I'm Richard Hogan, a Global Chief Architect in IBM's Microsoft Practice, working at the intersection of cloud architecture, security, and emerging AI capabilities across Azure, Microsoft 365, Copilot, and the wider Microsoft ecosystem. My day job involves helping large organisations make sense of modern cloud platforms without losing sight of the uncomfortable realities around governance, security, operating models, and long-term resilience.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how technology actually lands in the real world. Not how it is presented on slides, but how it behaves under pressure, how teams adopt it, and where things quietly go wrong. My work spans enterprise architecture, cloud security, identity, AI strategy, and the increasingly blurred line between engineering effort and AI-assisted development—topics I regularly write and speak about.

This blog is where I step back from delivery and reflect. You'll find commentary on Microsoft Cloud changes, AI and Copilot adoption, cloud security, and the cultural and operational shifts happening inside IT teams. I also host the Cloudy with a Chance of Insights podcast, where I explore similar themes in conversation form, usually with a healthy dose of scepticism and practical experience. If you're looking for hype, you may be disappointed. If you're looking for grounded, occasionally cynical, real-world thinking, you're probably in the right place.