I'm moving to Paris to focus on Workplace AI, joining ILKI

I have some exciting news to share! In a few weeks I'll be moving to Paris (along with my partner Noelle and our dog Lulu), joining the independent boutique consulting firm ILKI to help build their AI practice, (as well as assisting with their many EUC and digital workplace projects.)

This is a "real" move for us. I sold my house, we sold our cars, put a few remaining things in storage, and secured long term French visas. I've had a lot of "firsts" over the years—first job, first public speech, first book, first training class, first BriForum—but after almost 30 years in tech, I'm excited and scared about this latest one: the first time living outside the US. (And the first time living in a place where English is not the primary language.)

I'm as nervous, excited, confident, and scared as you would expect. (????????)

Who is ILKI?

ILKI is a boutique consulting and analyst firm co-founded by Vincent Branger and Ga?l Corlay in 2014 when they merged their two consulting companies. I've known Vincent for almost 20 years, having originally met him at BriForum Darmstadt in 2006. Vincent would go on to speak at several BriForum conferences, and over the years I've spoken at his events in Paris numerous times.

What I love about ILKI (which won't be a surprise to anyone reading this) is that they're independent. (And I mean for real independent.) They have no commercial partnership agreements with any software vendor, manufacturer, integrator, or cloud provider. Working at ILKI means being able to truly recommend the best solutions and pathways for our clients and audience without having to juggle the pressures of license sales, vendor marketing SPIFs, or partnership PR requirements.

Another thing about ILKI that's important to me is they focus on knowledge transfer and educating their clients and the community. This is something that I'm obviously passionate about, since the bulk of my career has not just been learning and figuring things out, but also empowering as many people as possible with the knowledge they need to succeed. That's why I've written books & blog posts, given over 1000 public talks, created & delivered a series of Citrix master classes, and created a tech conference. This aligns with ILKI's mission as well, as they also create and deliver classes and focus on education and knowledge transfer as part of their core offerings.

Finally, I love that ILKI is "human scale", with about 30 people in the company. I've worked at both huge and tiny companies over the years, and I can definitely say that there's something special and fun about the agility and development speed that comes from a small firm.

Workplace AI

ILKI is already well-known in France in several technical areas, including Cloud & CloudOps, DevOps, data center infrastructure, and EUC & digital workplace.

I'm excited to have the opportunity to help define and create ILKI's AI consulting practice. As you know from my articles on LinkedIn over the past year, when ChatGPT was released to the public, I dove deep into AI with a focus on how it can be used in the workplace.

In that sense, workplace AI is no different than any new technology which grew and shaped the enterprise EUC tech stack over the years. (Remote desktops, virtualization, VDI, cloud, enterprise mobility, the consumerization of IT . . . )

For example, thinking through the enterprise challenges of AI, the major pieces that come to mind are:

• New Technology Adoption: Like cloud computing or VDI, workplace AI is a new wave of innovation that enterprises gradually integrate into their operations.
• Phased Implementation: Companies start with pilot projects or tactical implementations to solve specific use cases, then they learn from them, figure out what works and what doesn't, and slowly grow from there.
• Knowledge and Skills Growth: The adoption of workplace AI, like any new tech, requires the development of new skills and expertise within the company.
• Process Transformation: Just as technologies like remote desktops and the consumerization of IT transformed business processes and the relationship of IT and end users, workplace AI will lead to new workflows and operational efficiencies.
• Scalability and Integration: Like cloud services, workplace AI solutions often start on a smaller scale and then expand, integrating with existing tech stacks.
• Risk and Compliance Considerations: As with any new technology, adopting workplace AI involves navigating risks and ensuring compliance, paralleling past experiences with technologies like enterprise mobility.
• Evolving Market Dynamics: Workplace AI, much like previous technological shifts, influences market dynamics, leading to new business models and competitive strategies.

My work at ILKI is not about AI engineering or the development of AI systems. I'm not trying to figure out how to design the best model or become an expert on weights and biases; rather, my goals are figure out how AI is going to impact the workplace (both EUC and beyond), and what companies can do to prepare for (and ultimately leverage) this amazingly powerful and transformative technology. As I mentioned on the Future of EUC webcast I did yesterday with Shawn Bass , today's AI and LLMs remind me of the Consumerization of IT conversions we had in the EUC space a decade ago.

Stay tuned for much more on this over the next several months. Like many, while I've had a front-row seat for the enterprise adoption of several major new technologies over the past three decades, I believe AI will have the biggest tech impact of anything I've experienced in my entire career. It's going to be wild, amazing, interesting, and a heckuva lot of fun!

Paris is the AI capital of Europe

So now let's talk about Paris. Obviously Paris is an amazing city, but that's not the (entire) reason I'm moving there.

Paris is also white hot in terms of AI investment, research, development, and company growth. I spent six weeks there this spring, and then another couple of weeks in October. The AI scene in Paris is LEGIT . There's so much going on, with an energy that triggers the same vibe I got living in San Francisco during the rise of the cloud & enterprise mobility.

So in addition to helping build ILKI's AI practice and offerings, and helping our clients understand how AI can be leveraged in their workplaces, I'll be jumping into and sharing knowledge about the Parisian AI scene. I'll lean on my author / blogger / analyst roots and attend and report on conferences, meetups, and AI gatherings. I'm looking forward to understanding what's happening and helping ILKI's clients navigate the landscape while also I'll writing and sharing what I learn with everyone.

Sidebar, did you see the news that Mistral AI just closed a $400 million round (!!!) at a $2 billion valuation . They're based in Paris. (And also less than a year old). Exciting times in a world-class city!

French? Oui!

I've always admired people who are able to speak more than one language. Many EUC colleagues who have gone on to become great friends (Bernhard Tritsch , Ruben Spruijt , Jeroen van de Kamp . . . ) have conducted their entire relationships with me (and many others) in their second language, something which has always seemed so magical and impressive.

So as part of my move to Paris and my position with ILKI, I've committed to learning French! (So far I'm "that American" who took French in high school, but that was 30 years ago and I definitely thought it was a waste of time and was not engaged.)

J'ai étudié le fran?ais à l'école, mais il y a 30 ans. Je vais faire des cours de fran?ais intensifs à Paris.

When I get to Paris in January, I'll immediately start taking intensive French classes for the first few months, transitioning to evening classes (I'm guessing for years) after that. I'm already dreaming / scared of another "first", the first time I give a speech in French!

What about pinball? Et le flipper ?

When I left VMware two years ago, I wrote an article on LinkedIn about how I was joining FAST Pinball , a pinball hardware platform company. (Yeah, even the pinball industry has a "platform play". ??)

My main role at FAST was to create their tech documentation, which is done now ! FAST Pinball is going strong, having been selected as the platform for three commercial pinball companies as well as hundreds of "homebrew" hobbyist pinball projects. (Check out Adam Savage's maker video of the latest commercial machine built on the FAST Modern Platform: Labyrinth .)

Since I love writing (and I love pinball) so much, I'll still help out with their docs here and there, but it will be a couple of hours a month versus a full time focus now. I also plan to continue contributing to the open source Mission Pinball Framework , a passion project I started in 2014 which now powers the vast majority of hobby pinball machines!

So pinball is still absolutely a part of my life, but back in hobby form versus a full-time job.

Allons-y!

With that, I'm excited and ready to go! We'll be heading over to Paris in early January; and I'm starting with ILKI and my French classes that first week. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the European conferences and sharing what we learn as we figure out this wild world of workplace AI in one of the best cities in the world. Merci, et à bient?t !