

Ben Kepes
Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the cloud. His areas of interest extend to aviation technology, enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.
He is a globally recognized subject matter expert with an extensive following across multiple channels. His commentary has been published on Forbes, ReadWriteWeb, GigaOm, The Guardian and a wide variety of publications – both print and online. Often included in lists of the most influential technology thinkers globally, Ben is also an active member of the Clouderati, a global group of cloud thought leaders and is in demand as a speaker at conferences and events all around the world.
As organizations react to the demands for more flexible working environments, the impacts of the economic downturn and the existence of multiple form-factor devices and ubiquitous connectivity, Cloud computing stands alone as the technology paradigm that enables the convergence of those trends -- Ben’s insight into these factors has helped organizations large and small, buy-side and sell-side, to navigate a challenging path from the old paradigm to the new one.
Ben is passionate about technology as an enabler and enjoys exploring that theme in various settings.
The opinions expressed in this blog are those of Ben Kepes and do not necessarily represent those of IDG Communications, Inc., its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies.


News from Epicor’s annual user conference
Here's a round-up of what Epicor announced at its annual user conference, including the new release of Epicor ERP and where it stands with cloud computing.

Twilio jumps on the serverless bandwagon
No huge surprise that developer tool vendor Twilio is launching a serverless offering.

Twilio does speech recognition and understanding, the right way
Twilio’s CEO Jeff Lawson never wanted to do speech recognition. So what has changed?

The value of metadata – the most Instagrammed tourist attractions globally
Once upon a time, the concept of metadata was a foreign one. Today it enables and empowers almost everything.

Automation and the end of accounting
While software vendors are approaching the subject with sensitivity, does automation signal the upcoming end of the accounting profession?

Going interstellar with Microsoft Cosmos
It’s fascinating to watch the thrust and parry of the competing public cloud platforms. Microsoft’s Cosmos is an example of competition-fueled innovation.
An under-pressure OpenStack gets support from an (in)famous individual
The strangest of bedfellows. Edward Snowden gives OpenStack some much needed support.

Corvil launches Cara, virtual financial markets security analyst
Some interesting sector-specific news from this European vendor points to some broadly applicable trends.

Azure Stack and the role of context
A Twitter argument led to some heated discussions among the analyst ranks at Microsoft’s Build conference. Don’t. Feed. The. Trolls.

Xero breaks through its glass ceiling: customers, revenue and cashflow
Impressive results from the New Zealand-founded, but now global, accounting software vendor.

Wealthsimple scales with its vision of democratizing investment
Occupy Wall Street was all about delivering equity in terms of wealth distribution and earning. Maybe technology can help with that.