The CDW OCTOpod

Episode 3: Securing the Future & Designing the Smart Campus In the final part of the series, Rob Sims and Coventry University CTO Steve Rogers look beyond the last decade of transformation and focus on what comes next for hybrid in higher education. Steve shares why his immediate priority isn’t “jumping on the AI bandwagon,” but doubling down on cybersecurity, human firewalls and smarter use of data to drive better decisions. He explains how Coventry is consolidating tools, moving away from “premium by default” vendors, and choosing platforms that are good enough, cost-effective, and tightly aligned to real needs. The conversation then widens to the future student experience: immersive learning spaces, VR and AR, sensor-driven smart campuses, edge capabilities, and how technologies like Cisco Spaces are already helping Coventry make data-informed decisions about estate usage. Steve outlines his ambition to become a cloud-native, cloud-only organisation for core infrastructure within five years, with on-premise reduced to focused edge processing. Packed with forward-looking insight, this episode explores how universities can prepare their networks, teams and strategies today to stay competitive tomorrow—and why continuous innovation, smart partnerships and a clear view of the “connected campus” are now essential to attracting and retaining the next generation of students.

Episode 2: Why Partnership Became the Missing Piece In part two of the series, Rob Sims is joined again by Coventry University CTO Steve Rogers—this time alongside Matt Smith, Higher Education Account Director at CDW—to explore the strategic leap that shaped Coventry’s next decade of hybrid evolution. With the university already deep into its cloud-driven transformation, Steve reveals the moment he realised that future progress required more than technology alone. As platforms modernised, teams shrank and skills became harder to retain, the pace of innovation risked being slowed by prolonged procurement cycles and fragmented vendor engagements. The answer? A new kind of partnership. Rob, Steve and Matt unpack how Coventry moved from traditional framework-driven tendering to a strategic, long-term collaboration with CDW—designed to unlock agility, simplify decision-making, and give the university direct access to deep technical expertise across the entire stack. They discuss co-sourcing over outsourcing, building trust, aligning visions, and why cultural fit matters just as much as technology capability. Packed with honest reflections from both sides of the partnership, this episode provides a practical blueprint for universities considering a strategic technology partner—and highlights the mindset shifts required to make it successful.

Episode 1: A Decade of Change, Culture and Cloud Rob Sims welcomes Coventry University CTO Steve Rogers to unpack the university’s bold shift away from overloaded comms rooms and sprawling legacy infrastructure toward a modern hybrid cloud strategy. Steve reveals what sparked the transformation, how 850 services were re-imagined for the cloud, why culture and skills mattered more than servers, and how universities can unlock agility for a new generation of digitally-native students. Part 1: Building a Sustainable Hybrid Strategy past Part 2: The Partnership Approach  Part 3: The Future View in Higher Education A candid, practical and inspiring conversation that any technology leader grappling with hybrid strategy will want to hear.

In this special extended edition of Rob’s Hybrid Platforms Trends Podcast, he is joined by Patrick Smith for a CTO view of this year’s Pure Accelerate announcements. Recorded during an embargo before the New York and UK Accelerate events, Rob and Patrick discuss the new announcements being made and how they will impact customers in areas of cost, operations, and performance. Covering Pure Fusion, Enterprise Data Cloud, Intelligent control plane, data plane, and cyber recovery.   Speakers: Rob Sims. Chief Technologist, CDW Patrick Smith, CTO EMEA  

In this episode of The OCTOPod, Tim Russell, Chief Technologist at CDW, is joined by Sophia Swain, CTO at Leaders Romans Group, to explore the real-world realities of hybrid working, employee enablement, and what it truly takes to create a productive, inclusive digital workplace. Forget the buzzwords—this episode cuts through the noise to reveal: Why choice and flexibility are essential in the modern workplace How hybrid working is evolving beyond fixed rules and rigid policies Why technology still isn’t fully meeting the needs of today’s diverse workforce How AI, collaboration platforms, and smarter tooling are (slowly) closing the equity gap in meetings Why employee experience and enablement must be part of your retention and recruitment strategy And how the “first 10 minutes of someone’s day” can set the tone for productivity—or frustration 🎯 Key Takeaway: Hybrid working isn’t just about location. It’s about experience, empowerment, and giving people the tools—and trust—they need to thrive.