 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 Kapse 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. Yeah, very welcome. So Casey, let me start with you, please. Microsoft's got a long heritage, of course, working with partners who are renowned in that regard, built an 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 partnerships. 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. And 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 day that may complement 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 a 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. Casey, I appreciate that. A lot of 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? So Casey, Snowflake, 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 is particularly important for your joint customers. You have to say, so one of the things that I love about this partnership is that while 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, 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. And so it's at 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. I appreciate that Casey, because a lot of times I'll look at the press release. Sometimes we laugh, we call them Barney deals. I love you, you love me, but I listen for the word engineering and integration. Those are sort of important triggers. 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. Yeah, let me add to that. I think the work that we've done with Power BI is pretty powerful. I mean, ultimately we've got customers out there that are looking to better visualize the data, better informed 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 machine learning. I mean, there 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 customer A may want to use Power BI, another customer might want to use another visualization tool. Fine, from a platform perspective, really don't care, do you? So I wonder Colleen if we could, and again, maybe Casey can chime in afterwards. You guys are obviously everybody these days, but you're particularly 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, you've got 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 much bigger than two? Maybe Colleen, you could start. 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. 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 or 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. It 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. 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 a customer opportunity or unique value? No, thanks Colleen. It feels mutual. Well, I think this is key because as it's set 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 as, 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, 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 than the fact that we are so well aligned. So thank you for that. Well guys, thanks very much for coming to 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.