for us, we're literally working on an opportunity right now, how can we win together, how can we be competitive, the customers, the CIO has asked us to come together, to work on that solution. Very large, well-known brand. And we're able to get up to the very senior levels of our companies very quickly to make decisions on what do we need to do to be better and stronger together. And that's really what a partnership is about, you can do the long-term plans and the strategics and you can have great products, but when your executives can pick up the phone and call each other to work on a particular deal, for a particular customer's need, I think that's where the power of the partnership really comes together, and that's where we're at. And that's been a growth opportunity for us this year, is, wasn't necessarily where we were at, and I really have to thank Casey for that. He's done a ton, getting us the right glue between our executives, making sure the relationships are there, and making sure the trust is there, so when our customers need us to come together, that dialogue and that shared diction of putting customers first is there between both companies. So thank you, Casey. >> Oh, thanks, Colleen, the feeling's mutual. >> Well, I think this is key because as I said up front, we've gone from sort of very product-focused to platform-focused. And now we're tapping the power of the ecosystem. That's not always easy to get all the parts moving together, but we live in this API economy. You could say "Hey, I'm a company, everything's going to be homogeneous. Everything is going to be my stack." And maybe that's one way to solve the problem, but really that's not how customers want to solve the problem. Casey, I'll give you the last word. >> Yeah, let me just end by saying, you know, first off the cultures between our two companies couldn't be more well aligned. So I think ultimately when you ask yourself the question, "What do we do to best show up in front of our customers?" It is, focus on their business outcomes, focus on the things that matter most to them. And this partnership will show up well. And I think ultimately our greatest opportunity is to tap into that need, to that interest. And I couldn't be happier about the partnership and the fact that we are so well aligned. So thank you for that. >> Well guys, thanks very much for coming on theCUBE and unpacking some of the really critical aspects of the ecosystem. It was really a pleasure having you. >> Thank you so much for having us. >> Okay, and thank you for watching. Keep it right there. We've got more great content coming your way at the Data Cloud Summit.