Key Takeaways from Trump's Meeting with Top Tech CEOs
Key Takeaways from Trump's Meeting with Top Tech CEOs
Chris Kanaracus is managing editor of Constellation Insights. Insights delivers exclusive, daily analysis of breaking news across Constellation’s eight business research themes to Constellation Executive Network members. Prior to joining Constellation, Kanaracus spent seven years covering the enterprise software industry for IDG News Service, where he frequently broke exclusive stories with a focus on end-customer issues. Kanaracus has also held various managerial and reporting roles at newspapers in New England since 1998. Twitter: @chriskanaracus , Title: Big IdeasConstellation Insights Insights delivers exclusive, daily analysis of breaking news across Constellation’s eight business research themes to Constellation Executive Network members. ...
Read more
US President Donald Trump met with a sizable group of the tech industry's most prominent CEOs, including Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Apple's Tim Cook, IBM's Ginni Rometty and Oracle's Safra Catz. Trump's pow-wow was only part of a longer day of "brainstorming" sessions between adminstration officials and tech leaders, with the goal of outlining ways to modernize government IT.
Most of the inaugural meeting of the American Technology Council, as the group is called, took place in private. But through official transcripts and news reports it's possible to get a picture of what was discussed, as well as take its measure. Here's a look at some key takeaways.
Trump makes nice: Trump has found himself at odds with much of Silicon Valley, particularly at the rank-and-file employee level but also in the c-suite, over actions such as his executive order to halt immigration from some Muslim-majority nations and decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement. But during his meeting with tech leaders, Trump put on a serious charm offensive, according to a transcript:
We have approximately $3.5 trillion of market value in this room -- but that’s almost the exact number that we’ve created since my election. (Laughter.) In fact, I think we have you beat by a little bit, which is a pretty good number. But I congratulate you all. Done an amazing job.
Your innovation has shaped the modern world and created millions of jobs. America should be the global leader in government technology just as we are in every other aspect, and we are going to start our big edge again in technology -– such an important industry. I view it from the standpoint of jobs and other things; you view it somewhat differently. But we’re all in the same ballpark. It’s so important. So important.
We’re embracing big change, bold thinking, and outsider perspectives to transform government and make it the way it should be, and at far less cost.
Trump's stance is hardly surprising, particularly for a first meeting, but he's now also on record calling for a cooperative working relationship with tech giants. He's also positioned his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is said to be one of the president's most trusted confidants, in a key role overseeing US technology policy. Even if Trump himself delegates the day-to-day work, it's safe to say that a healthy relationship with Silicon Valley sits fairly high on his priority list.
This ballgame is mandatory: In turn, tech CEOs at the meeting struck an overall conciliatory tone with the president (although Cook reportedly pressed Trump on immigration and other issues, according to reports.) But while left-leaning Silicon Valley CEOs may privately not relish being in the same photograph frame with the president, they have little choice. That's because of the ongoing tax reform debate in Congress, which could result in significant benefits for their companies. (Indeed, a number of lobbying firms for Google, Amazon and other tech giants visited the White House for meetings on tax reform Tuesday.)
The H-1B Elephant: A key issue for Silicon Valley is the H-1B visa program, and the topic got a dedicated working session during the meeting. It's not clear what occurred during that discussion, but in April Trump issued an executive order calling for reforms to the program.
Rather than the current lottery-based system, Trump wants reforms that would ensure visas are issued to "the highest skilled and highest paid workers," thereby protecting American jobs and wage levels. While there are laws on the books requiring H-1B holders to be paid similarly to their American counterparts, that hasn't necessarily happened in practice.
The H-1B issue affects far many more companies than those in Silicon Valley, of course. But as for reforms, the short answer is that they're not coming anytime soon. Trump's order gives a number of federal departments until November to review it and provide recommendations. At that point, it's possible that Trump could make some changes to the program administratively, but more sweeping ones may require an act of Congress.
Still only (very) partly cloudy: The American Technology Council is headed up by Chris Liddell, a top Trump aide and former Microsoft executive. In an interview with CNBC, Liddell revealed that the government has a long way to go in adopting cloud services. Only 3 or 4 percent of the government's $86 billion in annual IT spending is tied to the cloud, and moreover, it's running roughly 6,000 data centers, he said.
If accurate, it's a daunting assessment. While a working group at the meeting tackled questions around cloud migration and data center consolidation, a broader transition is undoubtedly still years in the making. The question is whether the pace can be accelerated under the Trump administration.
In the name of transparency: In a document outlining the meeting's agenda, the White House called for a strategy "in which the public is able to track federal operations, often in real-time or near real time."
Under the Obama administration, large amounts of public information was made available through initiatives such as Data.gov. The wording in the White House's documents seems to take the idea of government transparency a bit further. If it gains traction, the proposal should enjoy support from both sides of the aisle in Washington.
POV: The first meeting of the American Technology Council appears to be a relative success, with no reports of controversy or discord emerging in its wake.
At the same time, it is just a meeting. Skeptics may view it as nothing more than one of many photo opportunities to come. And for all the talk about government IT modernization and procurement reform, both are perennial problems that will require years of sustained effort—spanning multiple administrations and Congresses—to substantially solve.
Meanwhile, from a policy perspective, the ATC so far has given the floor to the viewpoints of Silicon Valley's elite. These may not always align with enterprise IT leaders in general, or the public. Constellation believes that a balanced US tech policy going forward will keep many voices involved in the discussion.
24/7 Access to Constellation Insights
Subscribe today for unrestricted access to expert analyst views on breaking news.
Future of Work Matrix Commerce Tech Optimization Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Information Officer
